Hoffee Vs. Austin Calton

[mandroid]

From sblock - "...It's covered in a canvas-type cloth..". The outer material is actually 'Ballistic grade Nylon'' = as tough as hell !.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_nylon)

As for 'crushing forces' - as i mentioned, i wouldn't subject a Travelite or any other case to extreme pressure. Apart from the ''Mark Leaf'' cases,i don't think that any instrument cases are really designed for 'extreme' circumstances.
Part of my job in the Aerospace industry as a design / manufacturing engineer, was to test FG & CF components. I've seen too many failures to be complacent about any ''composite'' components. As with all materials,they're ok under 'some' circumstances,


As i've mentioned many times before - on a fibreglass or carbon fiber case,the outer shiny surface is the actual resin that holds the FG or CF together. Scratch that deeply enough,& you weaken the case in that area - which is ok as long as you don't apply any pressure there. As for the zipper - the only problem that i had with my now 12 year old Travelite case,was that the backing fabric behind it,frayed,& the edges got stuck in the zipper. I removed the fabric & it's been fine ever since. You can also bust zippers on your pants - but have you ever NOT bought a pair because they have a zipper which might break ?. Latches on hard cases can also become broken for 'whatever' reason. I've pointed several folk on here to ''Brettuns Village Leather Craft'' spares so that they can buy a replacement latch.

ALL cases are meant to be used in a sensible manner,in which case (no pun intended),a Travelite case is as good as any. To address Almeria's point - dropping the case. Put very simply - if you drop the case,it hits the deck with the combined impact force (inertia) of the case + mandolin. Lighten one of them & you lessen the total impact force.
Ivan

yea running into the back of the race support car on your Carbon fiber race bike , can do that..

I have a Fiberglass Case for my Carbon Fiber mandolin , I can wear it like a back pack,
as i Ride my Steel bicycle slowly across town.


+ Plus on those is the gasket edges of the case.. that keeps the rain out..

...

[BrianWilliam]

I like my Austin Calton. My one complaint is that when I remove my mandolin, the weight of the open half topples the case unless I remember to close it.

[maplebaby]

My Collings MT2V with it's Canadian Calton..