A Sportube is a convenient and safe way to carry or ship skis
Written: Mar 13 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Protective of your equipment, easy to handle, easy to load, allows easy shipping if necessary.
Cons: Risk of improper closure, takes up more storage space than a bag.
The Bottom Line: A great way to transport your skis, either along for the flight or with a shipping company. Protective without additional packing materials and easy to use.
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| truewebusa's Full Review: Sportube Series 2 Double Travel Ski Case |
I took my first big ski trip with equipment this year to Utah. It was the best skiing of my life. I had a lot of concerns over traveling with my skis. There are so many things to consider; packing them correctly, protecting the tips and edges and keeping it under the weight limit for the airline.
I did a lot of research on traveling with skis. People that use bags pack their gear around the skis or use bubble wrap to protect the tips tails and bindings. I needed to pack 2 pair of skis; mine and my wife's. This meant weight could be an issue, so I didn't want to put too much in the bag. Additionally I wanted to pack my main gear in my carry-on, instead of using it as padding, so that if anything got lost in transit I'd still have my gear (including boots) and I could just rent skis.
I also considered shipping my skis to a friend or local in the area which, in my opinion, would be best done in a box or other hard case. I'm not sure how a bag would fair with UPS or Fed Ex, or even if they would except it. I figured this would be a lot easier than lugging the gear through an airport at each end.
After weighing the bag/sportube options I finally decided to go with the tube. The sportube weighs about 11 lbs. That's only a few pounds more than a standard bag and about the same as a heavily padded bag with wheels. The sportube has wheels that make it easy to drag and it's solid handles make it easy to maneuver and they don't get hung up on sharp edges. The sportube protects the skis without the additional weight and work of inserting extra padding. A sportube can be secured with a travel padlock. The sportube can be strapped to any roof rack and protects skis from inclement weather and road salt when such a need exists. If you do need to ship skis the sportube is a perfect solution and keeps you from having to find odd shaped boxes and packing materials.
With all that in mind, I ordered my Sportube. It arrived on time and was easy enough to figure out. The tube comes in two parts a larger half and smaller half that slide together, the larger (with the handles molded in) over the smaller. There is a ridge on the smaller tube that fits into a groove on the larger tube. Both have holes in them that you line up and put a pin through to secure the halves together. All the hardware necessary to secure the skis is included; brake retainers and straps. There are also two Velcro straps attached to the inside of the case to retain the skis in the case. There is a great video tutorial on the sportube website for using the case. The skis are installed with the bases facing away from each other with the tips pointing in opposite directions. It seems strange at first, but you soon realize it's a very handy way to store them as it leaves a lot of open space in the tube between the skis. Poles are simply inserted after the skis.
I also purchased the sportube "nick-nack pack" which is a bag perfectly suited to fit between the skis in the case. It was a great investment. We packed extra gloves, goggles, hand-held radios, a hair-dryer and other various small items in the bag and made some extra room in our carry-on luggage. It could hold quite a bit of stuff and is supposedly water resistant. I would highly recommend it.
Sportube also sells a special "handle" for dragging the case around. Having a handle does make it easier, but I could not justify $15 for a handle. I realized I could use an old boot carrying handle that I got free from my local ski shop. Just pass the cord through the same hole the special handle's clasp would go in. It worked great and when I got to the baggage check at the airport I just pulled it off and stuck it in my backpack.
The sportube also comes with a shoulder strap which I didn't find all that useful. I either pulled it along with the handle or carried it by the handles molded into the tube, both worked very well.
I did transport the tube strapped to the rack on my car. It worked great. I just used some kayak straps. I put them through the handles and around the racks and it worked wonderfully for a 2 hour drive.
I highly recommend the sportube. It's easy to pack and unpack. It can be loaded with additional items, even more fragile ones because it's a protective hard-side case. It can be used for shipping your skis if necessary and is very protective of your equipment without any additional padding needed.
The only "gotcha" is the way the tube locks together. It's very easy to slide the two ends together and put the pin in, thinking you have is secured. However, if the pin only passes through one half the case will still slide apart and this would be a bad thing to happen on the roof of your car or in the airport. This could really be a problem if the airport decided to open the tube for an inspection and didn't secure it properly themselves. For this reason I also used a bungee to help hold the two ends together. I figured at least the airline would get the bungee back on correctly and that would hold things together well enough. The sportube website tutorial clearly identifies this issue and provides very clear instructions on how to be sure you don't make this mistake.
One last pro for the sportube is that, unlike a bag, you can stick all sorts of cool stickers on it to customize it so you can identify yours when it comes off in the baggage claim. I picked up stickers from the resorts I visited (when they had freebies) and started the customization of my sportube.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
truewebusa
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Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 2 members
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