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The Great iPhone X Rugged Case -- Comparison & Shootout!
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May 30, 2025
Got yourself a beautiful new Apple iPhone X and ready to pick up a new case to keep it safe and intact? Of course you are! In this roundup, tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ compares seven different iPhone X cases - and tests to ensure they're Qi charging compatible - to find out which one is going to do the best job. Cases reviewed are from Incipio, Speck, Melkco, Urban Armor Gear (UAG), Society6, and NewerTech's Nuguard KX. The winner? You'll have to watch to find out!
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0:00
need a new iPhone 10 case let's check
0:02
out some options Dave Taylor here and
0:11
I'm still looking for the perfect case
0:13
for my iPhone 10 here it is - 10 boom
0:17
and I already looked at a bunch of slim
0:20
cases you can check that out in this
0:22
other review I did and this time I
0:24
wanted to look at more tough and rugged
0:26
cases you know the kind that have like
0:27
multiple layers to them and there's
0:29
rubber and hard plastic or metal wanted
0:32
to have a chance to see which of the
0:34
companies we're making really cool
0:36
rugged cases for the iPhone 10 now one
0:40
of the most important things that we're
0:41
gonna check as we go is we're gonna
0:44
check to make sure they're all Qi
0:45
charging compatible
0:47
you know what Qi charging is hopefully
0:49
if you have an iPhone 10 this is a
0:50
coolest thing ever it's wireless
0:52
charging phone no wires no connections I
0:55
drop it on my phone salesman Qi charger
1:00
inexpensive purchase and now it's
1:03
charging right now I didn't have to plug
1:04
anything in so obviously I want to have
1:06
that same capability with a case so
1:09
let's start with our first case which is
1:12
from society6 this is what they call
1:14
their tough case you can see they spare
1:17
no expense with their packaging it's
1:19
okay it's okay
1:21
but it's kind of a not super rugged case
1:25
it's two pieces so there's the rubber
1:27
insert that only is a bumper around the
1:29
edges and then there's the hard plastic
1:31
with the graphic on it so this takes a
1:34
little bit of fiddling to get it to
1:36
actually all fit neatly but I have found
1:38
that if I put the case the phone in the
1:41
rubber part and then put that in the
1:43
case it seems to actually work a little
1:45
more smoothly and so there we go and
1:48
it's in and first test does it charge
1:52
and the beep tells you it does fantastic
1:56
so that's good nice one society6 and
1:59
then my next question is what kind of
2:01
bevel does it have one when I talk about
2:03
a bevel I mean the amount of the case
2:05
that rises above the surface of the
2:07
phone screen and you want a decent bevel
2:10
because if your phone drops like that
2:12
you don't want the glass
2:13
to actually have any of the impact at
2:15
all so here the rubber around the edges
2:18
absorbed all the impact now there's a
2:21
tiny nuance to this too because I'm also
2:23
I have the OtterBox alpha glass screen
2:27
protector on it too so that adds I don't
2:29
know a millimeter half a millimeter not
2:32
a lot but it might come into play as we
2:34
go down the road so this is like I said
2:37
the tough case from society6 and I gotta
2:40
say there's a lot I like about it I
2:42
think they've done a nice job but here's
2:44
the thing society6 you guys haven't
2:46
quite mastered putting the graphics onto
2:49
the case so when I look at the back of
2:51
the case I can see distortion and warps
2:55
on the image that aren't supposed to be
2:57
there it's just part of the process that
2:59
you're using none of the other cases for
3:01
example we'll look at the speck inked
3:04
none of the other cases I've never seen
3:05
this before which is a real drag because
3:07
this is a pretty expensive case the
3:10
society6 tough case and this graphic
3:12
wonderful graphic called metallic
3:15
Mountain it's 38 99 that's a lot of
3:18
money for something that isn't quite
3:19
applied properly so psy.d six if you
3:24
like the graphics they have that could
3:26
be a deciding factor the case itself is
3:29
pretty nice it definitely holds onto
3:31
your phone pretty enthusiastically but
3:35
not my favorite choice and I'm not a
3:38
huge fan of having it be just a bumper
3:40
rather than an inside rubber so let's
3:44
look at another one this one is the Mel
3:46
Co cobalt and so this is another
3:49
interesting case because number one it's
3:52
pleasantly inexpensive and number two it
3:55
comes with the double layers so here's a
3:58
full rubber insert and then there's the
4:00
outside and you're looking at you're
4:01
saying nice is that aluminum no that's
4:05
what's weird about this is it's actually
