What do you do to protect your gear when on on travel

[Roger Clark]

Hi,

What do you do to protect your gear from theft when you are traveling?

For example, when you go to dinner, do you leave gear in your hotel room, or car? If so, do you do anything to lock it up?

If you go for a hike and leave gear in the car, do you do anything to lock it up beyond put it in the trunk?

I have heard about a professional photographer who was photographing in Yellowstone and after shooting at the end of the day, put all their gear in the trunk of their car, drove to a restaurant and went in for dinner. When they came out all the photo gear was gone. Someone apparently watched them and new the car contained the photo gear.

I'll usually bring my photo backpack (e.g. with 500 mm) lens into the restaurant and leave little in the car. When I drive my own car, I have a metal box that I can put gear in. So when I go on a hike, I can leave gear in the box. Anything can be broken into, but this would stop all but the most determined and equipped (with crowbars) thief.

In my hotel room, I put things in a packsafe (a steel wire bag) or the in-room hotel safe if there is one (of course big lenses do not fit).

What do you do for safety?

Roger

[Jamie Strickland]

good post Roger because I have the same concerns

usually when I travel I only take a small amount of gear and it can all fit in one bag and I dont leave it anywhere I take it with me

but now I am planning on going to Grand Teton and Yellowstone and hauling around a 500L and a bunch of other gear will not be possible so I am curious on this answer as well

Last weekend someone went into my car in my driveway (thought it was locked but obviously it wasnt) took my sirius radio and GPS + a key to my house that I had hidden under a bunch of change (not a bright place) so I had to change all my locks and I installed an alarm system in the house as well. But on several occasions I have left a boatload of gear in the trunk of my car in my driveway thinking it was safe... I was more upset by my own stupidity than the fact they stole that crap, thinking the whole time it could have been a ton of photo gear.

also I dont have insurance on my gear I plan on fixing that this week as well !!!

I like that metal box idea, I never thought of that, do you have it attached with a cable or bolted down or something?

[John Chardine]

Good question Roger. Maybe I'm naive but I don't worry much about hotel rooms, at least in Canada. They seem quite secure with the front desk, video surveillance, and good locks on the doors. I never leave anything in my car unless I can see the car at all times. If I absolutely have to, then it's the trunk/boot because out of sight is out of mind.

Re. insurance Jamie- unless you don't have house insurance, your camera gear should be covered under your house policy for theft, fire etc. This applies even when the equipment is out of the house. What the house insurance does not cover is accidental loss or damage. For that I carry a rider on my house policy for $18 Can/$1000 to cover this for my most expensive items. Whether you put a rider on your house policy or not to cover accidents, I would let your house insurer have a complete list of your gear with serial numbers and replacement costs.

[Chris Hansen]

Roger,
On my latest trip to southern California I checked my camera bag into the hotel "safe" which was the managers office. It was a good thing I did too because someone did go through our luggage in the room. My thirteen year old daughter had left a fifty dollar bill rolled up in her blouse and it was gone.

On short local trips I store my camera gear in a beat old Coleman ice chest lined with foam. It isn't something that most people would want to break into a car and steal. Bears in yosemite would be a problem though. hope this helps.

God bless,

chris

[Tell Dickinson]

Hi, I use PacSafe....


...even in the car boot and attach it to something immovable. I also use the Pacsafe in hotel rooms and you can even use it when out and about if you just want to stray for a couple of minutes :)

Tell

[Matthew Pontiff]

Re. insurance Jamie- unless you don't have house insurance, your camera gear should be covered under your house policy for theft, fire etc. This applies even when the equipment is out of the house. What the house insurance does not cover is accidental loss or damage. For that I carry a rider on my house policy for $18 Can/$1000 to cover this for my most expensive items. Whether you put a rider on your house policy or not to cover accidents, I would let your house insurer have a complete list of your gear with serial numbers and replacement costs.

