19
May
Summer is finally getting closer, and many of the gadgets that keep us entertained during the boring weekday trips will now be coming to more fun locations to keep us entertained instead of keeping us awake.
The thing about more fun locations is that they are often not the friendliest to our gadgets. During the week, the worst abuse may be getting thrown into the x-ray bin at the TSA line, but when you are on vacation your poor gadgets get wet, covered in sand, food or worse.
My iPod classic (160Gb) cost $399, and I’m overly protective of it. Unlike many of my gadgets, I’m always fully aware that iPods are not the most rigid of gadgets and I just know that the hard disk is one drop away from death.
So, today I’m going to show off a product that promises to protect your cherished iPod from pretty much anything you could possibly throw (or drop) at it. The Otterbox iPod classic Armor™ series case is pretty much the toughest case you can get for your iPod. It is waterproof to 3 feet and the hard plastic body will protect it from the worst of accidents.
But the best part of this case is that it does all this while still offering headphone access as well as full access to the scroll wheel!
Waterproof protection is provided by a rubber gasket and a very sturdy locking clip that compresses both halves of the case. Included in the box is a foam pad for customers with an 80Gb iPod Classic, if you have a 160Gb version, you just slide the iPod right into the case.
It’s hard to see in these photos, but when the case is closed you still have full access to the iPod scroll wheel thanks to a “PATENTED thin membrane“. What this means in reality is that you can still use your fingers to scroll and press any of the 5 buttons on the wheel. Control requires a little more pressure than you are used to, but never too much to make it annoying.
As I mentioned earlier, you also get full audio access; this is accomplished with a pass-through audio jack that plugs into the iPod inside the case. If you really do plan to take it to the beach, make sure you have headphones you don’t mind throwing away, or invest in a pair of waterproof headphones.
On the back of the case is a belt clip which also functions as a cord wrap (brilliant!). The clip can be removed which comes in handy if you need to dry/wash the case after a day of fun in the sun.
So, the big question is whether I trust the good folks at Otterbox enough to submerge my $400 iPod in the kitchen sink. The photos don’t show it very well, but there is at least 15 centimeters of water in that sink. It was quite surreal to watch “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” on a submerged iPod, but I’m happy to report that no iPods were damaged in making those photos. I did tape over the headphone jack as I didn’t have anything plugged into it at the time.
As with most protection, you’ll need to ask yourself whether the price of the gadget is worth the investment in the product. In this case a $50 case can help extend the life of a $400 gadget, so you do the math.
Of course, once summer is over you’ll still have a great case to protect your iPod on your boring trips and if you do manage to make it to the pool when on a business trip, you’ll have your own music to entertain you.
The Otterbox iPod Classic Armor™ series case costs $49.95. Otterbox offer other Armor™ series cases for the iPod Nano 3rd generation ($39.95), the iPod Touch ($49.95) and even for the iPhone ($69.95).
Product page: Otterbox iPod Classic Armor™ series case
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