Testing
The new iPad is one of the most fragile pieces of equipment I have ever used. My first iPad 2 had its screen destroyed by tapping it too hard on the tile of my living room, in the lower right hand corner of the iPad. Due to the limited availability, I am hesitant to actually drop the iPad 2 more than a few inches onto tile, even with the Otterbox Defender Series for iPad 2. However, it is much more than I would even consider doing to an unprotected iPad, or one protected by the virtually useless smart cover that is sold by apple.
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Although the Otterbox Defender Series for iPad 2 is not marketed as waterproof, or even water resistant, I can safely say that you won’t risk damaging your iPad running to the car with a light rain. Now take this with a grain of salt. I’m not recommending that you run across a college campus to your car in the rain, rather running out of Panera Bread to the attached parking lot. On a side note, I can say that I have dropped another version of the Otterbox Defender (iPhone) in a puddle, completely submerging the iPhone with water, not damaging the phone in any way.
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The only complaint I can see with this case is the way the silicon outer shell attaches above the speaker. The silicon is so thin at this point, it cannot clip into the harder shell. This means that the silicon at times can come loose and be rather annoying. It is a minor fault, but one that I have not seen on the other Defender series cases, and one therefore I feel I must point it out.
Conclusion
The Otterbox Defender Series for iPad 2 is THE BEST case out there for the iPad 2 at this point. If you want something to protect your investment, here it is. While $89.95 may seem a little steep, you can easily compare the price of the case to the cost of a new screen replacement. Don’t care about screen protection? How about the fact that it is the best looking case on the market for the iPad 2? For this we offer this case the TechwareLabs Awesome Hardware Award.
