Safrotto, Mekko - Domke Clone...observation

[sulhan]

Hi all.....

I had an opportunity for a good round of handling and comparison of Safrotto, Mekko camera bags while in China. Here's some of them.

- weatherproof- Both the Mekko and Saffrotto clone material are waterproof. Water will bead off upon contact and slip off the bag. Light to meduim rain would be okay. From a cup pouring perspective.......i guess heavy rain should be no problem.

- Internal compartments: There are variations to the internal compartment setup. The Safrotto padding compartment sewing quality seem a little bad compared to the mekko. SOme models allow removal of whole compartment to allow storage of the equipment while still in this padded compartment.

-Pricing: Both the clones prices are much lower than Domke - a bang for the buck. In china, they are sold with the shoulder padding together - not as accessories. Prices in "Hong Long" Shanghai is much cheaper than the shop in Nanjing Road ....

-Weather seal: On some larger models, there is an internal zipper cover which seal up the whole camera compartment from sand,dust and rain.

-Antislip Strap: The sholder straps are interleaved on the inner side with rubber to increase surface grip if the padding is not used.

All i can say is....if you are not brand concious, then these clones are good buy!!!! Well....looks like some ppl here got the bags from TCW....

rgds,
SUlhan

[SniperD]

thanks Sulhan for the insights.. justified my investments

[silver.wolf]

good analysis!

i'm using safrotto and i can vouch for its goodness!

[quekky]

i use safrotto but it doesnt really seem to be rainproof. the inside feels wet after i ran 100m of medium rain and after the outside have dried

[thoa_rs]

Just curious, has anybody tried throwing a bag with internal seals into a pool of water?

[synapseman]

I've got a Saffrotto bag that's a clone of the Domke canvas series. The internal padding is pretty flimsy and thin and the stitching has come undone. No matter; I've sewed it up myself.

The outer covering and its attachments (clips, rings) etc are of good quality though. But I've got one minor gripe, and that is the shoulder strap is non-removable. While this makes the construction more solid, it also means I can't slip in a standard shoulder cushion-pad for the strap. Quite uncomfortable after a long day of lugging around haevy gear. But I've also found another workaround - using the shoulder cushion from my Crumpler bag. Looks weird with a Crumpler logo on a Saffrotto bag which is a Domke clone, but hey, I go with what works.

And lastly, waterproofing. I spray on 3M Scotchguard Water-repellant (the one with the turquoise-coloured labelling) on its outer surfaces. Works very well indeed.

Worth every cent, this bag.

[sulhan]

Hieee....Synaps..

I realised that too when I was at the shops in Shanghai....The shop owner showed me the Mekko after i pointed out to them the Safrotto internal padding sewing quality.

The price of the Mekkos seem to be a little higher than the Safrotto here in Shanghai....

I finally got the Mekko myself....great stuff...got a old type of SBO webbing from beach road to transform the bag into a backpack ...

BTW the Mekko comes with the pad for the strap.....hence the higher price i think.

Happy so far...


rgds,
sulhan

[silver.wolf]

From what i know, Mekko costs more than Safrotto here in Singapore too...

[hobbit]

hi,

how can I me here several safrotto cf300 bags to Germany get, can
someone help?

sorry my bad schoolEnglish

bye Werner

hi,

wie kann ich mehrere safrotto cf300 bags nach deutschland bekommen, kann mir hier jemand helfen?

sorry mein schlechtes schulenglisch

grüßle werner