Review: Speck Product iPod Cases

Speck Products: Protection For Mobile Devices. Now there’s a by-line to catch my eye! I’m a big ‘protect my electronics’ nut and am very susceptible to promises of keeping my stuff unscuffed.

Speck has a wide selection of cases. I particularly like the company’s green AstroTurf® looking Grass FunSkin iPod case. The weird factor alone would turn one of those into an impulse buy for me. Speck also has a Cloud FunSkin case that’d be more appropriate for Hello Kitty kawaii fans. What I settled on for this review was a selection of far more sensible looking cases, less frivolous but equally functional.

The iPod 5G ToughSkin case is a neat idea—I like the thick, protective rubber skin, and they come with a strong faceplate to protect your screen too. The rubber case fit easily, both on and off, and the screen protector went on easily as well.

The case itself adds just a little bit extra to the overall size of the iPod, and I find it very convenient to hang it from my pants pocket or slung from my belt. The detachable clip is meant to allow users to pop the device on and off of their belts in a hurry.

I won’t be giving up my waterproof-to-one-meter OtterBox case for this any time soon, but for those of you with slightly less need for hard protection, it’s a really really good medium-duty case.

The Nano cases Speck sent me to look at add just a smidgeon to their overall size, pushing them up to no worse than Micro maybe. For the protection they provide, it seems reasonable. Their SkinTight armband for iPod nano would be a great thing for all you exercising Nano folks. The Nano SkinTight™ rubberized skins and the See-Thru nano cases appear to provide just about the same amount of protection. If you like the more brilliant look and color of the hardcases, buy See-Thrus. If you like the more muted, softer look and color of the rubber cases, buy the SkinTights. Appearance, and the difference between these two cases here, is only skin-deep.

Their Motorola RAZR, See-Through, cell phone, hard case looks good too. I didn’t get a chance to review one here, but I am pretty sure I saw one for sale at my local mall phone retailer. If the guy working the booth had been less interested in chatting with his friends on HIS cell phone, and more interested in talking to customers about THEIR cell phones, I would have grabbed one right off (I own a RAZR). Maybe next time I’m by there he will have been bitten by that customer service fad that’s not quite sweeping the world and actually make eye contact. If so, I’ll buy one. Speck’s RAZR SkinTight+Holster looks good too, but I think I’ll hold out for the SeeThru case just for its ‘drop in your pocket and don’t worry about it’-ness. For anyone interested, my birthday is in August. ;>)

Now, Speck is not obviously the only company in the world making iPod and cell phone cases, but I can say of the products I saw, they work as promised and measure up favorably to anything else I’ve seen in this range, with the added advantage of actually working. (Unlike the miserable non-Speck iPod Mini case my sister had the misfortune to waste her lunch money on once.) Since the cases are medium duty overall, as long as you don’t take them wakeboarding or sky diving, they are certainly good enough for the day to day slings and barbs of commuting or just wearing around. I do hereby declare the Speck cases GOOD THINGS, and a worthy addition to your collection of iPod paraphernalia.

Note: Regarding these and any other case: you have to be aware that sometimes your favorite peripherals might not plug or clip on like they did before, if you have them in a new case. Things like FM tuners, battery packs, microphones and so forth that are used to sitting close to your iPod’s case simply might not have enough room to snap on or plug in. Might not, that is. Just something to think of when you’re considering these or any other cases. Take a minute at least to mentally size up and match things. Good luck!