The value of a Pelican-type case depends largely on your usage of the product, and the contents you intend to pack inside of it.
For a while I had a Pelican case to carry my work rifle in while working. Unfortunately the case was so damned big that I couldn't fit it in the trunk of our department's Crown Victorias (our trunks are also cluttered with data radios, etc).
These days I carry my work rifle (an AR-15 with a light and Eotech) in a 5.11 soft-sided case, and I've had no problems with this manner of storage for the past two years. The trunk of a ghetto patrol car is neither the most friendly or least friendly environment in which to store a gun, but my rifle has never been damaged, and it always shoots to zero.
On the other hand, if I was flying with my rifles, or planned to transport a VERY expensive precision rifle with VERY expensive optics, I might once again consider getting a Pelican case.
For what its worth to mention it, those Pelican cases are very tough. Each officer in my department is issued a fairly expensive and reasonably fragile camera at the beginning of each shift, and these cameras are kept in a Pelican case in the trunk of the patrol car. Almost naturally, since this equipment isn't owned by each individual officer, they seem to take a far more significant beating than one might subject his/her own equipment to (think of it like you would a rental car).
Anyway, I've seen these cameras tossed around in these cases, and I once saw one returned by a good citizen who saw it roll off of the back of a patrol car (oops), then get hit by the car that was following. The case had some damage to one of the latches in that instance, but the camera survived (and we still use the case sans one latch).
I also have a friend outside of work who is a professional photographer. She routinely transports about $25,000 worth of camera equipment in Pelican cases, and tells me that she doesn't worry about the equipment at all. I'd still worry with that kind of investment, but she claims that her cases have taken quite a beating without damage to the contents.
Rexster said:
A Toyota RAV4 hit my patrol car. The driver was sober, just like three other drivers who have crunched into the backs of my various patrol cars over the years.
Geesh... At least the drivers of vehicles who hit our cars are usually considerate enough to be intoxicated at the time of the accident!