.KEYWORD ppotterbox
.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Otter Box offers PDA protection
.FEATURE
.SUMMARY When manufacturers make grand assertions about their products, it’s easy to take them at their word. Here at PalmPower, however, we aren’t going to let them get away that easily. When Steve Niles set out to review the "waterproof, crush proof" Otter Box, he put the manufacturer’s claims to the ultimate test.
.AUTHOR Steve Niles
If you’re into boating or diving, there are probably countless ways you could imagine your Palm device coming in handy. Or maybe you like to relax poolside while still getting some work done on your trusty handheld. The only thing stopping you, however, is the risk of water damage to your machine. What you need is some way to keep your Palm device dry and protected.
I covered this topic in the May issue of PalmPower magazine when I reviewed SCUBA Resources for the PalmPilot as our Site of the Month. Since then, a new product has been brought to my attention. It’s called an Otter Box and it’s offered by Otter Products. You can visit their Web site at http://www.otterbox.com/index.html.
.H1 Multi-purpose storage
Otter Products puts out an extensive line of Otter Boxes in a variety of sizes and colors, as you can see in Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A Otter Boxes come in many shapes, sizes, and colors to fit almost any purpose.
The design you choose depends on what you plan to keep in your Otter Box, whether it’s a cell phone, a pager, your wallet, a camera, a video recorder, etc. Of course, what we’re interested in here is whether or not an Otter Box will keep your Palm device safe, secure, and dry.
.H1 Otter Box 2000
Greg Ward at Otter Products was kind enough to send me a sample of the 2000 Series Otter Box, the perfect size to fit a PDA, as you can see in Figure B.
.FIGPAIR B The 2000 Series Otter Box is the perfect size for a Palm device.
I tend to keep my PalmPilot’s plastic slipcase on when I place it into the Otter Box. This makes the fit quite snug and secure. However, I did notice that when the cover is removed, the device has a tendency to slide around inside the box. This would especially be true for owners of newer, smaller Palm devices, like the Palm V. Most Otter Box designs have a foam liner that will keep it from banging around too hard, but it might be a good idea to put something else foamy in the box to secure the Palm device in place.
.H1 Lifetime guarantee
The manufacturers of the Otter Boxes are so confident in their products, they give all of them a lifetime guarantee. This is impressive, considering the standards to which they hold the boxes. Otter Products makes two bold claims about the boxes. They are unfailingly watertight, and they are crush proof to a depth of 100 feet.
That’s what their press kits say, anyhow. As an independent reviewer, I can’t simply take them at their word before passing the information on to you. It is my obligation to put their claims to the test.
.H1 Watertight
Otter Boxes were designed to be watertight in order to keep your valuables dry. According to Otter Products, "The closed cell neoprene o-ring creates a positive seal which does not allow water in." That sounds good, but does it work? I aimed to find out.
.H2 Experimental set-up
Of course, as with any test, there is the chance of failure. I was not about to risk submerging my PalmPilot before I was absolutely certain of the veracity of the manufacturer’s claims. I did, however, need the Otter Box to weigh the same as it would with a PalmPilot inside. This is because Otter Products also made the surprising claim that the box will float. I could see the Otter Box alone managing to achieve buoyancy, but with the somewhat heavy PalmPilot inside, it was hard to imagine.
Therefore, I needed to find a stand-in for my PalmPilot that would weigh exactly the same and be about the same size. Not owning a scientific scale myself, I decided to visit the deli counter at the local Super Fresh. There I met a very nice lady named Jill who was happy to let me weigh my PalmPilot on the lunchmeat scale. It weighed .44 lbs. I then asked her to please slice me .44 lbs of Lebanon bologna. Showing great skill with the deli slicer, Jill managed to hit .44 lbs right on the nose.
.H2 Experimental procedure
To test whether or not the Otter Box would float with .44 lbs of Lebanon bologna inside, all I did was toss it in my tub. Sure enough, they were right. The box floated, as you can see in Figure C. I felt confident that if I were to put my PalmPilot in an Otter Box and then go sailing, it wouldn’t be lost to the depths should it fall off the boat.
.FIGPAIR C The Otter Box floats, even with your Palm device or its weight in bologna inside.
