iPhone 6 - Caudabe Veil

[Harmonious Zen]

honestly, all products sold around the world are made in China, mostly


shipped from the US only means that they have a warehouse there

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i guess that the Shumuri covering the bottom will prevent from formfactor deformation and also dirt getting in, vs the Caudabe ?

Most cases these days by any manufacturer are made in China. But there's also a difference between an American company and a Chinese or Asian when it comes to quality consistency and after sales support. With all the choices we have in the US, I honestly don't see why anyone would need to buy from say a Shumuri who no one has ever heard of and is all the way in China.

By the way, after reading reports from some others here that Caudabe might be coming out with a version of the Veil that covers all sides, I decided to go right to the horse's mouth too and shot them an email. Basically got some lame response about not being able to confirm or deny but then basically confirming that indeed they're working on it. I'm pretty happy with the Veil I have now, but I'm curious to see what they come up with. Full coverage isn't necessary for me, but would be cool.

 

[juanrp]

Well, I contacted caudabe on the possibility of a case that will sit flush with the camera and they replied:

hi there, we will definitely have several cases that protect the camera completely. Stay posted!

(Was on social media, their Twitter)

 

[FuzzMunky]

I just received The Veil for my 6. I have to say I am a little disappointed. There is a lip over the curved screen which isn't large enough to offer any advantages (ie. protection from laying screen face-down) but is too large to not notice when you swipe the screen. Also it is asymmetrical. The left lip is about 1-1.5mm and the right one is 2mm. Very annoying. Plus the bottom cutout has quite a sharp ridge to it. It feels quite uncomfortable in the hand. Finally the material is more slippery than the bare metal.

But, aside from these substantial dealbreaking negatives (at least for me) the case looks great. The frost colour on the silver iPhone, I would say, even improves on the original design by lightening the horrible antenna bands a bit to a more acceptable silvery tone rather than the dull grey it has when naked. Anyway, it looks like from pictures that the Shumuri case has no lip. I think I will be getting one of those.

 

[Amplelink]

I just received The Veil for my 6. I have to say I am a little disappointed. There is a lip over the curved screen which isn't large enough to offer any advantages (ie. protection from laying screen face-down) but is too large to not notice when you swipe the screen. Also it is asymmetrical. The left lip is about 1-1.5mm and the right one is 2mm. Very annoying. Plus the bottom cutout has quite a sharp ridge to it. It feels quite uncomfortable in the hand. Finally the material is more slippery than the bare metal.

But, aside from these substantial dealbreaking negatives (at least for me) the case looks great. The frost colour on the silver iPhone, I would say, even improves on the original design by lightening the horrible antenna bands a bit to a more acceptable silvery tone rather than the dull grey it has when naked. Anyway, it looks like from pictures that the Shumuri case has no lip. I think I will be getting one of those.

Wow, are you being serious? And here I thought I was pretty OCD! You can actually notice (and look for) a 0.5mm difference between the two sides? I looked at my wife's pretty extensively as she got hers recently and hers looked fine. I thought the case actually provided more grip than the naked iPhone as well. Maybe you have a defective one?

I'm still waiting patiently for the 6 Plus version. tried on one of the Apple cases but still prefer the Veil.

 

[thelookingglass]

Wow, are you being serious? And here I thought I was pretty OCD! You can actually notice (and look for) a 0.5mm difference between the two sides? I looked at my wife's pretty extensively as she got hers recently and hers looked fine. I thought the case actually provided more grip than the naked iPhone as well. Maybe you have a defective one?

I'm still waiting patiently for the 6 Plus version. tried on one of the Apple cases but still prefer the Veil.

That's funny - I had the same thought. But to contribute to the OCD discussion, can I just say that I LIKE the lip on the Veil? It's tough to even call it a lip because it's so minimal - we're talking like a fraction of a millimeter here. But it's just enough that it provides the slightest lay-on-table protection for the front. But not obtrusive enough that it hinders using the phone like on a thicker case.

