I registered on July 7th and haven't received my order email yet (I'm in the US). Your mileage may vary.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Element Vapor Case
- Thread starter johnnybgood15
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I registered on July 7th and haven't received my order email yet (I'm in the US). Your mileage may vary.
OK, folks, I got mine today...
I've literally read this entire thread, each and every page, every post... and I, like most everybody here, was more confused after reading, than before lol
Anyway, it just arrived, so I thought I'd offer some pics, thoughts and ordering experience...
Here's the timeline:
July 7 - Signed up with email address for pre order waiting list
July 14 - Notified of 'delay' due to demand, production changes, etc.
Aug 10 - Received email my number came up and I could place my order
Aug 10 - Placed order for Silver/Silver, no carbon option, pre-paid in full, including shipping, via Pay-Pal
Aug 10 - Received confirmation of order email: "Your Order Will Be Shipped By USPS PRIORITY MAIL for $10.00 USD Your Order Contains the Following Items... Cart Items Vapor Case (W/Carbon Upgrade($20 More): No, Color: Silver/Silver) $79.95 USD Items: $79.95 USD Shipping: $10.00 USD Total Cost: $89.95 USD"
Aug 16 - Received email 'shipping notification': "A package was shipped to you on 08/16/2010 via U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail, Small Flat Rate BOX to the following address"
Aug 18 - After reading of shipping delays, and now knowing it would 'be a while' I had a change of heart, color-wise, and sent Element an email requesting a color change from Silver/Silver to Black/Blue.
Aug 18 - Received automated reply: "Thank you for contacting Element Case. If this is regarding your Vapor Order or Vapor Questions please email us at Vapor@elementcase.com If this email is regarding retail inquiries please email us at sales@elementcase.com If you are looking to return or exchange a product please email us at returns@elementcase.com Thank you, Element Case Staff"
Aug 19 - received email reply from Element: "We can change it, please let us know what color combination to change it to so that we can make the change before it ships. Your order is scheduled to ship out in the next 2 weeks. ElementCASE Customer Service" (yes, 'in the next two weeks', but I thought I'd gotten a shipping confirmation lol)
Aug 19 - I reply: "Thank You. Please change the color to Black / Blue. Much appreciated! Cant wait to get it."
Aug 21 - Received email from Element: "We will make the change to Black/Blue on Monday, and it should be reflected in the system by then. ElementCASE Customer Service"
Aug 24 - Received email: "An order you recently placed on our website has had its status changed. The status of order #5567 is now Shipped"
Aug 25 (today) - Received package with case in the mail. A SILVER/SILVER case
Here's a few pics...
I've literally read this entire thread, each and every page, every post... and I, like most everybody here, was more confused after reading, than before lol
Anyway, it just arrived, so I thought I'd offer some pics, thoughts and ordering experience...
Here's the timeline:
July 7 - Signed up with email address for pre order waiting list
July 14 - Notified of 'delay' due to demand, production changes, etc.
Aug 10 - Received email my number came up and I could place my order
Aug 10 - Placed order for Silver/Silver, no carbon option, pre-paid in full, including shipping, via Pay-Pal
Aug 10 - Received confirmation of order email: "Your Order Will Be Shipped By USPS PRIORITY MAIL for $10.00 USD Your Order Contains the Following Items... Cart Items Vapor Case (W/Carbon Upgrade($20 More): No, Color: Silver/Silver) $79.95 USD Items: $79.95 USD Shipping: $10.00 USD Total Cost: $89.95 USD"
Aug 16 - Received email 'shipping notification': "A package was shipped to you on 08/16/2010 via U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail, Small Flat Rate BOX to the following address"
Aug 18 - After reading of shipping delays, and now knowing it would 'be a while' I had a change of heart, color-wise, and sent Element an email requesting a color change from Silver/Silver to Black/Blue.
Aug 18 - Received automated reply: "Thank you for contacting Element Case. If this is regarding your Vapor Order or Vapor Questions please email us at Vapor@elementcase.com If this email is regarding retail inquiries please email us at sales@elementcase.com If you are looking to return or exchange a product please email us at returns@elementcase.com Thank you, Element Case Staff"
Aug 19 - received email reply from Element: "We can change it, please let us know what color combination to change it to so that we can make the change before it ships. Your order is scheduled to ship out in the next 2 weeks. ElementCASE Customer Service" (yes, 'in the next two weeks', but I thought I'd gotten a shipping confirmation lol)
Aug 19 - I reply: "Thank You. Please change the color to Black / Blue. Much appreciated! Cant wait to get it."
Aug 21 - Received email from Element: "We will make the change to Black/Blue on Monday, and it should be reflected in the system by then. ElementCASE Customer Service"
Aug 24 - Received email: "An order you recently placed on our website has had its status changed. The status of order #5567 is now Shipped"
Aug 25 (today) - Received package with case in the mail. A SILVER/SILVER case
Here's a few pics...
Well I take you at your word, of course.
We appreciate your posting your positive experience here, even though "we" sometimes don't appropriately show it.
Some here have not had good results, so there is a vein of skepticism running through this thread.
Enjoy your Vapor!
Thanks for your support. I don't want to do pictures because I read somewhere that multiple removal of the case contributes to compression of the "high tech insulation" leading to possible antenna contact.
It's strange, this morning with both apple earphones and charger cord plugged in I get 4 bars. without them I get 3 bars. That's still what I was getting with my Apple bumper.
With more careful examination GPS is maybe 100-150 feet off in my condo. I'll test this outdoors.
So, thoughts...