To thoroughly test the box’s waterproof quality, however, I wanted to put it through some real world conditions. This would be the only fair measure of its abilities. For this, I took the Otter Box on a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure to see how it would stand up against the drenching power of the Log Flume ride. In Figure D, you can see the Otter Box being put through its paces.
.FIGPAIR D The Otter Box faces the ultimate soaking as it descends the mighty Log Flume.
Once again, the Otter Box lived up to its billing. The interior of the box stayed completely dry, though the same couldn’t be said for me.
.CALLOUT Otter Products claims their boxes are so strong, you can drive a car over them. I call that a challenge.
.H1 Crush proof
Otter Boxes are designed to be crushproof in order to keep your valuables safe, even under pressure. According to Otter Products, the Otter Box is "made with a fiber-glass reinforced ABS resin that is virtually indestructible." Again, let’s see about that.
They were right about its ability to float and keep out water, so my expectations were high. Now, they say the Otter Box has been pressure tested to depths beyond 100 feet. However, at the moment I don’t have any way of getting my Otter Box, my Lebanon bologna, and myself 100 feet below the ocean surface. That’s okay, though, because what we’re testing is whether or not the Otter Box is crush proof, and to illustrate, Otter Products claims their boxes are so strong, you can drive a car over them.
I call that a challenge.
.H2 Road rage
The folks at Otter Products offer, as proof of the box’s strength, the photograph you see in Figure E. In the picture we see a rugged jeep parked atop an Otter Box. It makes quite an impressive visual.
.FIGPAIR E The Otter Box Web site offers this visual proof of the box’s strength.
However, I wanted to see this for myself. To test the Otter Box’s assertions of indestructibility, I would face it off against my 1990 Chevy Lumina. Once again, my lunchmeat would be standing in for my PalmPilot lest anything unfortunate happen.
In the parking lot of my apartment complex, I monitored the experiment as my assistant pulled the vehicle’s front, right tire up onto the Otter Box, as you can see in Figure F.
.FIGPAIR F The Otter Box strains under the pressure of my Chevy Lumina.
As the tire rolled up onto the box, I was stunned by the sound of two loud pops. A moment later the car rolled off, and I picked up the Otter Box to examine the results. Two jagged cracks had formed in the fiber-glass-reinforced ABS resin, and the closed cell neoprene o-ring had snapped.
The bologna, however, was untouched.
.H1 Analysis
Did the Otter Box fail the crush proof test? Well, in fairness, here are the exact words Otter Products use on their Web site to describe their picture of the jeep resting on top of the box: "Some of the boxes have been placed under the wheels of vehicles with no effect to the box whatsoever." The key words here are "placed under."
I don’t know how that picture was created, but if the jeep had been jacked up and then lowered on top of the box, the weight would have been evenly distributed over the surface of the box. In my experiment, at the moment the tire began to roll up over the leading edge, all the weight of the vehicle was focused on that edge. Also, though I’m no expert in physics, the downward motion of the rotating tire probably exerted extreme amounts of force-far more than the mere weight of the car would create.
The point we should focus on is that even after suffering that initial structural damage, the box did not completely cave in. It’s still basically intact (though no longer watertight). If my PalmPilot had been in there it would have emerged unscathed, just like the bologna.
.PAGE
.H1 Conclusion
All things considered, I have to recommend the Otter Box. It proved itself to be waterproof, and though it’s not completely indestructible, it’ll protect your valuables even after its structural integrity has been compromised. After getting hit by a car, the box looks a little battered, but the lid still opens and shuts smoothly, the latches still work, and it still protects my PalmPilot from the usual jostling inside my knapsack. That’s some impressive engineering.
If you work in an environment where it’s difficult to keep your electronic equipment from getting wet, you should get yourself an Otter Box. Don’t just take my word for it, however. Tori Murden, the first woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean, offers this testimonial in her voyage log: "Otter Boxes are the best new item on board. Had I known about Otter Boxes on my last journey, I might not have lost communications eight days from shore." I know what she means. Halfway down that Log Flume, I was thinking the exact same thing.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on the Otter Box, visit http://www.otterbox.com/index.html.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@@.ee6e340
