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ELEMENT/ATOMIC/RAZOR EDGE/EBAY/BLADE aluminum/composite/hybrid bumper case

S

solardrgn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 1, 2010
20
0
ive been reading several of these threads and they are filled with very little information, just tons of complaints, people trying to resell, and arguing.

preferably, im looking for a vapor style case (i like the sharp edges) that DOES NOT destroy my signal/gps/wifi... i currently have an element vapor AR15-V and i love it, until i put it on. i do live in a weak signal area and this case brings my signal to almost 0. i tried modifying by putting electrical tape around the phone, but the amount it took to make it seem like i wasnt losing signal strength made the case stick out leaving gaps and barely fit. i also already have an invisible shield around the iphone band

atomic hybrid cases ($80) look just like the vapor to, the only reason i have ordered that yet is because of the price, but it does not look to weaken signal

razor edge hybrid ($50) looks pretty much like the ebay's (about $30) bumper at about half the price. i would have already tried and ordered one but the edges are rounded...

i really like the blade case ($70), but still waiting for reviews about signal strength

if anyone can help i was wondering what other companies have an aluminum/hybrid cases before i start buying the first cool looking case i see, as well as anyone's experiences with each. also if anyone has been able to modify their vapor to not weaken signal please let me know

thanks
 
i buy the blade waiting to arrive i contac a member on ebay about the case if have problems with the signal and says that the case have no problem here are the original message

it doesn't interfere the signal reception, and its look cool, great alternative to element vapor 4 :)
 
I am a case addict and love the aluminum look. I started out with a vapor, and then bought a red frost vapor as well. This is my favorite looking case. The signal strength was ok, but not on GPS. I would lose the ability to use for directions going thru town. Also, I have one spot at a city council meeting that is terrible for signal and I could not get internet with either vapor. I am the first here to use decal wide pinstriping to insulate the phone - that made it a bit better but still I would lose signal, and drop calls when I most needed it. For business, that left the vapor lacking as I never which new jobsite I was going to, so I could not buy a phone based upon "I am always in a good signal area" like some here..

I next bought an billet Atomic - and it was worse. Again even with the insulator decal they supplied with it, which was identical to the pinstriping I was using on the vapor. it was erratic, ok one day and bad the next.

Next was an Alumacase and although I like it's look, it was the worst signal yet even with tape. Back it went.

The next was the Raw which i felt was crudely finished in brushed alum and although signal was pretty good, it would still drop in my city meeting. Also it hurt to hold it for long calls as the edges were sharp.

I wrote atomic to return above and got an immediate return email saying they were shipping me a hybrid no charge and to send the billet back. Received it a few days later and what a difference! It really even works better than naked phone - don't know why. It solves all the signal issues completely - phone, web, GPS. The white delrin looks cheap to me, but the black with contrasting cap looks great - most people do not think it is "plastic" and the quality is 1st rate.

I will have no other that the hybrid, until maybe Vapor does it. I am absolutely convinced you cannot shroud the I4 phone in aluminum all around, no matter how to insulate the case, the phone or both. All the others are sold on eBay and gone.
 
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glen e said:
I am a case addict and love the aluminum look. I started out with a vapor, and then bought a red frost vapor as well. This is my favorite looking case. The signal strength was ok, but not on GPS. I would lose the ability to use for directions going thru town. Also, I have one spot at a city council meeting that is terrible for signal and I could not get internet with either vapor. I am the first here to use decal wide pinstriping to insulate the phone - that made it a bit better but still I would lose signal, and drop calls when I most needed it. For business, that left the vapor lacking as I never which new jobsite I was going to, so I could not buy a phone based upon "I am always in a good signal area" like some here..

I next bought an billet Atomic - and it was worse. Again even with the insulator decal they supplied with it, which was identical to the pinstriping I was using on the vapor. it was erratic, ok one day and bad the next.

Next was an Alumacase and although I like it's look, it was the worst signal yet even with tape. Back it went.

The next was the Raw which i felt was crudely finished in brushed alum and although signal was pretty good, it would still drop in my city meeting. Also it hurt to hold it for long calls as the edges were sharp.

I wrote atomic to return above and got an immediate return email saying they were shipping me a hybrid no charge and to send the billet back. Received it a few days later and what a difference! It really even works better than naked phone - don't know why. It solves all the signal issues completely - phone, web, GPS. The white delrin looks cheap to me, but the black with contrasting cap looks great - most people do not think it is "plastic" and the quality is 1st rate.

I will have no other that the hybrid, until maybe Vapor does it. All the others are sold on ebay and gone.
Click to expand...
Same for me, almost the exact same story.
 
I posted the following in the Blade thread (where it obviously wasn't relevant but the conversation was on that subject) but I'll add it here as well.

