July 26th, 2007
Torture Testing - The big case test - Part 1
This is Part 1 in a 3 part series of posts –> Post 2 | Post 3
Modern gadgets are pretty robust and can brush off the occasional knock, the odd splash of water and a sprinkling of dust, but if you regularly take your precious gadgets into the outdoors you might feel compelled to protect your investment by spending some more money on a protective case.
Once you’ve decided to spend some cash there’s no shortage of companies willing to take your money in exchange for a case. Not only that, there’s a myriad of sizes, colors and types to choose from.
But just how good are these cases and are they worth the money? And I don’t mean how good they are at withstanding a small knock or a few drops of water - I’m interested in seeing just how much harsh abuse these kind of protective cases can take. Before we look at the tests, it’s time to introduce the victims, erm, I mean, the test subjects.
We’ll be testing five different cases:
- Storm Case iM2370
This case is designed to protect notebooks. It’s described as waterproof and dustproof. Packed with all sorts of cool features such as soft, double-layer handles, two press and pull latches and strong hinges. This case is made of HPX resin.
Ext: 20.0″ x 14.7″ x 5.8″
Int: 18.2″ x 12.1″ x 5.2″
Price: Approx $112.
Link. - Storm Case iM2050
This is a more compact version of the iM2370. It’s described as waterproof and dustproof. Packed with all sorts of cool features such as soft, double-layer handles, two press and pull latches and strong hinges. This is a very nice case indeed and I had a few moments when I felt like taking it on one side and not putting it through the torture testing … but those moments passed!
This case is made of HPX resin.
Ext: 11.8″ x 9.8″ x 4.7″
Int: 9.5″ x 7.5″ x 4.25″
Price: Approx $38.
Link. - Otterbox 3510
Described by Otter Products as waterproof, crushproof and airtight. Pre-cubed foam makes cutting it to fit items easy.
Ext: 8.813″ x 5.175″ x 4.179″
Int: 7.884″ x 3.973″ x 3.644″
Price: $28.45 (foam kit is an extra $19.60).
Link. - Seahorse SX 300
Seahorse cases satisfy Mil-Spec and IP Standards 67 (IP67 means the case is dustproof and waterproof for immersion down to between 15cm and 1m). Additionally, the SX series is described as flame retardant.
Ext: 10.80″ x 9.85″ x 4.50″
Int: 9.59″ x 7.42″ x 3.98″
Price: $35.95 (foam kit is an extra $6).
Link. - Peli i1010
The Peli i1010 is the smallest case we have for testing. It’s described as being waterproof, crushproof and dustproof. It’s specifically designed to protect iPods (the full-size, nano and shuffle) and it has an external headphone jack. The latch is also described as “easy open.”
Int: 4.37″ x 2.87″ x 1.68″
Price: Around $20
Link.
OK, those are the cases. Now let’s introduce the tests. But before I do, a few words about the tests. These tests aren’t scientific (when you see what we were doing to the cases, you’ll see why). Rather than being scientific, they’re meant to represent extreme conditions that the cases might be exposed to. Another point worth noting is that we only had one case of each model to test, so once a case was trashed, it was out of the running.
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Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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