4:06
just a soft well it's it's a hard
4:08
plastic not super hard so there's still
4:11
a little bit of give to it but it's
4:13
painted and designed to look like metal
4:15
it's actually a battle so that's a
4:18
little funky so that probably limits
4:22
just how protective the case can be but
4:24
that's okay let's give it a check anyway
4:27
whoops
4:27
and let's try to figure out why is the
4:28
flashlight on there we go so many
4:32
buttons so little time so again I'm
4:36
gonna just go ahead and put the case in
4:38
or the phone in the rubber case and this
4:40
is a really nice soft I think they call
4:41
it a TPU rubber or something like that
4:43
and then I just drop that into the case
4:46
and literally done that's easy it's that
4:49
easy to put this in the case and the
4:51
appearance is terrific I mean it looks
4:53
really cool and in terms of
4:55
functionality our first check is you
4:58
guessed it does it charge and the answer
5:00
is yes Wow good now since it's plastic I
5:04
didn't expect much some of the metal
5:05
cases might have an issue so we'll have
5:07
to see how that goes
5:08
now this mell koku vault and this is the
5:12
sort of faux aluminum is $24.99 at
5:16
amazon.com so it's a nice inexpensive
5:19
price for a case that does this and in
5:21
terms of the bevel it has very little
5:24
bevel but it has some so it's better
5:26
than nothing I don't think any of the
5:29
cases we're looking at have a negative
5:30
bevel which is like totally a
5:32
showstopper for me but there's not much
5:35
there but it has a nice feel to it and I
5:37
like that it's relatively soft and easy
5:39
to work with so given all these cases
5:42
and given how tricky some of them are
5:44
it's nice to have one that's easy to
5:45
work with all right next up incipio now
5:48
this is the incipio octane and I suppose
5:52
maybe this shouldn't be in the mix
5:54
because it's not a two-part it's not a
5:57
two-piece case it's actually a one-piece
5:59
case but it's a one-piece case made out
6:02
of two different materials so the back
6:04
of it is a nice hard plastic way less
6:07
flexible than that other one and the
6:09
edges are actually a hard rubber so
6:13
there's a lot of shock absorbance there
6:15
and obviously with a design like this
6:17
it's super easy to put your phone in
6:19
boom done ready to roll and next
6:22
question does it charge charging works
6:26
good and in terms of the bevel again
6:30
really little bevel I wouldn't be
6:32
unhappy to have it have maybe a
6:34
millimeter more sticking up but the feel
6:38
of this case is really nice it's a nice
6:41
look to it this one I believe is the
6:43
plum color and the edges because they're
6:47
that rubber and they actually have a
6:49
textured grip on them this is a great
6:51
feel to it this is a case you're not
6:53
going drop your phone if you have it in
6:55
this case even the back is not smooth
6:57
and slippery there's some them I don't
7:00
even know there's like some friction to
7:02
it or something so I mean I can hold the
7:04
case like this and I can assure you in
7:05
many of these cases this would be an
7:07
unsuccessful strategy so this is the
7:11
incipio octane and it's $24.99 but you
7:14
can pick it up at incipio comm instead
7:16
so those are our two budget cases we'll
7:19
keep looking
7:20
next up is speck and so this is the
7:25
speck Presidio grip right so and we'll
7:28
pull it out and you've seen people with
7:30
these cases these are really popular
7:32
cases and they have this military
7:34
10-foot drop test so now I want to know
7:37
who the heck and the military's job is
7:40
it to be testing iPhone cases that's a
7:42
pretty cool gig maybe it's not exactly
7:45
what's going on but this is another one
7:47
where it's one piece but if you feel you
7:49
can tell that there's sort of a hard
7:51
interior and a soft rubber exterior and
7:55
these are very recognizable because of
7:57
the like the chevron stripes on the
7:59
sides but there's a really nice cases
8:02
spec does a really good job with its
8:03
cases so once I get my phone in here
8:07
which is slightly tricky because it is a
8:09
pretty rubbery case hmm let's try it
8:13
this way I'm guessing it will fit there
8:17
we go
8:17
all right there's three corners fourth
8:20
corner you can do it I see okay so hmm
8:27
we're good to go
8:29
but I seem to have fold it down part of
8:31
the interior here's a close-up of what's
8:33
going on that can't be right
8:35
it might just be I didn't it put it in
8:37
right but shouldn't be that hard to put
8:39
a phone into your phone case anyway I
8:42
could probably pull it out and fix it I
8:43
just want to keep rolling so this is the
8:47
nice I'm blue I'm not sure what color
8:50
blue they call this in spec Presidio
8:55
grip and coarse question is does it
8:58
charge the answer is yes does it have a
