- Joined
- Oct 17, 2016
- Messages
- 301
- Reactions
- 278
- Age
- 47
I've been flying drones for about four years now... I've had everything from a TBS Discovery, to 250 racing-style quads. I've always gone with a hard case. Usually a Pelican-style case with pull-and-pluck foam. They're good cases and provide good protection, but the I really like the idea of a soft case for the Mavic, mostly because of how portable the Mavic is. Putting it in a huge, waterproof case just seems to go against the design of the Mavic.
I liked the official Mavic bag from DJI, but for $80, I really don't think it's worth it. Also, it seems like it may be too small, and fitting the controller seems to be somewhat problematic. Also, it's not a backpack, so taking no a hike, for example, would probably be less than ideal.
Thus, I began my search. I checked out several DSLR backpacks, but most were too big for my tastes. I found this model on Amazon and thought it looked nice:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PV0IEDY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I got it for $25.99, but it looks like it's $39.99 now. Anyway, I liked the size and the style. It comes with padded dividers that attach via Velcro. I was hoping to be able to situate the dividers to accommodate the Mavic. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work with the stock dividers, so I decided to try to design my own foam insert.
I tried to find foam locally, but nothing I found could work. Thus, I decided to try ordering a custom-made foam insert from www.mycasebuilder.com.
I wanted to make sure I had the interior dimensions right before ordering, so I create a prototype with some stiff foam I bought locally. Here's some pictures of my first attempt:
As you can see, this seems to have worked. I was able to use this prototype to get the overall dimensions for the foam, and I as able to show that the Mavic, controller and foam would all fit in this case. I also left room for a battery (but didn't cut it out of the the test foam.
Once I had the overall dimensions for the foam, I began designing the custom foam I would order from www.mycasebuilder.com. They have a web app where you can import pictures of what you want cut out, trace it in the app, and create the template for the foam. Here's my foam:
This is actually a second version. Initially, the foam I ordered did not fit my Mavic or the controller. Technically, I did fit the Mavic, but it was REALLY tight, and the sticks for the remote did not fit at all. In order to get the remote in, I had to have the sticks pushed in and I was afraid it would damages the remote taking it in and out. I think it was my fault in retrospect, because I traced about two to three millimeters outside the lines of my photo in order to give myself some extra space, but then I inputted the actual overall dimensions, and did not add the additional two to three milimeters I added.
In any event, they have a Failsafe Program where you can pay a little more and get the option to send it back if it doesn't fit or isn't cut right, and submit a new design to fix whatever is wrong. I think this was about $8 and I was happy I added it. I probably could have just trimmed a few problem areas on the first foam and got it to work, but I was worried I would mess it up or it wouldn't look right.
Anyway, I sent the original foam back and submitted a new design. They do require you to pay return shipping, but that's pretty cheap since it's just a piece of foam.
Here's the final result:
All in all, I'd say it was a success. The people at www.mycasebuilder.com were great. Very friendly and professional. My only complaint was it took decent amount of time from the time I ordered until the foam was shipped. I think both the first and second time it took 9 to 12 business days after order for the foam to ship. This may be because of the time of the year.
My only complaint is you cannot fit a laptop or tablet in the bag. It would have been nice to have that feature, but that would have obviously increased the overall size of the bag.
Anyway, the bag is great. It can hold one battery in the Mavic, and one in the battery insert in the foam. You could easily store one or two more in the top compartment, or the small side compartment. I've been able to fit my Mavic with a spare battery, the charger and cables, along with my Sony A5000 with no problem.
The overall cost was:
$25.99 for the case (includes shipping)
$46.51 for the foam
$8.99 for shipping
$7.99 failsafe
$89.84 - Total
If you did the same case, you could save yourself the $7.99 for the failsafe, since I've got all of the dimensions already figured out.
If anyone wants the dimensions for the foam, or my file I used, PM me.
Edit: It looks like this is the same bag for $29.90, but I'm not sure if the dimensions are exactly the same:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...d_t=201&pf_rd_p=2696430002&pf_rd_i=B00PV0IEDY
I liked the official Mavic bag from DJI, but for $80, I really don't think it's worth it. Also, it seems like it may be too small, and fitting the controller seems to be somewhat problematic. Also, it's not a backpack, so taking no a hike, for example, would probably be less than ideal.
Thus, I began my search. I checked out several DSLR backpacks, but most were too big for my tastes. I found this model on Amazon and thought it looked nice:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PV0IEDY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I got it for $25.99, but it looks like it's $39.99 now. Anyway, I liked the size and the style. It comes with padded dividers that attach via Velcro. I was hoping to be able to situate the dividers to accommodate the Mavic. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work with the stock dividers, so I decided to try to design my own foam insert.
I tried to find foam locally, but nothing I found could work. Thus, I decided to try ordering a custom-made foam insert from www.mycasebuilder.com.
I wanted to make sure I had the interior dimensions right before ordering, so I create a prototype with some stiff foam I bought locally. Here's some pictures of my first attempt:
As you can see, this seems to have worked. I was able to use this prototype to get the overall dimensions for the foam, and I as able to show that the Mavic, controller and foam would all fit in this case. I also left room for a battery (but didn't cut it out of the the test foam.
Once I had the overall dimensions for the foam, I began designing the custom foam I would order from www.mycasebuilder.com. They have a web app where you can import pictures of what you want cut out, trace it in the app, and create the template for the foam. Here's my foam:
This is actually a second version. Initially, the foam I ordered did not fit my Mavic or the controller. Technically, I did fit the Mavic, but it was REALLY tight, and the sticks for the remote did not fit at all. In order to get the remote in, I had to have the sticks pushed in and I was afraid it would damages the remote taking it in and out. I think it was my fault in retrospect, because I traced about two to three millimeters outside the lines of my photo in order to give myself some extra space, but then I inputted the actual overall dimensions, and did not add the additional two to three milimeters I added.
In any event, they have a Failsafe Program where you can pay a little more and get the option to send it back if it doesn't fit or isn't cut right, and submit a new design to fix whatever is wrong. I think this was about $8 and I was happy I added it. I probably could have just trimmed a few problem areas on the first foam and got it to work, but I was worried I would mess it up or it wouldn't look right.
Anyway, I sent the original foam back and submitted a new design. They do require you to pay return shipping, but that's pretty cheap since it's just a piece of foam.
Here's the final result:
All in all, I'd say it was a success. The people at www.mycasebuilder.com were great. Very friendly and professional. My only complaint was it took decent amount of time from the time I ordered until the foam was shipped. I think both the first and second time it took 9 to 12 business days after order for the foam to ship. This may be because of the time of the year.
My only complaint is you cannot fit a laptop or tablet in the bag. It would have been nice to have that feature, but that would have obviously increased the overall size of the bag.
Anyway, the bag is great. It can hold one battery in the Mavic, and one in the battery insert in the foam. You could easily store one or two more in the top compartment, or the small side compartment. I've been able to fit my Mavic with a spare battery, the charger and cables, along with my Sony A5000 with no problem.
The overall cost was:
$25.99 for the case (includes shipping)
$46.51 for the foam
$8.99 for shipping
$7.99 failsafe
$89.84 - Total
If you did the same case, you could save yourself the $7.99 for the failsafe, since I've got all of the dimensions already figured out.
If anyone wants the dimensions for the foam, or my file I used, PM me.
Edit: It looks like this is the same bag for $29.90, but I'm not sure if the dimensions are exactly the same:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...d_t=201&pf_rd_p=2696430002&pf_rd_i=B00PV0IEDY
