Accessory Review: Seidio CONVERT Value Pack for the iPhone 5
The Seidio CONVERT Value Pack for the iPhone 5 contains a two-layer CONVERT case, a belt holster, and a screen protector. It provides levels of protection that far exceed what the average owner will ever do to their phone.
The interior shock-absorbing interior case is a great hard two-piece case that can be used by itself. The exterior is sleek and comes with rubber flip-out plugs built in to protect your camera lens from scratching. By itself, this is a pretty fine level of protection.
You can add the silicone exoskeleton on to the interior case to add another level of protection to the corners and back; however, at this point, the main purpose of the skeleton seems to be preventing the two-part case from separating. Unlike Seidio’s other cases, the exoskeleton starts feeling a little bit like overkill here.
Next, we add the holster. Most people won’t think holster and protection right out of the box, but with the phone turned inward, you have the face covered on a nice velvet holster interior and add another layer of plastic and rigidness to the mix.
But wait, there’s more. They also throw in a product they call the Ultimate Screen Guard, which is an electrostatic-adhering piece of plastic that protects the screen from scratches. I did not play with this as I was in a room with flying dust and a cat, so I knew how the attempted application would have ended.
Note the little hole the camera cover can attach into
All combined, the combo makes your phone huge. It also removes any indication of what phone you actually have, but will protect it from most of what you can throw at it except water. The materials are scratch and lint resistant, and have also passed the MIL-STD-810G military spec drop test, which is the highest level of durability testing based on military requirements. Your phone’s going to probably survive a drop pretty well.
If you’re in construction, or the military, or are attempting to bring 1990’s belt accessory fashion back with a brick-phone attached to your hip, there’s a good chance that this is the perfect case for you.
My personal preference is to leave some phone stylings, and have it just slightly thinner. The whole thing is extremely rugged and bulky and seems like a copy of several of Seidio’s other cases, which – although I like it – seems like small changes from one design to the next, including the same names.
With a suggested retail price of nearly $70, however, it better be exactly what you need, or what your iPhone-obsessed significant other will want at Christmas. It’s not priced as a case you just randomly pick up for someone. If you’re looking for a case more along those lines, might I suggest checking out the Seidio ACTIVE case.
In the end, it’s a great but not particularly stylish case. It will protect your iPhone to the end most likely, but the size of all of it combined gets a bit out of control and seems to miss some of the points of having that phone.
Something to note is that the instructions on how to open and operate the case are on back of the SEIDIO cardboard that is sitting in the case. I handed the package to a friend, and disassembly was a bit on the slow side because the case is fairly complex if you haven’t dealt with a multi-piece case before.
I do really appreciate the protection level. If I worked in construction or some job where I was jostled a lot, this case would be a life saver. As it stands, it just feel a bit like it’s for someone with larger hands and a much more active life than me. This will entirely depend on what you want to trade for protection.
You can order the Seidio CONVERT Value Pack for the iPhone 5 from Seidio Online, or other retailers, for around $69.95.
