Sunday, May 18, 2008

Otterbox 1900 Review


The world of electronics is expanding, and one product that is finding its way into the hands of more people is MP3 players. Often times though we forget about the much needed accessories that make our players more usable. Your player is a bit of an investment, and you should want to protect it. The best way to do that is to get a case for it. Up for review is a case from a company called OtterBox.

OtterBox has a multiple array of cases. They make them for iPod’s, as well as PDA’s and BlackBerry’s. They come in different types as well from simple rubber cases for the accidentally drop, to serious heavy duty waterproof cases. Up for review is a heavy duty fully water proof case. This one is called the 1900. It is an ultra rugged case that is waterproof, dustproof, sand proof, drop-proof, and they claim it fits 99% of all PDAs on the market.

The 1900 appears to deliver on what is described. It is built like a tank and my iPAQ 2100 fits in it great. The front has a clear hard plastic cover which lifts up to a soft plastic cover that you can right through with your stylus. There is a plastic seal on the bottom that comes off so you can sync it in the case. The top is a small hard plastic piece that can also come off so you can change memory cards. Built in to the clear hard piece on top is also a rubber plug. The 1900 came with an extra rubber plug with a small hole in it so you can have a pair of headphones connected and still have the top on.

After some concern about how it would do IN water while using headphones, I decided to put it to the test. I first ran a pair of headphones through the slit in the plug and filled up my bathroom sink with water and dropped it in. The 1900 case floated nicely and no water sipped in, not even a drop. I then put my iPAQ in the case with power on, and slipped it into the water. The case still floated, but this time it was mostly covered with water so the small slit in the plug was completely under water. I even pushed it in so it was completely submerged for about 20 seconds. I then pulled the case out and dried it off. I discovered that again not even a drop of water made its way into the case. My concerns are now completely resolved.

No matter where I want to use my pocket pc – camping, mountain biking, or floating in the pool, I know my iPAQ is safe when it is protected by the OtterBox 1900. About the only negative thing I can say about OtterBox is I would like to see more models. While they have cases for pda’s, blackberry’s, and iPods, I would like to see them expand their line-up to include cases for other mp3 players like the SanDisk’s Sansa players and Microsoft Zune players, to name just a couple. For more info and specs you can go to http://www.otterbox.com/. I would love to have one for my Sansa View player.

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