 

[FuzzMunky]

Wow, are you being serious? And here I thought I was pretty OCD! You can actually notice (and look for) a 0.5mm difference between the two sides? I looked at my wife's pretty extensively as she got hers recently and hers looked fine. I thought the case actually provided more grip than the naked iPhone as well. Maybe you have a defective one?

I'm still waiting patiently for the 6 Plus version. tried on one of the Apple cases but still prefer the Veil.

The lopsided-ness tells me there is a lot of manufacturing variability. For example the edge on the right is sharp, but the left edge is smooth and not noticeable. I am sure a different sample would be different in a multitude of ways. However there will always be a lip. This much is part of the design as it bows out from the top edge to increase the lip where you'd least want it.

Also, about your OCD comment - you'd be surprised how easily it is to see a 0.5mm difference when the frame itself is only a few mms from where the metal ends to where the LCD starts. One side is clearly encroaching more than the other and my estimate is it is at least 0.5mm but looks like more, hence why I said 1-1.5 for the left vs 2 for the right. I am absolutely positive that each sample will vary a bit, since I am sure they did not design this asymmetry on purpose.

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But it's just enough that it provides the slightest lay-on-table protection for the front. But not obtrusive enough that it hinders using the phone like on a thicker case.

I might take a photo later on which will prove this to be factually incorrect, at least in my case.

 

[thelookingglass]

The lopsided-ness tells me there is a lot of manufacturing variability. For example the edge on the right is sharp, but the left edge is smooth and not noticeable. I am sure a different sample would be different in a multitude of ways. However there will always be a lip. This much is part of the design as it bows out from the top edge to increase the lip where you'd least want it.

Also, about your OCD comment - you'd be surprised how easily it is to see a 0.5mm difference when the frame itself is only a few mms from where the metal ends to where the LCD starts. One side is clearly encroaching more than the other and my estimate is it is at least 0.5mm but looks like more, hence why I said 1-1.5 for the left vs 2 for the right. I am absolutely positive that each sample will vary a bit, since I am sure they did not design this asymmetry on purpose.

Yeah, there absolutely will be manufacturing variability. I for one don't have any of the issues you mentioned, although some of your issues are clearly more personal preference issues. My Veil is smooth on both sides and I actually like the lip. My Spigen Air Skin has a similar lip which I also like.

Reminds me of an interesting anecdote involving the 5s. I had on a Caudabe Veil on my 5s and a friend with a 5s wanted to try it out so I popped it off of mine and gave it to him. It turns out that the case fit a little bit looser on his phone than on mine. It wasn't enough to be an issue, but there was a difference. Same case, two different phones. Suggesting that even among iPhones there is variability. huge surprise for me but I guess that's how manufacturing is.

In any case, have you tried getting a replacement from Caudabe? They are pretty awesome with sending out replacements just given my experience with them on my 5s.

 

[Infinitewisdom]

I just received mine. Quality is what I expected based on my past purchases of Caudabe products, which is to say good. The fit of the case is tight around the phone and the cutouts are precise. I don't know what all the commotion is over the lip. There's barely any lip here and it's hardly an annoyance. In fact it's slightly beneficial in that it creates some very tiny space between the case and the glass in case you were to set your iPhone face down.

All in all, happy with the purchase. We'll see how long it lasts. These things can break easily. But I love the look. Very sleek. Great deal for $15.

 

[ScubaCinci]

Caudabe manufacturer located in Cincinnati, Ohio. It's 100% American made !

Give me an address and I'll check

*EDIT* the address they give is a post office and literally less than 3 miles from my house. Their phone # is a 513 area code which is Cincinnati.

 

[thelookingglass]

Give me an address and I'll check

*EDIT* the address they give is literally less than 3 miles from my house. Their phone # is a 513 area code which is Cincinnati.

