PSP: Pelican Starter Kit

After many years of not accessorizing my handheld gadgets, I went with the Pelican Starter Kit for my PSP. I suppose it was during my Thanksgiving trip to Toronto this year with a clumsy baggie full of UMDs that made me decide to get a decent carrying case.

But first a little history: the first time I ever accessorized was the original Nintendo GameBoy carry case. The thing was a velcro-lidded cushioned case. It held 4 games in specially designed pockets, and although they claimed it could also carrying headphones and other cables, this was accomplished by carefully stuffing everything into the main compartment before closing the top. The claim that there were additional compartments for your other bits and piece was entirely false.

That brings me to a review I heard on Electronic Playground a few months ago. The guys on the show gave Pelican's PSP kit a rave review, even briefly mentioning that they used the product in their private lives. Which is all well and good, except for the fact that I can't seem to find the same kit anywhere in Canada. I did however find a kit at Canada, also by Pelican, but does not appear to be the same "Starter Kit" as the ones I've seen on American web-sites... for one thing the case is the smaller "travel" edition.

I can only assume this is the Canadian package or something because after hunting around eBay I haven't been able to find the package with the big case reviewed on Electronic Playground, or seen on the Pelican web site.
The Travel Case is a padded flip-top affair. A panel in the middle holds 2 UMDs in plastic sleeves. The lid has an optional velcro'd panel that also holds two UMDs plus a couple of memory stick pro duos. The case closes with a zipper and has a clip similar to what mountain climbers use for their ropes.

The package is very similar to other starter sets - cames with a USB cable, a car charger, a microfibre cleaning cloth, 4 UMD sleeves to protect that little exposed window, and one of those useless "scratch protector" sheets you stick on top of your PSP's main screen. I can see that most of this stuff can be useful, but my main complain will have to be that yet again, I have a case where there's nowhere to put my headphones.

Well, that's not entirely true either. I've managed to squeeze in the headphones once again. It was trickier than the plain ear-buds that Nintendo threw in with their original handheld because Sony has a proprietary plug with a special remote-control. But I got it in there. The ultimate irony is that in order to fit all that into the case, I had to put in my 4 UMD games without the sleeves the kit came with (thereby saving at least a few of millimeters). Which, I suppose is alright because the case is padded all over; my games shouldn't be getting scratched if they're in there.