In June we reviewed the Otterbox iPad Commuter case. Now comes its big brother – the Defender.
The Defender is a three piece affair. First we have the silicone “wrap” for the iPad. This is on the left in the picture. It’s thicker and more comprehensive than the one for the Commuter case. Note how it goes across the bottom and covers the Home button. The Commuter doesn’t do this.
The second piece is the case the silicone wrap fits over. This is a 3 piece affair which completely encases the iPad. It has a slide-out piece for docking and is, itself, in two pieces. Slide the iPad into the bottom part and then slide the top part home to complete the enclosure. After this take the silicone wrap and seal pull it around the case, sealing the iPad in. As with the Commuter, this wrapping takes a bit of doing but it’s worth it in the end.
After this is done the iPad is “framed” in the case, as is shown in this picture. The Defender gives far more protection than the Commuter – but neither one is waterproof.
The third piece is the the cover which snaps over the other two, protecting the screen (by the way, the Defender comes with a full size screen protector film as well). The kicker here is that the cover has a built in stand which holds the iPad on landscape mode. Otterbox made a mistake, here, in that the simple addition of another tab would have allowed the stand to hold the iPad in portrait mode as well. Unfortunately, you can’t do this with the stand as currently configured. When you are finished with the stand you can fold it down and then snap the cover over the iPad as in this picture.
This case is not for the casual user as it adds a more heft and weight to the iPad, but this is unimportant if you need this type of protection. For the day to day user I would say that the Commuter case is more than adequate, however if you are in the field you will need a case similar to this. It actually allows you to use your iPad in rough conditions, including being able to stand it anywhere, in a way that nothing else on the market currently does.
Another winner for Otterbox. You can find it here and it’s going for $89.95.
Note: Otterbox provided the review samples of the Commuter and Defender cases.
