Shortening a Watch Band/Doing Anything You Set Your Mind To Do, Griffin Survivor Rugged Case Review

armorwatchbannerr

I thought that since I updated and moved this blog I’d start organizing my postings more.  But I find that I sometimes don’t have enough content for much of a post but I have something I want to say, and I kind of like a bunch of varied subjects together.

Shortening a Watch Band/Doing Anything You Set Your Mind To Do

watch band repair

As I mentioned in a previous post; my wife has lost a significant amount of weight (My Weight Loss Journey Blog). Which meant that in addition to a lot of clothes and even shoes that needed to be replaced with smaller sizes her watch bands  are were way too small.   So I decided that I would find a jeweler to resize them.

But upon looking at the watches I said to myself – “Why would I pay someone to do something I could probably so myself, a lot cheaper and in a much shorter time?  And also not take the chance of someone losing or scratching them?”

Also, I’m cheap 😉

After a little research on the Internet and a little careful examination of the watch bands, I was able to quickly and easily take links out and re-attach the band to itself.  All it involved was a small Allan-end screwdriver, a vice, some scrap rags, a small hammer, and a pair of small needle-nose pliers.

The Allan-end screwdriver could easily have been a small nail or anything else; this was used to push the little rod out of the link.  A vice so that the links could be suspended over it so the rod could slide out, scrap rags to make sure nothing was scratched, a needle-nose to align the rod, and a small hammer to tap the rod back in when re-attaching the links.

I’m not even going to provide you links on how to do it as there are many sites that explain the process, as well as Youtube videos.  Google is your friend.

In fact one watch band needed an extra link taken out and I timed myself at around ninety seconds for removal and re-attachment!

And I was going to pay someone to do that!   Not a big deal, for sure, but now I:

A) Now know how to do it next time

B) Can extend and build on my new knowledge to fixing other watch band types

B) Got the enjoyment and mental stimulation of learning something new

The mind

C) Saved some money

D) Saved some time

Despite it being a small thing it still got me thinking though; how many times people have said that they can’t do something without even trying, that they really could do if they put their mind to ?

I see it all of the time – family, friends, acquaintances, business associates, strangers.  Sometimes it’s laziness, sometimes people are too busy, sometimes people don’t even stop to consider whether they could do a particular thing – it’s like a blind spot.

It’s an attitude I’ve tried never to have and while I have failed a number of times, at least I have tried and learned.

Anyway…A Quick Review of the Griffin Survivor Rugged Case

[dc]I[/dc] thought I’d do a quick review of the Griffin Survivor case for the iPhone and iPod (they are two separate cases but identical construction).

First, can I just say that there is no such things as an “iTouch”.  It’s an iPod Touch.  I’m not sure where that misnomer started but that’s not what the iPod Touch is called.

So anyway…

smash iphone

I recently heard someone call their iPhone “nearly indestructible”.  As I think most of us know – very few electronic devices are “nearly indestructible”, and if you look at any forums and discussion areas on the Internet you’ll certainly see many demonstrations of this.  Here’s a link to thousands of pictures of smash, cracked, and destroyed iPhones.

So it’s good to have at least some protection, obviously.

The Griffin Survivor Rugged Case – I can’t review the belt clip because mine didn’t come with it.

But the case itself – wow!  I’ve tried many cases, from the thing polymer ones that add hardly any size or weight to the phone to other multi-layer ones and this is by far the nicest and what I believe is the most secure so far.

Sure, there are others like the Urban Armor Gear with Composite Case and many others.  Some are even fully waterproof, dustproof, cold and heat proof.

But they are going to add even more bulk to the size of the phone or iPod.  The Griffin one is a nice size.  It takes the ultra-thin device up to a nice handful, no slippage in your hand or when you put it on a surface because of the rubberized and textured outer case.  I think you could stick it on a slopped dashboard or other surface and be reasonably sure it will stay there for a while.

The case is made up of three parts.  A shield for the face, an inner plastic case with hollow sections/bumpers and an outer rubberized skin with thick padded corners and sides.

The faceshield seems to allow the touchscreen very good usability.  Of course  no matter what you use there’s going to be a small lack of performance in the touchscreen.  But it’s a small price to pay for safety.

The inner plastic part, as I said above – has hollow sections that act as cushioning and bumpers.  And probably “crumple-zones” if needed.  This has all of the holes for the device’s connectors and cameras and the light sensor and the speaker/mic.

Armored Case

Even Miles likes the armored case.

This is kind of what you get when you get a plain hardshell case, but usually without the bumpers.

On the outside is a rubber sort of skin.  It has nice thick bumpers for the edges and sides, with little ‘hatches’ you can open to allow access to the power connector, rear camera, speaker/mic, etc.  The volume, power, and home buttons are all also covered but accessible with bumps that easily allow you to access any of those functions.

I’ve found that the case fits perfectly in many cellphone holders and other padded cases for extra protection.

And while some of the reviews of the belt clip aren’t so good, a friend has a Seidio Evo belt clip that we found fits the whole case, and very securely.  I bet there are other cases and belt clips that fit this too (let me know if you run across one).

I know – some people love the slimness of the iPhone and iPod.  But if you want to be safe, or like something that’s safe AND fits nicely in your hand then check out the Griffin Survivor case.  There’s the iPhone version and the iPod version, and even an iPad one.  Pricey, but very nice.  And if you look around you just might even find a clone of it.

Armor

Marc M

I am a web developer and fitness geek, but I have a heck of a lot of differing interests.  Biking, the Internet, technology, movies, fitness, running and walking and hiking, science fiction, photography, graphics, WordPress, flying and aircrafts, pets and animals, history, and much more.  I like to stay very fit but I don’t mind sitting at my computer for work and play either.  I live in upstate New York (that’s far from New York City) in a rural area, yet close to a small city, with my beautiful awesome wife, a bunch of beloved cats and dogs and chickens in a very old multi-century house.

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