ZensĹ
Contributor
It depends upon how much greasy food you eat. đ
Seriously, I wonder if it has to do with the local weather? Itâs probably more of an issue in areas with high humidity.
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Seriously, I wonder if it has to do with the local weather? Itâs probably more of an issue in areas with high humidity.
ZensĹ
Contributor
Personally, I donât find it better or worse than any other hybrid aramid caseâthey all show fingerprints. In my experience, only the 1500D colored Pitaka aramid cases show fewer fingerprints.
ZensĹ
Contributor
Do you find it worse than the Mous, Phone Rebel, and 600D Pitakas? To me it seems about the same.
Hooterville
macrumors G4
Yes, but we are in Florida with 100% humidity
Iâll be out of this thing later tonight
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ZensĹ
Contributor
Hooterville
macrumors G4
Hooterville
macrumors G4
Just gave the Enzo a bath, it cleans up nicely đŻ
Hooterville
macrumors G4
The groove you mean? Not really a fan. The nomad traditional I have is nicer to hold.
It's a bit wider than my Mous limited believe it or not.
Still the same tough bottom and 1mm screen lip lol
Don't think I will keep it.
No more cases for me.
ZensĹ
Contributor
Unfortunately, it seems the most comprehensive set of drop tests on the web resulted in flawed data due to an error in the methodology. And the second most comprehensive set of drop tests resulted in almost every case passing the test, so very few meaningful conclusions came from those tests.
Because thereâs not much useful drop test data available, and the claims made by the manufacturers are somewhat suspect, I put together another spreadsheet. This one ranks the protective cases I own purely by their level of protection. My rankings are based upon simply inspecting the cases, along with whatever I could glean from the limited available data on the internet. It was done for my own use, but I thought it might be of slight interest to a few fellow case nerds here.
Because thereâs not much useful drop test data available, and the claims made by the manufacturers are somewhat suspect, I put together another spreadsheet. This one ranks the protective cases I own purely by their level of protection. My rankings are based upon simply inspecting the cases, along with whatever I could glean from the limited available data on the internet. It was done for my own use, but I thought it might be of slight interest to a few fellow case nerds here.
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TheIntruder
macrumors 68020
Man, the Fire Sale Enzo deal is tempting, and the price probably truly reflects the relative quality of the case more accurately than what they normally ask for it, but I'm still trying to overlook the issues for what would be a $10 case.
The camera control button on my first Rugged Armor wasn't great, and I doubt the one on the Enzo is any different, so there's that as wellâŚ
Plus, the way Amazon operates now, they're probably ship out somebody's castoff, greasy fingerprints and all.
The camera control button on my first Rugged Armor wasn't great, and I doubt the one on the Enzo is any different, so there's that as wellâŚ
Plus, the way Amazon operates now, they're probably ship out somebody's castoff, greasy fingerprints and all.
Ava*
macrumors 65816
The rugged armor only has a CC cover, which is horrible, I agree. The Enzo and also the Tough Armor have a regular CC button that works well.
Ava*
macrumors 65816
Looking at the beginning of that thread makes me sad I never managed to grab a saddle brown apple leather case. They always sold out so fast. Instead a had a product red one for my XS Max, a yellow one for my 11 Pro and that horrible new cheap feeling black version for my 14 Pro. Still miss them.
After using very protective cases for most of the last year, I've now been living dangerously in a Bavarian Bua (bavarian boy) leather case the last couple of days. đ It's a very nice feeling leather with stainless steel buttons and an orange action button. It's on the slim side and fits very tightly on the phone. It comes with a warning not to put strain on the slim bridge above the charging port (which is also the weak point of the similarly slim nomad traditional case). The screen has a little lip even with a screen protector installed. The buttons are fine but stick out a little too much, as with some other leather cases. The ring around the camera plateau is raised well above the cameras and seems protective.
Looking forward to trying the YMW case soon (who do not accept returns btw - be warned).
Cobalt Blizzard
macrumors 6502a
Hooterville
macrumors G4
The CC button on the Enzo is pretty much perfect. The fit, finish, feel in hand are also top notch. The only problem for me is the fingerprint/grease pit problem with the aramid fiber on the back. Otherwise itâs a fantastic case.
Might even give it another run this afternoon đ¤
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ZensĹ
Contributor
The Enzo isnât the usual Spigen low budget junk. Even at the normal selling price ($40, not retail) itâs worth it in my opinionâitâs nicer than most of my more expensive cases.
Mine arrived as new, but yeah, ordering any case from Amazon is an adventure these days.
Hooterville
macrumors G4
ZensĹ
Contributor
Iâll be back in it today. I was putting together my protective case spreadsheet last night so I was swapping those beasts in and out.
ZensĹ
Contributor
Looking at protective cases closely got me thinking about some of the outrageous claims made by case manufacturers. Caudabe, for example, claims their cases are âdrop tested to 15 feetâ. What does this mean? Fifteen feet onto a feather pillow? How many times, and in what orientation? Without specifics, the claims are meaningless. I can guarantee you that a 17PM in a Paragon, corner dropped from 15â onto concrete, would result in a dented frame, if not much worse. I only single out Caudabe because their claims are unusually suspect and theyâve never provided any documentation to back up those claims. Others are nearly as bad. As consumers we should demand more transparency around these claims.
Hooterville
macrumors G4
Whatever happened to the Phone Rebel guy's 50-foot tower drop video? I'm guessing his cases would be a complete failure with that six-screw metal camera protector deal?
ZensĹ
Contributor
Yup, that and the floppy top would be a guaranteed fail.
Good point, and this is a big reason why I started testing rugged cases and cases that make drop protection claims.
The closest thing we have to a common drop test is MIL-STD-810G. One of the tests uses 26 drops from around 4â5 feet, with the device dropped on different sides, edges, and corners onto 2 inch plywood backed by concrete. The newer MIL-STD-810H changes some parts of the test, including the type of surface used (steel backed by concrete).
But even these tests have limits. After the drops, they mainly check the outside for damage and make sure the device still works. They donât have to measure things like how much force actually reaches the phone.
To really copy this type of test though, you would also need a drop rig so every drop happens from the same height and angle. I donât have a setup like that yet, but itâs one of the bigger goals for my channel.
So I agree. Saying a case has â15-foot drop protectionâ doesnât mean much unless the company also tells us what surface they used, how many times they dropped it, how it landed, and what counted as passing.
I do a highly modified version of these drop tests, but the main questions I am trying to answer is 1. does the case actually provide exterior protection and 2. does it hold-up well after all those drop tests. Most rugged cases will be able to accomplish #1, but being able to do it while also accomplishing #2 is quite rare. In terms of internal protection, I learned very recently that it doesn't really matter how many times or how hard a drop is. One simple drop still has the potential to cause enough damage to require a complete device replacement (video coming soon!)
If you guys have any suggestions on how I can improve my videos, let me know!
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Cobalt Blizzard
macrumors 6502a
ZensĹ
Contributor
Thanks for chiming in. I very much appreciate what youâre trying to do. My only criticism, which is meant constructively, is that almost every case youâve tested protected the phone (at least externally), so in the end, we only have a list of passes with essentially zero failures, which doesnât tell us anything about the relative effectiveness of one case versus another. I get it thoughâdrop tests without a measuring rig are only pass-fail, so unless someone is willing to destroy a bunch of very expensive phones, the conclusions are limited. Of course, if someone only wants to know if a specific case protected a specific device at a specific height, then your drop tests are very helpful.