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Review: Lucky Labs Carbon Truskin

weisjt

weisjt

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 8, 2010
866
0
Southern Pines, North Carolina
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Its time for another review, this one will be on the Lucky Labs Truskin carbon back for the iPhone 4. This isn't your standard 3m vinyl skin, this is a true carbon fiber plate. The Carbon plate comes with a protective film across it and has a reusable 3m adhesive on the back so you can interchange different backs when ever you want. From expeirence with other carbon cases I was curious to see if the Truskin would effect the signal strength at all and I will get into that later.
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PROTECTION
The Lucky Labs Truskin is generally made for scratch protection. Carbon fiber is a very strong material and as I have experienced after dropping my phone the carbon plate will protect the back glass from a good sized drop. Paired with a good bumper the combo would be a great to keep your iPhone protected from the average mishap.
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DESIGN AND QUALITY
The Quality is great on the Truskin, very smooth edges with precise cutouts for the camera and flash that do not cause any flash washout. The design of the Truskin back is very simple, it doesn't include the cutout for the apple logo which I kinda like. The Lucky Labs Logo is in the bottom right corner, it is small and doesn't effect the look of the carbon. The only problem that I had is that after some use it will start to show scratches a little bit.
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FUNCTIONALITY
I just wanted to add that the thickness of the carbon back makes it a little difficult to use with cases. You will only be able to use it with bumper style cases and I even found it hard to use it with some of those. They work best with bumper cases that hug the outter edges of the iPhone like the aluminum bumpers(fusionwerkz, e13ctron, draco, apex armor). Paired with a Lucky Labs antenna wrap this would be a great minimal combo for protection and functionality.
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RECEPTION
Last but not least the reception portion of my testing. I live in a low reception area so I am ranging between 1 and 2 bars of service, my decibal reading also bounce around do to low service signal so you could see anywhere from a 5 to 7 decibal drop in signal. In strong signal areas you may see less or more signal drop, these are just tests in my area. Even with my low reception area gps was able to lock on to exact location pretty quickly.

Cell Tower
Naked 97db - 98db
Installed 102db - 103db

Overall the Lucky Labs Carbon Truskin is a great new edition to their line of products. You can pick on up at Lucky Labs Website for 25 dollars and as of now they are on sale for $19.99. Other then the reception loss I expeireced it is a great looking skin. Lucky Labs has some of the best customer service departments in the industry and in my own opinion some of the best customer service I have experienced.
Thanks Lucky Labs
 
Thanks for this review. Mine should be arriving this week and I can't wait to see how they look in person!
 
it isnt much thicker then texture skin, the truskin is glossy smooth finish with no texture while the texture skin has the weaved carbon feel but is vinyl. they both are nice and i would prefer the look of the truskin carbon.
 
Thanks for the great review! I have a couple of questions though.

1. Do you think the logo would be able to be removed?

2. Do you have an Apple bumper you can put on and snap a quick picture for me?

Thanks!
 
My white carbon fiber is here! I like it![/QUOTE]

that is just the carbon fiber texture skin right? the review i did was on the truskin real carbon back. I
like the white look anyway.
 
I own this and am totally happy with it. I like carbon fiber on anything lol.
 
Fibreglass

Here's my fibreglass Truskin.. prefer it over the carbon fibre version, just my personal preference :rolleyes:.

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10-Dee-Q said:
how come yours got apple logo cut out ?
i thought they don't make truskin with any cut out ?
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It isn't cut out. The back logo on the iPhone is silver and that one is black. It is probably the logo stickers that Lucky Labs gives for their Spectra Wrap.
 
maniacphoner said:
The white one looks very nice!
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I want to get a fiberglass tru skin, but i have some concerns about it..
First: i have white iphone and i cant find any pictures of fiberglass skin attached to a white iphone so i dont know how it actually looks like. Does anybody have that combination to post some images and tell their impressions?
Second: is it safe? Fiberglass is normally dangerous with its tiny particles, but i assume tru skin has some kind of coating?
 
Alaerian said:
I'm going to ask this again, in hopes that someone can give me an honest reply without being snarky.

What's the deal with carbon fiber? Seriously. I don't get it.
Click to expand...

Carbon fiber is just a high end material a lot of race cars and luxury sports cars have for its tough, yet light weight. I think guys like the look because it makes them feel cool :cool: lol i love it too btw. I just got the white carbon fiber for my phone. :)
 
Wait a minute, I don't get how this backing causes signal degradation. I understand carbon fiber does block signals, but the iPhone antenna is around the perimeter.

So how would it block signal if it's on the back plate?

Did you have just the back skin on it or did you have a bumper case or wrap around your phone?

I wonder if the fiber glass one will have the same problems.
 
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