Enders Aluminium Cases

Eight-month update: the cases have held up very well to numerous road trips, across all kinds of terrain. From Death Valley's washboard roads, to being snowed on in -24C temperatures, the cases are no worse for wear. Very happy with them, and highly recommend them as a great alternative to much more expensive options.

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I bought these two 80L Enders aluminum cases on Amazon UK. Total price via priority shipping (which was cheaper than standard shipping) was $260 CAD, or ~$210 USD at current exchange rate. UPS dropped them off at my home in Canada a mere four days later.

I bought these because they are an insanely better value than any similar products coming out of North America. Whether compared to locally made one-offs, commercial hard plastic cases, or aluminium AluBox products, the Enders were a fraction of the cost for largely the same benefits.

The exterior, Amazon cardboard received the usual UPS treatment and was somewhat torn up. Inside the outer layer was another cardboard box, and this one was undamaged. The cases were inside the second layer of cardboard, wrapped in a thin plastic bag, but otherwise without padding. They arrived without any dents, and had little to no handling marks/scratches on them.

Here they are in all their glory. Note the presence of a gasket (I wasn't sure it would be there, as the Amazon description is lacking).

While the 1mm-thick aluminum is quite flexible over the large spans of this box and gives off a flimsy impression, I (200lbs) was able to stand in the middle of the box and only noticed minor deformations in two corners of the lid.

Adding a solid board overtop of the lid would likely offer significant support.

Each case has two lockable latches. One of the (four) latches did not stay closed (a manufacturing defect) and frequently sprung open; a rather small inconvenience.

The side handles are metal, spring-loaded, and quite strong. The front handle is plastic, with a chrome-covered cover.

The biggest disappointment is the choice of tapered-head bolts to hold the front handle in place. This is clearly incorrect hardware for the application, but that's a cheap and simple thing to fix. I'll be replacing these with flat-head bolts momentarily. Both cases have the same issue.

The other items are all securely riveted in place.

While AluBox cases have ropes (?) inside to prevent the lid from falling backwards, the Enders have three protruding, horizontal tabs that the lid rests on. I suspect that with time, the lid will show signs of coming in contact with these tabs.