Introduction
Skins for iPods offer wonderful protection form the everyday elements that attempt to attack your iPod. They are extremely soft and somewhat sticky to the touch which makes them easy to grip on to and hold as well as making them stick flat on the dashboard as you go careening around “Dead Mans Curve” at 110MPH. The draw back as usual is lint. Pocket lint, backpack lint, belly button lint, all of these are the constant enemy of a silicone case. So, now that you know the facts it is time to get on with choosing a silicone case. Marware has a few to choose from but we are only discussing one today, the Sport Grip Extreme.
Features/Design
Made from quality silicone rubber these cases have a lot of stretch built into them. This skin covers just about everything on the iPod except the screen, the hold switch, and the headphone port. To me this seems a bit of a problem. You have no ability to charge the Nano in the case. You must strain to pull the Nano out of the case completely to charge or use any dock connector accessories. For some this may not be a big issue but I found it very inconvenient to hassle with. The headphone port has a hole the leads to it but really is only designed for straight headphone jack connector. I attempted to plug my angled connector from my Shure e2c’s in and while I was successful in getting it to connect the headphone hole on the silicone looked like it was stretched to the max. The hole for the phones is also tight next to the area where the lanyard slides through. This makes it rather interesting to hang the iPod around your neck and ads a little pressure to the headphone jack which could in the future lead to connection issues. The lanyard is made of a very soft and stretchy material and is very comfortable to wear even over long periods of time. Also included in the package is a metal ring with a lanyard attached to it. There is a hole on the bottom by the lanyard to allow you to connect this. The clip makes it simple and easy to connect to your belt loop, backpack or purse and is made of metal so the clip won’t be breaking any time soon. The way the clip attaches to the case is a little concerning since it really only goes through the silicone. If caught on something you can tell the silicone will give long before the metal ring or clip do running the risk that your iPod is about to take a fall. For the Nano it’s not as critical as if it were a hard drive based iPod but no one wants to see their investment hit the ground.
Pricing
$19.95 +tax and shipping
Final Thoughts
While like any skin the Marware Sport Grip Extreme offers good protection I just feel it is lacking in some concept areas. I would rather see the lanyard attached differently and i would really like to be able to access the dock connector without having to pull the iPod out of the case. I love the cushion it offers should it fall but the other things I mentioned make it not worth it to me to pick this case up and use it on a daily basis.
