Gizmoskin Round 3
Hands on review by lgreenberg
March 20th, 2006
Price as reviewed: $39.95 USD
It's me the "casemiester" back with another review.
Sometimes practice makes perfect. And in the case of the
Gizmoskin they seem to be one hundred percent committed to getting it right. I was recently sent the third iteration of Gizmoskin case for the Blackberry 8700x series.
Most important, what makes this version different than the previous versions. For starters the belt clip. In past versions the belt clip was wrapped with the same soft lambskin leather which the entire case was made from. This caused some issues. The belt clip does take abuse. We're always taking the case on or off our belts, swiveling it this way or that way. Well that caused the soft lambskin leather to stress. Gizmoskin responded by coating the steel belt clip with a tougher cow hide leather. This type of leather should handle abuse much better than it's softer cousin.
Here's some pictures of the newly coated clip.
I'm personally not a fan of this style of clip. I find the clip to be a little too short for my taste. I'm not one hundred percent confident that the case won't slip off my belt after I've worn it for a while. I've been using the case for a week now. It hasn't fallen off but I've been making sure it doesn't have the chance to do so. Habit I guess.
The clip is also too straight. It needs a little break at the end which helps lock it onto a belt. For example.....
The big plus to the Gizmoskin case is the fact that it ratchets. It does so very firmly, which is good. The OEM RIM leather holster has a ratcheting belt clip but I find it very loose. Often times the OEM case will shift positions while on my belt. The Gizmoskin's clip stays firmly where you set it.
The overall design and shape of the case remains unchanged. It's still a perfect fit for the 8700c.
For those of you wondering.... Yes the case holds the 8700c with the extended battery just fine.
The case still uses the same magnetic closure as the previous versions.
And the it still has the built in sleeper magnet. However, the magnet has been repositioned for better accuracy.
The biggest problem with the past version of the Gizmoskin has been the opening of the sides of the case. It's no big secret that the sides of the Gizmoskin are not stitched together. They are however held together by a strong adhesive. Apparently the adhesive used on past versions just wasn't the right fit for the leather being used and several users of the case reported their cases coming apart. I even tested this on my old version. I pulled the sides apart and they did come loose rather easily.
Well it seems this issue has been solved. A new adhesive has been used and it's MUCH stronger than whatever was used in the past. I did some testing on the case that was sent to me. I tried my best to pull the case apart. I pulled at the sides of the case as hard as I possibly could and they never came apart. After ten minutes of constant pulling there is zero evidence of my testing.
These pictures were taken after I had pulled on the sides as hard as I could for a bit.
So the question remains, is this the final version of the Gizmoskin? I guess that'll be up to the buying public to decide. From what I've seen from their commitment to product quality I'm guessing even better things are still yet to come.
Pros: Beautiful leather, perfect fit, sleeper magnet, fits both regular and extended batteries, professional looking, slim.
Cons: Belt clip.