As far as the Atomic Hybrid is concerned, I'm probably the only person for whom it does not work optimally (since I haven't seen anyone else report problems). The GPS didn't work well when I first got the case and it still doesn't. In addition to that it turns areas, where normally my phone works with no case, into dead zones. And I've had instances where even when I have a decent signal, people don't get voice mails or texts I send until much later. Why does it seem like I'm the only one with these issues when using this case? I have no idea but in any event I'm ditching all these aluminum/part aluminum cases and just going with what works which is no case at all.
Click to expand...
 
Countless posts in countless threads all have led to the same conclusion from pretty much every one here.


glen e said:
I am a case addict and love the aluminum look. I started out with a vapor, and then bought a red frost vapor as well. This is my favorite looking case. The signal strength was ok, but not on GPS. I would lose the ability to use for directions going thru town. Also, I have one spot at a city council meeting that is terrible for signal and I could not get internet with either vapor. I am the first here to use decal wide pinstriping to insulate the phone - that made it a bit better but still I would lose signal, and drop calls when I most needed it. For business, that left the vapor lacking as I never which new jobsite I was going to, so I could not buy a phone based upon "I am always in a good signal area" like some here..

I next bought an billet Atomic - and it was worse. Again even with the insulator decal they supplied with it, which was identical to the pinstriping I was using on the vapor. it was erratic, ok one day and bad the next.

Next was an Alumacase and although I like it's look, it was the worst signal yet even with tape. Back it went.

The next was the Raw which i felt was crudely finished in brushed alum and although signal was pretty good, it would still drop in my city meeting. Also it hurt to hold it for long calls as the edges were sharp.

I wrote atomic to return above and got an immediate return email saying they were shipping me a hybrid no charge and to send the billet back. Received it a few days later and what a difference! It really even works better than naked phone - don't know why. It solves all the signal issues completely - phone, web, GPS. The white delrin looks cheap to me, but the black with contrasting cap looks great - most people do not think it is "plastic" and the quality is 1st rate.

I will have no other that the hybrid, until maybe Vapor does it. I am absolutely convinced you cannot shroud the I4 phone in aluminum all around, no matter how to insulate the case, the phone or both. All the others are sold on eBay and gone.
Click to expand...
 
I had an alumacase, an atomic billet, now an e13ctron, and the atomic hybrid - and have been sent to review an armadillo, and the exovault 4 and 5.

Of them all, the exovaults were the worst, followed closely by the alumacase. Billet was a bit better but still unusable in my area. Armadillo, honestly, I didnt' give much of a chance to because I hated the look and feel of the case, however it didn't appear to be impacting signal too terribly much if at all.

The atomic hybrid worked wonders for me - no issues with signal, wifi or GPS.

Currently trying the e13ctron because I love the look - it does appear to have some signal degredation, but how bad will have to wait until I run it through some testing this weekend. Visually, it dropped my phone from 3 - 4 down to 2-3 bars. But we shall see (I love the look of it and really WANT it to work)
 
Everyone here that has bought an Atomic case, we should all take them back because they are junk and they will never stack up against the aluminum cases!! Proven fact over in another thread. The Atomic is just cheap plastic, and all of us who have tried ALL the aluminum cases even though we are all spread out all over the US and have not worked for us, they work for those guys. Go over to the blade thread and look. They don't listen to experts, they are the experts. So today I think we should all take our PLASTIC(CHRIS975d) cases back to Atomic and get our money back because the blade and the vapor work. We must have just installed the Vapor and Alumacase and the Raw and all the others wrong. Because clearly they work according to those guys. Just saying, those guys swear that they work, even though the Vapor was tested by a professional facility, a user over there says his own hands on test is more accurate. So I think we should return the Atomics, go back and pick up the Vapor or Raw again and just live with them because they really do work guys. I promise.:DTHIS IS A JOKE POST BY THE WAY!!
 
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What are you seeing as far as GPS and wifi degradation, if any at all? Have you had a chance to see the actual dB readings of the cell signal, or just bars? I've got an e13ctron coming for testing, but I don't get it until the 6th. So you do think it looks good installed on the phone? I like the look, but that's only based off the pictures on their website.

bighabeeb said:
I had an alumacase, an atomic billet, now an e13ctron, and the atomic hybrid - and have been sent to review an armadillo, and the exovault 4 and 5.

Of them all, the exovaults were the worst, followed closely by the alumacase. Billet was a bit better but still unusable in my area. Armadillo, honestly, I didnt' give much of a chance to because I hated the look and feel of the case, however it didn't appear to be impacting signal too terribly much if at all.

The atomic hybrid worked wonders for me - no issues with signal, wifi or GPS.