There are dozens of people that report having their homeowners insurance cancelled after making a small claim or two for their camera gear so I'd advise against that. If you go the insurance route, NANPA is among the best.

Matt

[Roger Clark]

I like that metal box idea, I never thought of that, do you have it attached with a cable or bolted down or something?

Jamie,
Yes, the I put a large U-bolt in the side of the box, and use a 1/2-inch steel bicycle cable looped through a seat support. Without crowbars, they would need to unbolt the seat and take the box+seat with them. The box has 2 padlocks.

Roger

[Roger Clark]

but now I am planning on going to Grand Teton and Yellowstone and hauling around a 500L and a bunch of other gear will not be possible so I am curious on this answer as well

Jamie, do take the 500. There are too many opportunities to miss. If you want to leave the lens in the car, and traveling by air, buy a packsafe. I have one like Tell showed us, as well as a smaller one that has black cloth over the mesh.

Last weekend someone went into my car in my driveway (thought it was locked but obviously it wasnt) took my sirius radio and GPS + a key to my house that I had hidden under a bunch of change (not a bright place) so I had to change all my locks and I installed an alarm system in the house as well. But on several occasions I have left a boatload of gear in the trunk of my car in my driveway thinking it was safe... I was more upset by my own stupidity than the fact they stole that crap, thinking the whole time it could have been a ton of photo gear.

Wow, that is unfortunate. Having my apartment robbed when I was a student has always left me skeptical about security anywhere. I also back up all my photos and keep copies off site in case my house is robbed/burned/flooded, etc.

Good luck!

Roger

[Jamie Strickland]

Jamie,
Yes, the I put a large U-bolt in the side of the box, and use a 1/2-inch steel bicycle cable looped through a seat support. Without crowbars, they would need to unbolt the seat and take the box+seat with them. The box has 2 padlocks.

Roger

lol yeah if they are going to go through that much hassle it would be easier to steal the darn car :D

[John T. Watson]

I have a Pelican 1650 with foam inserts which I padlock and cable to the back child seat retainer in my SUV.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00..._ya_oh_product
I also have a pac-saf for my back pack. The smash and grab types will probably not have a bolt cutters with them.

John

[John Hawkins]

Check your homeowners policy. Most of them have limits on camera equipment , usually 1000/1500.00. If you want more coverage you need to purchase a rider and schedule the coverage for the value you wish to insure them for. Here in Florida it would make sense to get coverage thru outside source such as NANPA. Homeowners insurance here in Fl is tough and you may very well get cancelled for a small theft claim and then scramble to try and get affordable Homeowners Insurance. ( an oximoran)

[Nancy A Elwood]

The best insurance is through chubb, through NANPA.

[Deborah Harrison]

Even if difficult, I carry what I can and never risk leaving it in the car even for very brief periods. However, I agree that in additional to routine precautions good insurance is essential and a rider, over an above your homeowners policy for full replacement is more than worth the premium. Regardless of precautions disasters can occur other than theft - the two examples I have are my husband falling into a stream with his camera and two new lenses, and a king penguin inspecting my tripod with camera and knocking it over (destroying the camera) while I was photographing it. Both were fully replaced!!!

[John Chardine]

There are dozens of people that report having their homeowners insurance cancelled after making a small claim or two for their camera gear so I'd advise against that. If you go the insurance route, NANPA is among the best.

Matt

I will check with mine but although I am no lover of insurance companies, I doubt that mine is as draconian as you suggest. I'll report back. Also I'll try to speak to the right "side" of the insurance business- the claims side. I have found that insurance sales-people are as nice a pie and the claims people are the exact opposite- Jekyll and Hide.

[Dave Mills]

My advise is to get a rider to your current HO policy for your camera equiptment. Your current HO probably does not protect you on that to anything near it's value. The cost is not as expensive as you might think and you will rest easy...

[Mark Perry]

I put my gear in the trunk or in the hotel room. I travel for a living (in sales 20 years) and never had an issue.. but first time for everything...