Digital Camera Accessory Review: Vaultz Locking Camera Case

Have you ever dropped your digital camera? It's scary to see it tumble and hit the ground. You can only hope that your camera case offers enough protection to save your valuable digital camera investment. In fact, a good camera case may be your most important digital camera accessory. So far I've had good luck with soft camera cases, but one day my luck will run out. That's why I was intrigued when I found a hard-sided camera case: The Vaultz Small Locking Camera Case (Model VZ01471).

Vaultz makes a variety of storage cases with the styling of the rugged music instrument cases that concert roadies push onto stages all around the world. The Vaultz Locking Camera Case is a small camera case with riveted aluminum corners, aluminum edge trim, very solid plastic sides, a metal latch, a lock, two keys, and a long carrying strap. Each side has approximately a 1/4-inch of padding. The case is 4 3/4 inches tall, 3 1/4 inches wide, and 2 1/2 inches deep. The construction of the Vaultz Locking Camera Case is very solid and distinguishes it from other digital camera accessories.

The Vaultz Camera Case can accomodate one small or medium-sized digital camera. At various times, I was able to stow a variety of digital cameras including a Kodak Z950, a Vivitar 7022, and an RCA Small Wonder in my Vaultz Camera Case. The case could even store an Aries 3-in-1 digital camera and a Vivitar 3-in-1 mini digital camera at the same time. The Vaultz Locking Camera case could also be used to securely store other small hand-held electronics such as an MP3 player or a small radio like the Coby CX-7 personal radio. However, it should be noted that the Kodak Z950 (a mid-sized digital camera) was a very tight squeeze and that no larger camera will fit into the case.

The Vaultz Small Locking Camera Case has a lock built into the latch. The lock is pretty typical of a suitcase, briefcase, or luggage lock. While the lock won't prevent the case from simply being carried away, it would suffice to protect your privacy by locking your camera or other personal electronics away from nosy parents, siblings, roommates, or co-workers. For having such a small lock, the Vaultz Camera Case has a generously-sized key. While I can't see using the key every day, it could be useful in protecting gear from theft and your privacy from nosy people.

The Vaultz Camera Case offers several advantages, but also has a few drawbacks. First, the Vaultz case is one of the few hard-sided cases available for small to medium sized cameras and other personal electronics. Second, the Vaultz Locking Camera Case is solidly built and offers excellent protection for your gear. However, this particular Vaultz Camera Case does not have any additional pockets or compartments to hold camera cables, memory cards, chargers, and other auxiliary gear. Second, the nearly full-sized key might be advantageous for those who are prone to lose things, but might be annoying to add yet another key to a full key ring. The old fashioned styling looks cool, but the solid construction makes it impossible to shove the Vaultz Camera case into a pocket. If your camera is on the larger end of the point-n-shoot hobbyist digital cameras, you'll want to check to see if your camera will fit before you make your purchase.

Overall, I would recommend the Vaultz Locking Camera Case because it will fully protect cameras and other senstive gear. It is truly a very solid camera accessory.