9:00
bevel and the answer is yes actually I'm
9:04
almost a perfect size bevel just enough
9:07
that we I feel like there's lots of
9:08
protection but not so much that if I
9:11
want to slide my thumb over that I feel
9:13
like there's stuff in the way so really
9:16
nice job with this spec and here's the
9:18
thing is that when I checked right now
9:20
then actually this case instead of being
9:22
39.95 the presidio grip it's actually
9:26
2996 I don't know what the dot v and dot
9:29
six are whatever so it's ten bucks off
9:32
right now that might just be a Black
9:33
Friday Cyber Monday thing so you might
9:35
have missed it but if you want to check
9:37
it out it's at spec products.com so this
9:41
is the presidio grip let's get the phone
9:45
out of it you wouldn't think putting
9:50
phones in cases would be such a workout
9:53
but it is crazy man now here's the next
9:58
one and I don't know maybe I should save
9:59
this till the end because this was
10:01
actually my winner but we're just going
10:03
in order so we'll go and look at this
10:04
one so this is also from spec this is
10:07
the also the presidio line but this is
10:09
the presidio inked so this is one of
10:12
these lines where there's lots and lots
10:13
of really cool graphics you can get this
10:16
particular one is just called Milky Way
10:18
it's just a nice star field and people
10:21
comment on it they're really impressed
10:22
and they think it looks really cool and
10:24
I have to agree with them it's a really
10:25
nice looking case even before I do
10:27
anything with my phone but let's go
10:30
ahead and put the phone in probably
10:32
should have this screen up go figure I
10:35
suspect that will make it easier to work
10:36
with
10:38
and although I suppose it would be even
10:39
that much more protective if I had to
10:43
screen down but not very functional come
10:46
on case you've been in you've been in
10:48
this before there we go so now from a
10:52
design perspective it's actually very
10:53
similar to the presidio grip which is
10:55
not a huge surprise but it's actually
10:57
more protective I think so it's hard
11:00
plastic the graphic is a wraparound
11:03
graphic as they say so it's on the sides
11:05
too and it's a hard plastic but they
11:07
have these little rubber corners which
11:10
is kind of a neat idea so I guess if
11:11
your phone drops like this then the hard
11:14
plastic doesn't have to absorb the
11:16
impact
11:17
now first test Qi charging it works see
11:21
it all works it's all easy enough and in
11:24
terms of the bevel again spec nails that
11:26
they have the perfect sized bevel I
11:28
really like it and this is with the
11:30
screen protector without it I'd have
11:31
even a slightly higher bevel but what I
11:34
really like about it and I'm sorry to
11:36
bring you up again society6 but spec
11:39
absolutely knows how to put an image
11:41
onto a case and when I look at this at
11:44
an angle and have light reflecting off
11:46
of it it is perfectly smooth there's
11:48
nothing to feel there's nothing to see I
11:51
really like that I really like the
11:53
aesthetic of this case so this is the
11:56
spec Presidio inked and normally it
12:00
would run 4495 but it's also on sale
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when I looked at it this week for 3371
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which is a pretty sweet deal and that's
12:09
a spec product comm we'll come back to
12:11
this one now let's get the phone out of
12:13
it again this is funny sometimes phones
12:16
are easier to get out than to put in and
12:17
don't figure there's some really
12:20
inappropriate euphemism there but we're
12:22
not going there so two cases left let's
12:24
see this gets my award for just that
12:29
coolest coolest case this is the urban
12:32
armor gear monarch and let me pull it
12:36
out and you'll see and you'll be like
12:38
woah that's cool this is the case that
12:41
like if you want to go hunting or
12:43
something or you want to just look
12:44
really mean check that out that is a
12:48
cool looking case and it's actually a
12:50
well designed case
12:51
because the outer part is I'm pretty
12:54
sure it's a hard plastic not a metal and
12:56
then there's all sorts of different
12:58
rubbers so there's a hard rubber on the
13:00
corners and then there's a softer rubber
13:03
on the sides so let's put the phone in
13:05
and see what it looks like oh that goes
13:08
in remarkably easily nice job urban
13:11
Armour so here we have the phone in here
13:14
and man I just like this case and it
13:17
also has this feel of being like a
13:19
really big tough case but surprisingly
13:23
it doesn't add much depth and it really
13:25
doesn't add any width at all so it's
13:27
really a pretty slim case for something
13:29
that's this tough now will it charge a
