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Bumper alternatives to the Apple Bumper (with updates)

jrbdmb

jrbdmb

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 19, 2008
454
49
USA
I'm trying to avoid the Apple bumper as I do not want to have to remove it to plug my iPhone 4 into my car stereo, or remove to use some of my aftermarket earphones (apparently the holes for the dock and phones are cut extremely small). So I thought I'd start a "semi-official" thread to bumper alternatives to the Apple product. There are plenty of threads on full cases, no need to rehash them here.

So far I've found / been pointed to:

The original bumper by Apple, $29.95

MC597_AV3


Element Vapor 4 Starting at $79.95

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iLuv Silicone trim case with dual films $24.99

case_iCC700band.jpg


Scosche BandEDGE G4 $24.99

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Marware Sportgrip Edge for iPhone 4 $19.99

media.nl


Unfortunately I haven't seen any external reviews for any of these products yet. Any reviews / note for these products, or additions to this list of bumper style cases would be appreciated.

Added, thanks WhyYouSoBlurry - Agent 18 ShockBand for iPhone 4 $19.95

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Added, thanks dgoldak - Tech21 iBand for iPhone 4

iBand.jpg


Added, thanks Amnesia87 - Uncommon Products iPhone 4 Loop

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Dang, I wish the agent 18 one came in white. I can't wait to see actual pictures of this one.
 
These cases looking nice. Hoping the clear ones turn out great. The prices are cheaper than apples too so that's a plus for aftermarket companies.
 
I'd have to see that Agent 18 case in person, but at least in pictures it looks much slimmer than the bumper. Yes please!
 
I really like the look of the Vapor4, but $80? Yikes!

2nd choice for me is the Marware, but I'd like to see if somebody with it has issues with dock and headphone ports first.
 
I was going to order a Argent 18 clear but cheapest postage to the UK was $65!!!!! So I will wait till it reachesvthe UK lol
 
FYI, I emailed Marware about their availability of the Sportgrip case and this was their response:

Due to unanticipated delays in production we do not expect to receive our inventory of the Sport Grip and SportGrip Edge for iPhone 4 until the week of July 12th. All pending orders will ship immediately after we receive our inventory.




I apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience and understanding.




Best regards,




Carmine Delligatti

Customer Support Manager



Also I emailed Scosche to see if they have plans for other colors because I really like the looks of their cases, but they just said "not at this time," and to keep checking the website for updates.
 
I'm scooping up a couple the Element Vapor 4'sas one of my main cases. Haven't decided on the color combo yet though. I do wish they had a so-called add free version, but oh well they still look great.
 
Getting the Vapor as well, but I also want to get a Dock. I know the Bumper doesnt work with it, but do you guys know if some of the Bumper alternatives work with it?
 
Seeing that the Apple bumper is probably the smallest of the alternatives out there (adding the least to width and depth), if the Apple bumpered iPhone won't fit in the dock I doubt any other bumper or case will fare any better.
 
Can someone get a photoshop with the clear shockband on white i4? Up until now, I was convinced on white i4 with black bumper, but I'm interested in the clear case.
 
Just a heads up, the Marware case is actually cheaper at MacMall at only $12.99. I called them up because they didn't have any in stock and I asked them when they should be getting a shipment of them. They said they should get a delivery sometime this week when I called them last week. The person I spoke with did say that it was tentative and nothing was for sure but I'm assuming they might be severely back ordered or something like that.

Btw, just out of curiously, for those of you interested in the Vapor case, could you explain to me why you're willing to spend so much money on a case? Wouldn't getting AppleCare be cheaper at that point? The case itself is beautiful but the price is what's holding me back.

Thanks
 
I updated the pic for the Marware product. Consensus in another thread is that the mock-up looked better :(, but the white and black cases look OK.
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4 (32GB): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

WhyYouSoBlurry said:
Agent 18 will be producing the Shockband.

http://www.agent18.com/productdetail/iphones/shockband-for-iphone-4/198.aspx
Click to expand...

Only problem with a 100% TPU bumper is the lack of rigidity. The tiny strips of material on either side of the dock connector are very easy to push up/down by simply holding the phone. That Agent18 case does look nice, but I just bought a TPU bumper here in Japan yesterday and it's already off my phone - the flimsiness (is that a word?) drove me crazy. :(
 
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