I'll save you the work - I've got a box here that the Veil came in and it says "Manufactured in China", so I think that puts to rest any thought that they manufacture in the USA. And to be honest, for products like phone cases, it probably makes no sense to manufacture over here otherwise Apple would probably do it too.

 

[cheapa55]

Just to add my input on the "lip" issue. The two I installed on my wife's phone have the slightest lip with it's almost inevitable with a screen that curves on the edges. Unless the case is 0.005mm thick on the edge, you will feel it. I'm as OCD as anyone here and I am very happy with it. I can believe there are different variations but the great thing about Caudabe is the customer service.

As for where it is manufactured, I agree, it makes no sense at least financially to make products here. If it were made in the US, they would have to charge way more and then would complain about the price. As long as the company is in the US, then they have higher standards than some based in China (of course I'm generalizing and there are always exceptions).

 

[FuzzMunky]

Just to add my input on the "lip" issue. The two I installed on my wife's phone have the slightest lip with it's almost inevitable with a screen that curves on the edges. Unless the case is 0.005mm thick on the edge, you will feel it. I'm as OCD as anyone here and I am very happy with it. I can believe there are different variations but the great thing about Caudabe is the customer service.

As for where it is manufactured, I agree, it makes no sense at least financially to make products here. If it were made in the US, they would have to charge way more and then would complain about the price. As long as the company is in the US, then they have higher standards than some based in China (of course I'm generalizing and there are always exceptions).

I think the subtext of this thread is not a moral judgement on outsourcing to china for manufacturing, but an insinuation of something more sinister. It is being suggested, although no one wants to outright admit it, that these case are likely being made by those who make the 99cent ebay cases. Or, to beat around the bush as little as possible, these likely ARE the 99c cases but with branding (a negative) and a 1500% markup.

I'm going to order one and compare.

 

[thelookingglass]

I think the subtext of this thread is not a moral judgement on outsourcing to china for manufacturing, but an insinuation of something more sinister. It is being suggested, although no one wants to outright admit it, that these case are likely being made by those who make the 99cent ebay cases. Or, to beat around the bush as little as possible, these likely ARE the 99c cases but with branding (a negative) and a 1500% markup.

I'm going to order one and compare.

Yup, spot on. But this isn't exactly new news. Most of the fungible products we buy these days have cheaper knockoff versions. I saw a leather 5s case at Best Buy that was literally the exact same thing as the Apple 5s case, but obviously at a cheaper price point. And I remember last year there was a Poetic case that everyone seemed to like (which, incidentally, I thought was incredibly poorly designed). Three months later, that same exact case is being sold by three different manufacturers. Pretty funny. Most of the cases that are discussed on Macrumors have knockoffs if you look hard enough.

But, I'll save you the work of buying a knockoff because I did just that in my experiment with thin cases last year for my 5s. There's a reason I only buy from brands I recognize (which I suppose is the same reason I buy brands for anything else). You'd have to be kidding yourself if you didn't think that the cheap eBay knockoffs weren't really similar. They are. But the difference to me really is consistency of quality and after sales support. Some of the cheap eBay knockoffs I got were decent. But some were also deformed when they got to me, loose fitting, had imprecise cutouts or looked nothing like what was advertised. And almost all of them took a month to get to me from China. And when I had an issue, I had to deal with a sketchy seller who never responded or didn't want to take responsibility. Contrast this with my experience with Caudabe last year on my 5s Veil or my experience with Speck on a Candyshell I had for a 4s. I had an issue with both cases after some use and both of those companies pretty much replaced them for me with almost no questions asked. I had to furnish some documentation, but that was it. Now THAT'S service.

So I could go bargain bin hunting and probably find the same thing or something really similar for any of the cases I buy. But I'm not even going to bother. In this particular instance, the Veil fits great and does what I bought it to do. And I got it on Amazon for $15 with Prime 2-day shipping. Same thing with my Spigen. And if something goes wrong, I know just from past experience that they'll take care of me. For a $10-$20 product, I couldn't really ask for any more.

