I have had my Vapor for awhile now and to be honest, the only real good thing about the Vapor is the look. The performance of your phone goes down in one way or another. In my particular case, the GPS is off terribly and the signal is down a little, not real bad but bad enough I kept trying other cases. I then tried the alumacase and I am not even going to get into that disaster of a case. Awful finish, terrible signal and even worse GPS. Then I had the Original Atomic and it was not a whole lot better.
So then the Raw came along and its a very well performing case. I originally had a silver and a black and they had major problems so I returned them both and then I reordered the orange one that just came out and it performs much much better and the finish is alot better also, still not element caliber but pretty damn close. Lets face it, Element finish is what keeps that company in business. Their customer service is crap, the ordering system is a joke and to top it off your phone actually performs worse with it on, so the only upside is the look. The Raw on the other hand is performing pretty well so far. Not a slam dunk but a very good case. GPS is about 90 percent accurate compared to Element's 60-75 at BEST. Signal strength is good and their packaging is second to none. Completely outstanding packaging and excellent customer service. But the bad points of the case to ME!!!! And this is MY opinion is just the awkwardness of the case itself, the sharp edges, the anodizing not being in my opinion GREAT and for some reason it hurts my wifi range the most and I know your not supposed to run a screen protector with it but I will be damn if I carry my phone with out one especially with a case that sits directly on the screen. With that said, the case pulls up my screen protector everytime. It does not matter what brand I use, it still pulls them up and to me that is a problem. Not sure why but all three cases I have tried have done the same thing. But still in MY opinion a very good case.
Today I got the new Atomic Hybrid's I ordered and they are absolutely great cases. They look great, perform great, they have good packaging now and good carbon too. They are very light and comfortable to hold and the anodizing on the caps is on par with Element and the composite part is flawless as well. So today I put all three cases up against each other, completely unmodified. Straight from the box to the phone and I did a field test, wifi test and GPS test and unfortunately I do not get 3G so that test will have to wait until tomorrow. Although I can already tell you element is not very good in that area because I have used it in 3G conditions alot and you never get the same performance twice in a row from it. So I did all the test with the same phone, same router and drove the exact same route to do the GPS test. I did not document the GPS test because I had no one else to record but here are the results. Element failed tremendously in this category. I would be driving in the field at times, the ditch or sometimes not moving at all, so it by far was the worst. Next was the Raw, it did very well and was accurate I would say 90% of the time but at times would still show me off the road or a block or so away at times. But it did lock into my location very quickly. The new Atomic case was hands down the winner in the GPS department. It was 100 percent accurate all the time, it would find me instantly and never loose me. I drove almost 10 miles and made turn after turn on tight streets and it was with me every step of the way.
Next was the Wifi test and the Field test. I did document those with lots of pictures and again it was more of the same. Element was the worst in the field test but a little better in the wifi department than the Raw was. But the new Atomic topped them both again in both categories. I know some people are gonna say, well it's not all aluminum so it doesn't count, well it even out performed my apple bumper..No Kidding!!! Looks wise, its a personal choice there. I love the look of the Raw but hate the way it feels, of course the Vapor is excellent in looks but performs the worst. The Atomic also has a very nice finish and feels good in your hand but is much lighter than the other two. So really on looks, it all comes down to personal preference. Finish wise I would say the Vapor and Atomic are close but the Raw is still very good as everyone knows but as you will see with my pictures, the Atomic's new case has made leaps and bounds from their original. The finish is great, even the composite part of the case shows no marks or scratches at all. Like i said, if you didn't know if was not aluminum, you could not tell by looking and I have a picture of it standing side by side next to the ar15 and they look identical. Then you have customer service, well we all know Element is terrible, has always been terrible and more than likely always will be. Fusion on the other hand is ran by great guy, who stands behind his product 100 percent and today, that means something to me. He is very professional and very quick to return emails and that says alot about the company in itself. Atomic filled my order, I payed for overnight shipping and my cases were here when I got home today so what can I say. They delivered as promised. I have never had a problem contacting Atomic although others have. I think there are conflicting email addresses out there that is causing some of the problem and this new case has had them all running for awhile from what I was told by email. From now on things should run smoother from what I have been told. But like I said, I personally have had no problem ever getting ahold of them. They always get back to me the same day. Time will tell on that situation, but I think they are trying and they have always kept their end of the deal when dealing with me. So I personally can not say anything negative about them. I also ordered the new carbon fiber back piece from Atomic to Compare with the Element Carbon and believe it or not, the Atomic is nicer or as nice as the Element carbon. It looks as good and is even thicker than the element carbon. Now to the test pictures, I took a ton and did it all completely fair, even element as bad as I dislike that company was given a fair shake. So here are my pictures of the results taken today. I tried to describe each product as fairly as I could. I think the Atomic case will raise some eye brows when you see the results. I know I was surprised. But I can officially say now that my case search is over, I am sticking with the Atomic. To me it had no downside, it tested great, looks great and fits great. Now the whole drop test theory is like this in my eyes, if you want a case that will protect your phone if it hits the pavement, by an otter-box. If you want some style and protection is not your primary concern, than these cases are what you would want. And no I will not drop test my phone so please don't ask.
First we will start with packaging, again my hands down favorite is Fusion.
Then we will go with the Wifi Test, Here the results between the Vapor and Atomic were very close.
Ar15-Test
Atomic Hybrid-Test
Fusion Raw-Test
Now the Field Test, this was hands down won by the new Atomic. It even performed better than with no case at all. I don't know how but I did this test with this case and with no case several times and every time it was better with the Atomic than going naked.