Currently trying the e13ctron because I love the look - it does appear to have some signal degredation, but how bad will have to wait until I run it through some testing this weekend. Visually, it dropped my phone from 3 - 4 down to 2-3 bars. But we shall see (I love the look of it and really WANT it to work)
Click to expand...
 
chris and ufc... you guys crack me up. i guess both of you are REALLY passionate about cases :)

in any case, i have the alumacase, fusionwerkz raw and the atomic hybrid. of the three, atomic hybrid is my favorite because it doesn't make me choose between looks and function... signal/gps/wifi/bluetooth are not affected at all by the hybrid. btw, atomic's customer service is pretty awesome.
 
wylee said:
chris and ufc... you guys crack me up. i guess both of you are REALLY passionate about cases :)

in any case, i have the alumacase, fusionwerkz raw and the atomic hybrid. of the three, atomic hybrid is my favorite because it doesn't make me choose between looks and function... signal/gps/wifi/bluetooth are not affected at all by the hybrid. btw, atomic's customer service is pretty awesome.
Click to expand...

I try! :D
 
chris975d said:
What are you seeing as far as GPS and wifi degradation, if any at all? Have you had a chance to see the actual dB readings of the cell signal, or just bars? I've got an e13ctron coming for testing, but I don't get it until the 6th. So you do think it looks good installed on the phone? I like the look, but that's only based off the pictures on their website.
Click to expand...

I've not done any dps testing with the e13ctron yet. Hoping to get to do it this weekend.

I actually love the look of the case on the phone - unfortunately the fact that it doesn't fit into my docks sortof puts a damper on things: it's not the kind of case you want to be taking off and on (if you look for the thread e13ctron mini review, you can see my first impressions)
 
Rooskibar03 said:
UFC, you need a sarcasm font for posts like that.

I got about halfway down and was thinking WTF before I realized you surly are joking.
Click to expand...
At this point, what else can you do? Yes I was just being a smarta**. People just don't listen to reason but whatever. I am happy with my case and that is all that matters.
 
ufcfighter said:
Everyone here that has bought an Atomic case, we should all take them back because they are junk and they will never stack up against the aluminum cases!! Proven fact over in another thread. The Atomic is just cheap plastic, and all of us who have tried ALL the aluminum cases even though we are all spread out all over the US and have not worked for us, they work for those guys. Go over to the blade thread and look. They don't listen to experts, they are the experts. So today I think we should all take our PLASTIC(CHRIS975d) cases back to Atomic and get our money back because the blade and the vapor work. We must have just installed the Vapor and Alumacase and the Raw and all the others wrong. Because clearly they work according to those guys. Just saying, those guys swear that they work, even though the Vapor was tested by a professional facility, a user over there says his own hands on test is more accurate. So I think we should return the Atomics, go back and pick up the Vapor or Raw again and just live with them because they really do work guys. I promise.:DTHIS IS A JOKE POST BY THE WAY!!
Click to expand...

Like I said in the other thread, and again my phone is unusable now because you and some expert said so!:rolleyes:
 
ufcfighter said:
At this point, what else can you do? Yes I was just being a smarta**. People just don't listen to reason but whatever. I am happy with my case and that is all that matters.
Click to expand...

We can tell people this till we're blue in the face and they still will make these senseless threads.

But for just a moment I thought you went loco.


BTW. I put the blue cap on with the white last night. Looks great, thanks again.
 
Well after reading this thread and a few others, I think I am going to do ahead and order the new Atomic. Seems like the most sensible way to go right now.
 
Rooskibar03 said:
Seriously, ban UFC?

He was one of the few creditable people here. He might have ruffled some featers but he made valid points.

Oh well.
Click to expand...

i made a new thread hoping he wouldnt be involved, as i saw his sn i was expecting this to turn out like the other threads

there was one thing i forgot to ask, in all the confusion about signal, which cases work with aftermarket accessories?

thanks for the info so far
 
solardrgn said:
i made a new thread hoping he wouldnt be involved, as i saw his sn i was expecting this to turn out like the other threads

there was one thing i forgot to ask, in all the confusion about signal, which cases work with aftermarket accessories?

thanks for the info so far
Click to expand...

Back on topic. I've found that most dock connecters work fine. The old larger apple ones dont but the new slim ones work great. I also have an incase cable and car charger for the iPad, that fits as well. The Audi IPod interface in the new cars also fits perfect.

So what doesn't fit? Well the dock is deep so i can't set the phone in any of my charging stations or iHome alarm clock.

I normally use a Griffen Power Dock, but that doesn't work either. An extension is on my list of things to buy but I just haven't got around to it.


To echo above, I've tried them all. The Vapor AR is the only one I liked more then this one and really wished worked.
 
Rooskibar03 said:
Back on topic. I've found that most dock connecters work fine. The old larger apple ones dont but the new slim ones work great. I also have an incase cable and car charger for the iPad, that fits as well. The Audi IPod interface in the new cars also fits perfect.

So what doesn't fit? Well the dock is deep so i can't set the phone in any of my charging stations or iHome alarm clock.

I normally use a Griffen Power Dock, but that doesn't work either. An extension is on my list of things to buy but I just haven't got around to it.


To echo above, I've tried them all. The Vapor AR is the only one I liked more then this one and really wished worked.
Click to expand...


which case are you talking about?
 
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