 

[ScubaCinci]

I'll save you the work - I've got a box here that the Veil came in and it says "Manufactured in China", so I think that puts to rest any thought that they manufacture in the USA. And to be honest, for products like phone cases, it probably makes no sense to manufacture over here otherwise Apple would probably do it too.

Yeah, when I looked further, you can see that they are basically an importer distributor.

 

[Fattytail]

Yup, spot on. But this isn't exactly new news. Most of the fungible products we buy these days have cheaper knockoff versions. I saw a leather 5s case at Best Buy that was literally the exact same thing as the Apple 5s case, but obviously at a cheaper price point. And I remember last year there was a Poetic case that everyone seemed to like (which, incidentally, I thought was incredibly poorly designed). Three months later, that same exact case is being sold by three different manufacturers. Pretty funny. Most of the cases that are discussed on Macrumors have knockoffs if you look hard enough.

But, I'll save you the work of buying a knockoff because I did just that in my experiment with thin cases last year for my 5s. There's a reason I only buy from brands I recognize (which I suppose is the same reason I buy brands for anything else). You'd have to be kidding yourself if you didn't think that the cheap eBay knockoffs weren't really similar. They are. But the difference to me really is consistency of quality and after sales support. Some of the cheap eBay knockoffs I got were decent. But some were also deformed when they got to me, loose fitting, had imprecise cutouts or looked nothing like what was advertised. And almost all of them took a month to get to me from China. And when I had an issue, I had to deal with a sketchy seller who never responded or didn't want to take responsibility. Contrast this with my experience with Caudabe last year on my 5s Veil or my experience with Speck on a Candyshell I had for a 4s. I had an issue with both cases after some use and both of those companies pretty much replaced them for me with almost no questions asked. I had to furnish some documentation, but that was it. Now THAT'S service.

So I could go bargain bin hunting and probably find the same thing or something really similar for any of the cases I buy. But I'm not even going to bother. In this particular instance, the Veil fits great and does what I bought it to do. And I got it on Amazon for $15 with Prime 2-day shipping. Same thing with my Spigen. And if something goes wrong, I know just from past experience that they'll take care of me. For a $10-$20 product, I couldn't really ask for any more.

+1. I remember people raving about their service which was odd to me because it was just an iPhone case. But I was pleasantly surprised when I contacted them as well. I too got a replacement Veil without any hassle whatsoever. Top notch service. I ended up buying the Veil for many family members as a result.

Having said all that, I'm still waiting for the 6 Plus version of the Veil. Grrrrr.

 

[Cherish]

If it's the same as the $0.99 case, replacement is not surprising since you already paid marked up price.

 

[thelookingglass]

If it's the same as the $0.99 case, replacement is not surprising since you already paid marked up price.

Yeah, I mean I can totally see from a business perspective why they're so generous. But, I still appreciate the gesture. Not all companies do that these days. Although I personally see a trend of more companies going out of their way to please customers in this day and age of Twitter and Facebook. It still chaps my rear that one YouTube video by some YouTuber created BendGate and necessitated Apple to even come out and provide a response. Just ridiculous.

 

[FuzzMunky]

If it's the same as the $0.99 case, replacement is not surprising since you already paid marked up price.

It's worse than that actually. I looked on Alibaba and if you buy 1000 pieces they cost 1 cent each. So a 15000% markup. Why any one would praise a free replacement at 15 bucks over the ability to rebuy the case multiple times for less than those 15 bucks makes zero sense to me. It is like saying you prefer to buy wine in carryout glasses from a restaurant for a huge markup vs buying 10 bottles of the same wine for the price of the single glass in the restaurant. And then justifying it by saying if its corked they'll pour you another glass.

Also most of the eBay seller are based in the US. Presumably they have filled orders on sites like Alibaba and have already taken shipment of the cases ready to dispatch from their us address.