AR15 Field Test
Atomic Field Test
NO case Field Test
Fusion Raw Field Test
Here are the rest of the pictures I took today so you can see all the cases from several views.
Atomic's button is completely flush, which is great. So no more accidentally turning your phone on in your pocket.
So then the Raw came along and its a very well performing case. I originally had a silver and a black and they had major problems so I returned them both and then I reordered the orange one that just came out and it performs much much better and the finish is alot better also, still not element caliber but pretty damn close. Lets face it, Element finish is what keeps that company in business. Their customer service is crap, the ordering system is a joke and to top it off your phone actually performs worse with it on, so the only upside is the look. The Raw on the other hand is performing pretty well so far. Not a slam dunk but a very good case. GPS is about 90 percent accurate compared to Element's 60-75 at BEST. Signal strength is good and their packaging is second to none. Completely outstanding packaging and excellent customer service. But the bad points of the case to ME!!!! And this is MY opinion is just the awkwardness of the case itself, the sharp edges, the anodizing not being in my opinion GREAT and for some reason it hurts my wifi range the most and I know your not supposed to run a screen protector with it but I will be damn if I carry my phone with out one especially with a case that sits directly on the screen. With that said, the case pulls up my screen protector everytime. It does not matter what brand I use, it still pulls them up and to me that is a problem. Not sure why but all three cases I have tried have done the same thing. But still in MY opinion a very good case.
Today I got the new Atomic Hybrid's I ordered and they are absolutely great cases. They look great, perform great, they have good packaging now and good carbon too. They are very light and comfortable to hold and the anodizing on the caps is on par with Element and the composite part is flawless as well. So today I put all three cases up against each other, completely unmodified. Straight from the box to the phone and I did a field test, wifi test and GPS test and unfortunately I do not get 3G so that test will have to wait until tomorrow. Although I can already tell you element is not very good in that area because I have used it in 3G conditions alot and you never get the same performance twice in a row from it. So I did all the test with the same phone, same router and drove the exact same route to do the GPS test. I did not document the GPS test because I had no one else to record but here are the results. Element failed tremendously in this category. I would be driving in the field at times, the ditch or sometimes not moving at all, so it by far was the worst. Next was the Raw, it did very well and was accurate I would say 90% of the time but at times would still show me off the road or a block or so away at times. But it did lock into my location very quickly. The new Atomic case was hands down the winner in the GPS department. It was 100 percent accurate all the time, it would find me instantly and never loose me. I drove almost 10 miles and made turn after turn on tight streets and it was with me every step of the way.
Next was the Wifi test and the Field test. I did document those with lots of pictures and again it was more of the same. Element was the worst in the field test but a little better in the wifi department than the Raw was. But the new Atomic topped them both again in both categories. I know some people are gonna say, well it's not all aluminum so it doesn't count, well it even out performed my apple bumper..No Kidding!!! Looks wise, its a personal choice there. I love the look of the Raw but hate the way it feels, of course the Vapor is excellent in looks but performs the worst. The Atomic also has a very nice finish and feels good in your hand but is much lighter than the other two. So really on looks, it all comes down to personal preference. Finish wise I would say the Vapor and Atomic are close but the Raw is still very good as everyone knows but as you will see with my pictures, the Atomic's new case has made leaps and bounds from their original. The finish is great, even the composite part of the case shows no marks or scratches at all. Like i said, if you didn't know if was not aluminum, you could not tell by looking and I have a picture of it standing side by side next to the ar15 and they look identical. Then you have customer service, well we all know Element is terrible, has always been terrible and more than likely always will be. Fusion on the other hand is ran by great guy, who stands behind his product 100 percent and today, that means something to me. He is very professional and very quick to return emails and that says alot about the company in itself. Atomic filled my order, I payed for overnight shipping and my cases were here when I got home today so what can I say. They delivered as promised. I have never had a problem contacting Atomic although others have. I think there are conflicting email addresses out there that is causing some of the problem and this new case has had them all running for awhile from what I was told by email. From now on things should run smoother from what I have been told. But like I said, I personally have had no problem ever getting ahold of them. They always get back to me the same day. Time will tell on that situation, but I think they are trying and they have always kept their end of the deal when dealing with me. So I personally can not say anything negative about them. I also ordered the new carbon fiber back piece from Atomic to Compare with the Element Carbon and believe it or not, the Atomic is nicer or as nice as the Element carbon. It looks as good and is even thicker than the element carbon. Now to the test pictures, I took a ton and did it all completely fair, even element as bad as I dislike that company was given a fair shake. So here are my pictures of the results taken today. I tried to describe each product as fairly as I could. I think the Atomic case will raise some eye brows when you see the results. I know I was surprised. But I can officially say now that my case search is over, I am sticking with the Atomic. To me it had no downside, it tested great, looks great and fits great. Now the whole drop test theory is like this in my eyes, if you want a case that will protect your phone if it hits the pavement, by an otter-box. If you want some style and protection is not your primary concern, than these cases are what you would want. And no I will not drop test my phone so please don't ask.
First we will start with packaging, again my hands down favorite is Fusion.
Then we will go with the Wifi Test, Here the results between the Vapor and Atomic were very close.
Ar15-Test
Atomic Hybrid-Test
Fusion Raw-Test
Now the Field Test, this was hands down won by the new Atomic. It even performed better than with no case at all. I don't know how but I did this test with this case and with no case several times and every time it was better with the Atomic than going naked.
AR15 Field Test
Atomic Field Test
NO case Field Test
Fusion Raw Field Test
Here are the rest of the pictures I took today so you can see all the cases from several views.
Atomic's button is completely flush, which is great. So no more accidentally turning your phone on in your pocket.
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