Gear review: Billingham Hadley Pro

[John Z. Goriup]

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I have three Billingham bags, including my latest, a Sage green Hadley Pro. All of them have shoulder pads and I use all of them on a regular basis, Th Hadley Pro is my favorite - because it's the perfect size and allows me to carry exactly what I need for a day's shooting in 90% of the cases. Their bags are extremely well designed, superbly made, have the uncanny ability to look like new after 25 years of schlepping them all over the world and last as if they were made of sheet metal while looking more like fine luggage than your average gear bag…….BUT please Billingham, whatever happened to your service and delivery-time.

 

Everytime I order anything from them through the local Leica store I have to wait for months & months, no matter how large, small, cheap or expensive, simple or complicated the item(s) is/ are.

 

I have been waiting for the matching A5 side compartment and additional inside dividers since June of 2014, have checked repeatedly with their Rep who stops at the Leica store on a regular basis and has completely exhausted any & all excuses that are even remotely believable, and we simply cannot get a promised shipping date. I remember having to wait a year for a replacement for a worn-out shoulder pad for my 355 model.

 

Great bags and indispensable products, but they desperately need to work on filling special orders and accessory deliveries on a more timely basis, as things are it's unacceptable………..has anyone else had similar experiences with Billingham ?

 

JZG

[bocaburger]

Idk which ones you need but B&H and Adorama have many of the shoulder pads and Delta pockets in stock. I just ordered a pad from B&H with free shipping.

 

PS can't tell from the little avatar, is that a 3.2 or 964?

[Herr Barnack]

I would take it to a dry cleaner to see what they would recommend. There are cleaners that specialize in cleaning leather, but the process they use is probably different from the typical dry cleaning process.

 

Another possibility would be to hand wash it at home yourself, using saddle soap (or another type of leather safe soap) and a soft brush on the bag. The saddle soap would probably get out most stains and dirt, while not harming the leather parts.