For those of the bicycle persuasion, the tracking/logging of things such as routes, speeds, and climb rates using iPhone apps has become quite popular. The trick with taking your iPhone along for a bike ride is that you are putting your iPhone at great risk in the process. The Bike Console from Bike2Power seeks to solve the problem of protecting your iPhone from rain, mud, and minor drops while riding, hiking, camping, enjoying days at the beach, or just using the phone for everyday needs.
One of the things I really like about the Bike Console is how usable it is as a regular iPhone case. You can quickly pop it off the bike mount and stuff it into your pocket and walk away from your bike without a big hassle. It has windows for both the front and back cameras. There is a rubber gasket plug that gives the user access to the headphone jack. The power button is rubber, and there is a raised rubber button over the home button. I really liked the raised home button because it allows you to better feel where the button is while wearing gloves. Users can also plug in charging cables into their iPhone while it is inside this case, all while still maintaining the weather sealing. The mounting hardware on the back of the case is really nice because it’s rugged and isn’t too thick. This allows it to slide in and out of a pocket with minimal difficulty. The Bike Console case can also rotate 360 degrees. The inside of the case has a very nice thick layer of rubber and the screen is decently recessed, which should help increase the odds of survival if accidentally dropped.
One strange part of the design is the heavy duty rubber band that seems to serve as a backup means for keeping the case closed even though there are already two snaps and one latch that hold the case closed. At first, I didn’t like the idea of the heavy-duty rubber band since it seemed like an afterthought in the design. With further testing, followed by deep meditative thought on the matter, I came to the conclusion that the heavy-duty rubber band was a brilliant addition to this case. When any case is dropped from a standing height, the force of the impact is typically great enough to flex and potentially break most plastic housings. By incorporating the heavy-duty rubber band, the case is allowed to flex yet stay closed and sealed where other cases have the potential to pop open, thus exposing your fancy iPhone to the environment.
I did have a few gripes about certain parts of the design of this case. First and foremost, it is definitely not submersible in the least. It isn’t designed to be submersible, but it would have been nice if it could survive a couple minutes under a few inches of water. I do think it would probably be able to survive those frustrating moments when you drop your iPhone into a shallow puddle for a few seconds but no promises. That leads me to my next complaint - no place for a lanyard to attach on the case. Anyone who is used to using gear in rough scenarios knows that it’s better to prevent your gear from hitting the ground than hoping it survives the impact. I also wish this case gave access to the volume buttons and the silence/vibrate switch. It also doesn’t have a window for the ambient light sensor for the auto backlight, so be sure to turn off the auto backlight setting while using this case and max out your brightness setting while outside. This is unfortunate because, in the long run, this will drain your battery faster all because a tiny little window for the ambient light sensor was excluded. The proximity sensor seems to react strangely during calls while in this case as well, which is a little annoying but a manageable quirk.
The camera lens on front of the camera did seem to soften the image a bit, but I didn’t think that was such a big deal since it’s mostly used for Skype and FaceTime calls. The lens on the back provides a much clearer image, allowing for nice sharp images and videos. Unfortunately, the case blocks part of the iPhones LED flash. This combined with the case lens not being flush with the iPhones camera lens means that if you try to use the LED light for photos or video, you are going to get a horrible reflective glare. This will essentially ruin any photo or video you try to take while using the LED light for photos while your iPhone is in this case. So, stick to taking pictures while the sun is up with this one. If you have one of those apps that turns your iPhone’s LED camera flash into a flashlight, you will be pleased to know that this capability is hardly reduced at all.
Phone call and music quality in the case wasn’t perfect. There is a slight muffling to the audio. However, it did outperform several other weather resistant cases that I have recently begun testing in clarity and overall volume output. Callers on the other end of the line during phone calls reported my voice coming through clear and reasonably loud. This is another aspect where this case outperformed some of the competition.
The bike mounting hardware that is included with the Bike Console case seems sturdy and well-made. It even comes with two completely different styles of mounts, which essentially ensures compatibility with any kind of size/shape bike handlebars on the market. They even include a spare heavy-duty rubber band and the necessary hex driver tool.
To summarize, I found the Bike Console from Bike2Power to be a very viable option for cyclists who want a weather resistant iPhone case that they can mount to their bike. It also easily doubles as a fairly rugged case for semi-adventurous, imperfect weather outings that don’t involve your iPhone being submerged. If you are in the market for such a case, I recommend you consider taking a look at this one.
Made in China
Price: $49.95
For more information, please visit the following web-link: www.bike2power.com