Ordering, purchasing... I'm with everyone else, certainly could be better. Though, from what I've read here, I haven't waited as long as some of you. And the color change request, well, you all can see how well that worked out
Fitment: Very nice, for a custom case from a company this small, pretty damn nice. It ain't Rolex perfect, but it's quite, quite nice fitting. Pics say it all.
Feel: Again, quite nice. It's AMAZINGLY light weight. Even lighter than I expected. And despite that light weight, very rigid and feels impressively solid. The sleep/wake button is very nice as well, I love that you can actually see the machine marks on it, so even this tiny part is actually being machined, not molded. There are simply no cosmetic flaws either, I'd say the finish/machine work is 99% consistent in every way. Edges are clean, texture is uniform, and overall just quite well done.
Install: Simple as you expect. Took less than a minute.
Now the million dollar question... reception: Yes, I saw a drop in bars. No question. It actually seems to vary back and forth a bit, I saw it drop both one, and two bars, but strangely inconsistently. I had 3 bars steady without case, with I seem to have 2, or 1, or 3... WiFi: Seems unchanged at this time, seeing full reception with case on. Blue-tooth: Haven't tested yet, I'll update when I do. GPS, hard to say if there's change, but it seems to be tracking just fine, both outside and indoors.
Anyway, hope this all helps, I'll post again once I've lived with it for a day or two and can offer more real-world insight.
Ordering, purchasing... I'm with everyone else, certainly could be better. Though, from what I've read here, I haven't waited as long as some of you. And the color change request, well, you all can see how well that worked out
Fitment: Very nice, for a custom case from a company this small, pretty damn nice. It ain't Rolex perfect, but it's quite, quite nice fitting. Pics say it all.
Feel: Again, quite nice. It's AMAZINGLY light weight. Even lighter than I expected. And despite that light weight, very rigid and feels impressively solid. The sleep/wake button is very nice as well, I love that you can actually see the machine marks on it, so even this tiny part is actually being machined, not molded. There are simply no cosmetic flaws either, I'd say the finish/machine work is 99% consistent in every way. Edges are clean, texture is uniform, and overall just quite well done.
Install: Simple as you expect. Took less than a minute.
Now the million dollar question... reception: Yes, I saw a drop in bars. No question. It actually seems to vary back and forth a bit, I saw it drop both one, and two bars, but strangely inconsistently. I had 3 bars steady without case, with I seem to have 2, or 1, or 3... WiFi: Seems unchanged at this time, seeing full reception with case on. Blue-tooth: Haven't tested yet, I'll update when I do. GPS, hard to say if there's change, but it seems to be tracking just fine, both outside and indoors.
Anyway, hope this all helps, I'll post again once I've lived with it for a day or two and can offer more real-world insight.
So, thoughts...
Ordering, purchasing... I'm with everyone else, certainly could be better. Though, from what I've read here, I haven't waited as long as some of you. And the color change request, well, you all can see how well that worked out
Fitment: Very nice, for a custom case from a company this small, pretty damn nice. It ain't Rolex perfect, but it's quite, quite nice fitting. Pics say it all.
Feel: Again, quite nice. It's AMAZINGLY light weight. Even lighter than I expected. And despite that light weight, very rigid and feels impressively solid. The sleep/wake button is very nice as well, I love that you can actually see the machine marks on it, so even this tiny part is actually being machined, not molded. There are simply no cosmetic flaws either, I'd say the finish/machine work is 99% consistent in every way. Edges are clean, texture is uniform, and overall just quite well done.
Install: Simple as you expect. Took less than a minute.
Now the million dollar question... reception: Yes, I saw a drop in bars. No question. It actually seems to vary back and forth a bit, I saw it drop both one, and two bars, but strangely inconsistently. I had 3 bars steady without case, with I seem to have 2, or 1, or 3... WiFi: Seems unchanged at this time, seeing full reception with case on. Blue-tooth: Haven't tested yet, I'll update when I do. GPS, hard to say if there's change, but it seems to be tracking just fine, both outside and indoors.
Anyway, hope this all helps, I'll post again once I've lived with it for a day or two and can offer more real-world insight.
My experience is very close to yours. I ordered silver/silver, tried to change to gunmetal/gunmetal (or graphite). They informed me that that color was not yet available.
My reception has been as good or better than with Apple bumper (3-4 bars).
GPS seems inaccurate but I haven't tested outdoors.
Thanks for the great pictures. I'm going to frame them.
My experience is very close to yours. I ordered silver/silver, tried to change to gunmetal/gunmetal (or graphite). They informed me that that color was not yet available.
My reception has been as good or better than with Apple bumper (3-4 bars).
GPS seems inaccurate but I haven't tested outdoors.
Thanks for the great pictures. I'm going to frame them.
Try doing the figure 8 with your phone to see if it fixes the gps, my gps was working flawless, then one day it had me a block from my location so I did the figure 8 and watched the blue dot move to my exact location.
...
sheriffd2 I'm also a silver/sliver owner (previously posted)... I will NOT be returning this Vapor4 case. After using it over the weekend, no issues to report in the SoCal area. Beautiful case for sure
.
Lol. many share your feelings. They still seem to be doing sales so I guess the attraction of the product is overriding their subpar customer service and issues with the case. My biggest concern was the dock extender because there is a new device that I use in my work that plugs into the iphone that replaces a separate portable device. ( very happy about the doc extender tip from yesterday ) Mail doesn't get to my neck of the woods until 2 so I will report then back either way.
Well got a reply to my exchange of the frame which was scratched and it states that my status was changed to refund. I didn't want a refund and want the frame replaced with one that wasn't scratched. That is the only part I actually sent them and kept the red cap since it was the only defective part. I sent them an email to find out what is going on and see what happens.