Pelican makes some of the world’s most rugged cases that you can use to protect everything, from expensive jewelry and fragile camera gear to precious watch collections and sensitive electronics. And while the outfit has made compact cases for personal items for a while, most people have avoided them due to their industrial aesthetics that mirror the styling of the larger Pelican cases. The Pelican Ruck Case changes that.
Unlike the outfit’s compact Protector cases, it ditches the suitcase form factor in favor of a lockbox-style aesthetic, making it easier on the eyes without affecting its portable function. Suffice to say, these things look a whole lot better than traditional Pelican cases – so much so, that you might want to carry them in hand instead of hiding them somewhere in your bag.
Billed as the “ultimate personal utility case,” the Pelican Ruck has an ABS plastic shell that can shrug off impact, pressure, and abrasion, while rubberized exoskeleton bumpers absorbs most of the impact from bumps and drops. According to the outfit, this durable build renders the case practically crush-proof, ensuring anything you keep inside won’t get crushed or broken, regardless of what happens throughout your day. It’s also IP68-rated, so the case is impervious to water, dirt, snow, and dust, all while being capable of floating in water, provided its contents are not too heavy. That means, you don’t have to worry about bringing this to wet environments, whether you’re hiking in inclement weather, fishing in a river, or paddle-boarding somewhere in the ocean.
Inside, it gets a spacious storage compartment sized for smaller items, with a rigid divider tray that allows you to split the main chamber into upper and lower sections, so you can place your power bank at the bottom and your phone on top to keep them separated. For even more storage room, the lid is fitted with a built-in organizer, where you can stash keys, cards, pocket knives, and similarly sized small items. And yes, the organizer is removable, in case you don’t want to keep the lid clear of any items.
The Pelican Ruck Case has a dual-pivot hinge latch, so it closes down pretty securely, while a MOLLE-style loop system allows you to integrate it into your pack when hiking and camping. For those who travel by plane, it comes with a built-in pressure valve that allows you to quickly balance air pressure as soon as you get off your flight, so you won’t have any issues opening it. It comes in three sizes: R20, R40, and R60. The R20 measures 9 x 4.8 x 2.9 inches (width x depth x height), while the R40 measures 9.8 x 6.1 x 2.9 inches (width x depth x height). The R60 is the largest, coming in at 11.1 x 6.9 x 3.9 inches (width x depth x height), making it arguably the most useful of the bunch, as it looks like it can carry even smaller DSLR bodies.
The Pelican Ruck Case is available now.