 

[thelookingglass]

It's worse than that actually. I looked on Alibaba and if you buy 1000 pieces they cost 1 cent each. So a 15000% markup. Why any one would praise a free replacement at 15 bucks over the ability to rebuy the case multiple times for less than those 15 bucks makes zero sense to me. It is like saying you prefer to buy wine in carryout glasses from a restaurant for a huge markup vs buying 10 bottles of the same wine for the price of the single glass in the restaurant. And then justifying it by saying if its corked they'll pour you another glass.

Also most of the eBay seller are based in the US. Presumably they have filled orders on sites like Alibaba and have already taken shipment of the cases ready to dispatch from their us address.

So should we just boycott Caudabe, Shumuri and Spigen? By your logic we should be scouring eBay and Alibaba for the best deals possible for almost everything. Kitchenware, socks, t-shirts. Those are all very fungible commodities, just like phone cases. Heck, even this Polo shirt that I have on right now, by virtue of a little horse on it, is probably 50x more than it actually cost to produce. So should I be looking for the counterfeits online so I can save a few bucks?

I think there's also the fact that value comes in many forms, some of which aren't purely economic but which are ultimately reflected in the price that the market is willing to bear for a particular product. There's value, for instance, in the convenience of being able to buy a Spigen Air Cushion case on Amazon. It's just a clear TPU case for crying out loud. I could also buy a ton of them for a fraction of what I actually paid for it. Take a look at www.oppomart.com. Any cases there look familiar to you? A lot cheaper don't you think? Not a chance I'm placing an order there though. There's also value in having things nicely packaged and presented. There's value in the knowledge that if you have a problem, then a company will be there to help to get it resolved.

Now, you may not see the value in any of this since you strike me as more of the penny pinching type. But plenty of people in the US and around the world do find value in those things and would rather buy what's familiar and what works for them. At the end of the day, their time and mental energy is worth more than the effort it would take to find a "deal".

Don't take offense to any of this, it's not meant as such. Just think you're trying to impose a worldview on others that not everyone shares. Let's get back to debating cases.

 

[FuzzMunky]

So should we just boycott Caudabe, Shumuri and Spigen? By your logic we should be scouring eBay and Alibaba for the best deals possible for almost everything. Kitchenware, socks, t-shirts. Those are all very fungible commodities, just like phone cases. Heck, even this Polo shirt that I have on right now, by virtue of a little horse on it, is probably 50x more than it actually cost to produce. So should I be looking for the counterfeits online so I can save a few bucks?

I think there's also the fact that value comes in many forms, some of which aren't purely economic but which are ultimately reflected in the price that the market is willing to bear for a particular product. There's value, for instance, in the convenience of being able to buy a Spigen Air Cushion case on Amazon. It's just a clear TPU case for crying out loud. I could also buy a ton of them for a fraction of what I actually paid for it. Take a look at www.oppomart.com. Any cases there look familiar to you? A lot cheaper don't you think? Not a chance I'm placing an order there though. There's also value in having things nicely packaged and presented. There's value in the knowledge that if you have a problem, then a company will be there to help to get it resolved.

Now, you may not see the value in any of this since you strike me as more of the penny pinching type. But plenty of people in the US and around the world do find value in those things and would rather buy what's familiar and what works for them. At the end of the day, their time and mental energy is worth more than the effort it would take to find a "deal".

Don't take offense to any of this, it's not meant as such. Just think you're trying to impose a worldview on others that not everyone shares. Let's get back to debating cases.

I think the difference between our perspectives is that you see these 1cent cases as counterfeits, when actually they are not knockoffs or cheap counterfeits but the exact same things, made in the same exact factories to the same standards. Caudabe is just a distributor who paid to brand their allotment of generic cases (this is an option on the Chinese marketplace sites too).

I don't think its penny pinching to call out a scam. Your socks analogy is valid, if and only if the socks are the exact same quality and construction as the branded ones - in which case I would certainly buy them over branded ones as I hate advertising for other companies, especially if I'm expected to pay THEM a premium to do this. Anyone who wouldn't clearly does not value good sense.