13:33
charge is yay and does it have a good
13:37
bevel the answer is it's slightly lower
13:41
than I'd like but it's a pretty good
13:43
bevel it's certainly gonna work if you
13:45
drop your phone straight down and
13:47
honestly this is possibly the coolest
13:50
looking of all the cases I mean this is
13:52
just really fun and you know urban armor
13:55
has this in multiple colors but I will
13:58
say it's pretty spendy this is the most
14:00
expensive case we're looking at this
14:02
urban armor gear monarch case is 5995 at
14:09
urban armor gear calm so pretty spendy
14:12
that's twice the cost of one of these
14:14
guys but honestly cooler case just
14:18
saying you know obviously you have your
14:19
own tastes and that leaves us down to
14:23
one final contestant for our exciting
14:27
challenge although I guess I already
14:28
told you the winner oh wow
14:30
so newer techniques all sorts of
14:32
interesting stuff and this is their
14:33
iPhone case line this is the new guard
14:38
KX and it is a really really nice case
14:44
it's all basically one material it's a
14:46
sort of a soft rubbery plastic yeah I
14:49
don't know somewhere between soft and
14:51
hard it's really a nice feel to it the
14:54
inside actually feels like it's some of
14:57
that microfiber sort of stuff so it's
14:59
going to take care of your little phone
15:00
so that's good and let's go ahead and
15:03
put the phone in have
15:05
oriented correctly will it go in easily
15:08
maybe that's one of the tests I should
15:10
do is you know how many seconds of
15:12
struggling does it take to put your darn
15:14
phone in that wasn't too bad so now the
15:17
phones in the case and it's a pretty
15:19
thick case so things are deep like to
15:22
get to the button the sort of what
15:26
volume mute button it's pretty far in
15:28
there if you don't have fingernails
15:29
you're gonna have a bit of a struggle
15:30
there and same with the camera it's
15:32
pretty deep in there it's not gonna
15:34
affect the way the camera works but it's
15:36
good to know that this is not really an
15:38
elegant case but it's a really
15:40
functional case does it charge yes every
15:44
single one of these cases works with the
15:46
Qi charging good job everybody
15:48
and important for you to know because if
15:50
you're getting an iPhone 10 you really
15:51
want to have that capability and in
15:53
terms of the bevel has a really nice
15:55
bevel the front of it it adds maybe a
15:58
little width and height to the cap to
16:00
the phone screen itself but there's a
16:03
lot going for this and they also have
16:05
this sort of texturing that they've done
16:08
on the back that gives you a nice feel
16:10
and makes it again you know pretty
16:13
non-slip which is that good
16:15
characteristic so this is the newer tech
16:18
new guard KX and it's 49.99
16:22
at max sales.com or you can go to newer
16:25
tech and you can learn about it there I
16:28
think max sales is the store side of
16:31
newer tech I think that's how that works
16:33
anyway so that's all of our cases I'm
16:36
gonna go back to this this is the spec
16:39
presidio inked with milky weight on it
16:42
as a graphic not as a candy bar and
16:45
honestly this is the case that I'm using
16:48
now this is the one that by default I'm
16:51
having on my phone until I find an even
16:54
better one so I think it's fair to say
16:56
that on this particular shoot out that
16:59
it was spec that won the challenge
17:02
though it is not winning the elegantly
17:05
put your phone back into the case while
17:07
you're talking challenge but that could
17:09
be me okay there we go
17:11
so phones back in and this is like I
17:15
said the spec presidio inked and
17:17
actually
17:18
the only comment I'll make is that the
17:21
cutout for the power switch seems to
17:24
have been created before they had their
17:26
hands on a phone because it's not really
17:28
exactly the right size or in a perfect
17:30
position I'm very willing to forgive
17:33
that because quite frankly my phone's
17:35
always in mute because I just don't
17:37
really like the ringtones so that's all
17:40
I got for you
17:41
so this has been a bunch of iPhone 10
17:43
cases they're all tough they're all
17:45
rugged there's some really good choices
17:47
here depending on what you like and what
17:49
your budget is for me the winner is the
17:51
spec for Cydia linked and this is Dave
17:54
Taylor and I'll catch you in my next
17:56
video but hold on if you haven't left
17:59
yet good job this is like I should have
18:02
like these little scenes at the end
18:03
after the credits right no not a Marvel
18:06
movie I do just want to ask if you can
18:08
click on that subscribe button that's
18:10
super helpful now we're done thanks
18:18
[Music]
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