This has been known forever to people who frequently travel with high-value gear (photographers, videographers, etc.)<p>It <i>is</i> a good hack, but it also prevents you from easily doing kiosk bag check-and-drop stuff, so there is a lot of waiting in line.  And I wouldn't recommend it for international travel.<p>I haven't kept good track, but I'm sure I've flown over 200,000 miles in the last decade, with all sorts of miscellaneous high-value gear.  The only domestic baggage incident I've had was a Canon EOS5D and 28-300mm L lens go missing on a flight from SFO-&#62;BOS.  Granted that was an ~$5,000 loss, I probably should have kept the gear in carry-on.  I don't think I would have wanted to deal with the process of declaring a weapon in my bags on every flight where I had something work stealing just to prevent the 1 incident out of 1,000 where there was actual threat, that's why I have insurance.