This is Part 2 in a 3 part series of posts --> Post 1 | Post 3
OK, we've looked at the tests, now let's see how the cases stand up to them!
Drag test
We decided to start off with the drag test because it was a quick and simple test (just tie them to the back of the Freelander and drag them approximately 300 yards over asphalt. Not only that but it was a quick way to rough up the finish of the cases a bit so they didn't look new any more (it's easier to be rough on something that doesn't look factory fresh!).
Now we don't seriously expect that someone will forget to pack their case but somehow attach it to the back of their car and drag along behind them. Instead, the drag test is seen as a good way to quickly simulate long term rough usage. It's also a good way to test how secure the case latches are.
Safety tip: One worry we had when doing this test was that a case would snag on something and be sprung back towards the vehicle when released. To prevent this from happening we made sure that there was a low-breaking strain section between the vehicle and the rope - that way if anything did snag the rope would break rather than yank the case through the rear screen.
Crush test
For the crush test we used the same technique that we used when torture testing the Corsair flash drive and drove a 3,900 lbs Land Rover Freelander over each case. For this test the vehicle was driven onto each case in turn (not jacked up and lowered on like I've seen done in some tests). The vehicle remained on each case for about five minutes as the photography was carried out before being driven off.
To make this test realistic, inside each case was either an iPod nano or an HP iPAQ (both of which belong to my wife Kathie, who bravely did all the photography and video for this test). In case you're wondering what was wrong with using my iPod, well, there's nothing wrong with mine - I just don't allow folks to drive over it! :-)
Safety tip: Photographing around a vehicle balanced on a plastic box has the potential to be dangerous. If the case were to give way the vehicle would fall to earth very quickly indeed - far quicker than anyone could react to it.
Note: No iPods or iPAQs were harmed during this test!
Drop test
This is another simple yet brutal test. One cliff, five cases, a 75 foot drop onto shingle. The shingle surface offers a particularly nasty landing for the case. This test is where the rubber meets the rock and we start to see differences in how the cases behave under extreme stress.
Safety tip: This test was probably the most dangerous of the lot because when you're chucking objects weighing up to 6 lbs (the Storm Case iM2370 weights in as a shade under 6 lbs) off a 75 ft cliff, if anyone gets hit, the least you can expect is serious injury. There's not a lot of science to throwing plastic cases off a cliff and a small gust of wind can move the estimated landing spot by many yards. To make matters worse, cases hitting the shingle let fly a high-speed shower of rocks of various sizes (check out the videos to see how much debris was kicked up by some of the impacts), making eye protection a must. Fortunately we were carrying out this test in a private, secluded spot which was closed to anyone who might venture into the firing line.
Drop test + egg
Same test, but this time some of the cases have an egg inside protected by foam. When we came up with this test I thought that expecting any of these cases to protect an egg after a 75 foot drop was way too optimistic. However, I'm glad that we took the time to do this because the results are interesting.
To be honest, I'm amazed that any of the egg drop tests ended with an intact egg. I would have thought that the G shock loading involved would have destroyed the egg on impact no matter how good the case or the foam was at cushioning the shock (anyone know how much shock it takes to break an egg?). I'm also certain that the egg inside the Seahorse case would have survived if the foam was cut into two thick layers rather than one which allowed the egg to hit the thin foam at the bottom.
Why did the Otterbox break? We've looked at the video and it seems that it hit the ground hinge first, which caused the lid to pop open and the stress of this might have caused the plastic to fail and the lid to separate from the body. Whatever the reason, the Otterbox's participation has come to an end.
Rain test
This is another simple but effective test. The cases are placed outside in simulated heavy rain (using a hosepipe and spinkler attachment) with the handles upright for 1 hour.
I expect that this test will be the most controversial of the lot, we certainly debated it endlessly before we started the tests. Most of the debate revolved around when the waterproof test would be done and what kind of test it should be. Should the test be done at the beginning, when the cases are in a new condition or should they be roughed up a bit first? Should the waterproof test be a rain test, a "chuck it into some water and see what happens" test or a complete submersion test? Questions, questions, questions ...
In the end we decided to water test them after they had been hammered a bit because we've got a number of Storm Cases, Otterboxes and Peli cases and they all seemed to be waterproof when new, so it's far more interesting to see if they're still waterproof after some abuse.
http://content.zdnet.com/2346-12554_22-95787-15.html
As for the type of water test, we chose the rain test because a submersion test is not realistic because all the cases float naturally and allowing them to float on some water isn't much of a test at all (not to mention that sinking them and then recovering them would be a major contract).
Assuming now that all the cases were waterproof when new (and our experience with these kinds of cases would suggest that they are indeed waterproof when new), then we have to assume that the seals have been compromised during the abuse they received. More than likely it was the crush test which damaged the seals because that test put extreme pressure onto the seals and caused the Storm Case iM2370 to buckle substantially, which is probably why it leaked. There was no obvious damage caused to the Seahorse but the water was obviously getting in through the seals somewhere.
Handle test
The handle is a critical component of any large case. If the handle comes off and the case hits the deck, there's no telling what's going to happen.
The test that we subjected each case to here was a 4 foot fall followed by a sudden arrest on the handle. The cases were loaded with between 20 to 35 lbs of weight (depending on size) for each test and the tests were repeated five times per case.
Given how robust the cases seemed, I wasn't really expecting any of the handles to come off, but there was scope for latches or hinges to give way or even for the weight to break through the plastic.
Fire test
Since the Seahorse SX 300 claims to be fire retardant, we just had to check out what this meant in the real world. Just had to! We took two approaches - exposing the Seahorse to a gasoline fire and then to a blowtorch.
Safety tip: Any experiments with fire have the potential to become very dangerous very quickly, especially when dealing with gasoline. Not only that, but melting/burning plastics can generate some very noxious gases.
This is Part 2 in a 3 part series of posts --> Post 1 | Post 3