 

[thelookingglass]

I think the difference between our perspectives is that you see these 1cent cases as counterfeits, when actually they are not knockoffs or cheap counterfeits but the exact same things, made in the same exact factories to the same standards. Caudabe is just a distributor who paid to brand their allotment of generic cases (this is an option on the Chinese marketplace sites too).

I don't think its penny pinching to call out a scam. Your socks analogy is valid, if and only if the socks are the exact same quality and construction as the branded ones - in which case I would certainly buy them over branded ones as I hate advertising for other companies, especially if I'm expected to pay THEM a premium to do this. Anyone who wouldn't clearly does not value good sense.

Incorrect. First off, I clearly said above that you can find cheapo cases that are very similar to the Caudabe, the Spigen Air Skin and the Shimuri. As I said before, I went through this last year with my search for a thin case for my 5s. The problem is that what you get when you look in the bargain bin is a crapshoot both in the actual quality of the case and the delivery of the product. And that's where you're somehow not understanding that the value of a product is more than its base cost of production. Otherwise you are essentially calling everyone on here a dumb sheep for buying anything with a markup. And that includes everything we buy.

I'll repeat it again. I bought a Spigen Air Cushion on Amazon. It's almost exactly like other hybrid TPU cases sold for a fraction of the cost. It's just a typical clear case. But the convenience of buying via Prime on Amazon is worth something. The perceived assurance I get that a case I buy from Spigen will be of good quality is also worth something. And actually, in many cases it's not a perception at all. With reputable brands, their quality control processes will be much more stringent than those cheap eBay sellers you love who probably employ zero quality control. Knowing that I can return a product if I don't like it is also worth something, as is knowing that a product has a warranty. So a few clicks and two minutes of my life and I'm all set. I give it no second thought. Now, you clearly are different as you seem to have an axe to grind with anyone whom you perceive to have bit off more than their fair share of the pie at your expense. But that's fine, different strokes for different folks. Have fun doing all your shopping on Alibaba!

 

[Infinitewisdom]

Guys, live and let live. Breathe in, breathe out. Not sure what you guys are bickering about, but it's not rocket science to me . I've got three words for you. Disposable income / capitalism. I've got plenty of the former and as for the latter, I'm ok with companies making a profit so long as they give me my money's worth. I've bought several Caudabe Veils for friends and family. It's only $15. I'm happy, the people I bought it for are happy. I also buy Nike branded athletic socks, Craftsman tools, Ziplock branded bags and Calvin Klein undershirts. Why? Because I can and because they all work really well. You will never catch me trying to look for deals on stuff like this. I just went on Alibaba for kicks to see what it's all about and its not even clear how you would place an order. Regardless, time and energy better spent elsewhere.

Now if Nike stops making socks I like and Caudabe starts making crappy Veils, I'll just take my money elsewhere. But for now we're all good Not that difficult.

Again, repeat after me: live and let live.

 

[FuzzMunky]

Now if Nike stops making socks I like and Caudabe starts making crappy Veils, I'll just take my money elsewhere. But for now we're all good Not that difficult.

Funny you should say this though, seeing as I started in this thread with reports of my Caudabe The Veil experience and how the quality was defective. Lopsided and rough on one side. So by my assessment Caudabe has already lost this argument for you; that the brands have superior quality control.

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The problem is that what you get when you look in the bargain bin is a crapshoot both in the actual quality of the case and the delivery of the product.

Well, we shall see what happens. I just placed an order with someone who is based in the same State I am in. I shall report back if there really is anything frightening about these generic Veils.

 

[AppleTech22]

Does anyone know of a thin snap on case like this that has more grip? I picked up the Spigen Ultra Thin and I am assuming it is the same plastic. I wanted this to protect against scratches but mainly for grip.

 

[ghsDUDE]

Any cheap knock-offs similar to Shumuri?