Sometimes you don't realise just how good something is until it is no more...
My Berghaus E-case died at the weekend. Somewhere in the midst of a landscape consisting mainly of snow lying on top of a layer of molten sludge and unfrozen turf, its zip-puller finally said enough and threw off this mortal coil. It is, on other words, dead.
And it was only when I started wondering what to replace it with, that I realised what a great bit of kit the little Berghaus hardcase actually is. For starters, mine, one of the earliest ones out there, was just the right size for my Lumix FT-2, nuclear war-resistant digital camera. Not too big not too small.
It's closed with a zip - yes, the recently departed zip - and to be fair, it last five years or so of regular abuse, so I'm not complaining, but here's where the clever bit starts. The opening is sprung, so once you've unzipped it, it gapes open like a hungry fish, no flaps, no drawstring, no fiddliness. Position it right and you can manage the whole operation with one hand. Great if you're on a bike, carrying ice tools or are too dense - like me - to use two hands at once.
And because the interior of the hardened case - yes, you can crash on it too - is padded, but not too padded, the camera slides out easily for rapid deployment, which means you take pictures that you'd otherwise miss.
There's more too. On the back of the E-case is a little stroke of genius in the form of the Berghaus Opti-Buckle, a quick to use, but utterly secure, quick release clip that fastens the case to a waist belt or any other bit of pack webbing. And if you can't find an appropriate horizontal location, you can always rotate it 90˚ and pop it on a shoulder strap.
My favourite location is on compression straps, pick a low one and you can reach it without removing the pack. And if you don't trust it, there are conventional belt loops for secure threading too. And finally, if you want one, there's a little, stuff-away waterproof cover, just like a miniaturised day-pack.
I carried it all over the place on numerous different packs and it's never let me down. Just a brilliant, under-stated combination of utility, toughness and super-fast easy access to the contents.
Which begs the question of what I'm going to replace it with. And the answer, after a lot of googling, and a bunch of thinking is... well, you know what they say: 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it...' Except it is broke, so in the spirit of reincarnation I've just sprung for another E-case. Let's hope the latest one's as good.
