Tech 21 Patriot Review – iPhone 6/6 Plus

Design – The Godzilla of iPhone cases?

In terms of design, the Tech 21 Patriot is a massive case. People with average sized pants are going to have a hard time putting this iPhone case into their pockets. The only case that we’ve seen that is larger is the Ballistic Hardcore but even that case can be slimmed down as the outer layer of protection is removable.

Installation of the case is quite simple as you fit the iPhone into the cradle and then wrap the back around the iPhone. The back of the case is where most of the weight comes from. Taking the case out of the Patriot is a different story as it’s incredibly difficult to pry the back of the case off but for most people, that’s going to be a good thing.

We’re quite impressed with the build quality of the Tech 21 Patriot. The entire case feels very solid and there is an excellent blend of different textures which makes the iPhone quite easy to handle. Everything fits together really well and the materials hold up fairly well after a couple rounds of torture.

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Protection – Seriously, who wants to drop their iPhone from 13 ft?

When it comes to protection, the Tech 21 Patriot is suppose to be a tough case. According to Tech 21, there are 2 things that are unique to this case and they are BulletShield which is a polymer used in bulletproof glass and FlexShock was is Tech 21’s proprietary blend of shock absorbing material.

Now BulletShield and FlexShock make the Tech 21 Patriot sound like the toughest case in the world but we tested a Tech 21 Impact Shield that had the BulletShield polymer and provided protection that was just a notch above a naked iPhone. For FlexShock, as you saw in our Tech 21 Patriot review video, the 13 ft drop wasn’t kind to your iPhone 6 Plus as the device did bend but was still functional after the drop. So really, if you’re ok with a bit of damage to your iPhone from a very high drop, then it passed!

Tech 21 coins this case as being Dust and Splash Proof and we generally do have to agree. All the speakers and mics except 1, are covered with a type of membrane that keeps dust and debris out and the ports are all sealed quite well but anything to do with the iPhone’s camera and light sensors are exposed.

Leaving certain parts exposed seems odd to us since it seems like Tech 21 went to great lengths to cover up most of the iPHone but not all of it.

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Functionality – So tough that you’re going to have trouble using your iPhone inside the case

In terms of accessing your iPhone inside the case, all the hardware ports and buttons are really easy to access which we really like. From our point of view, there are two things that suck the joy out of using your iPhone and the first one is not being able to easily access the buttons on your device. That is not the case with the Patriot.

The port cutouts are large enough to handle larger than average cables such as the Awesome Cable and Amazon Basics cable. The mute switch is especially nice to access as very few companies go with a button that you access through the front of the case rather than trying to shove your finger into a tiny cutout. The membrane over the TouchID sensor works decently as well.

The second thing that will suck the joy out of using your iPhone is the having the screen protector reduce the sensitivity of the touchscreen which is what really drags the Patriot down. There is a very noticeable gap between the screen protector and the touchscreen which results in a sensitivity loss on the iPhone as well as requiring occasional multiple swipes to get to whatever you need to get to. The edges of the case don’t get in the way which doesn’t mean much when you consider everything else we just mentioned in terms of the screen protector.

To add insult to injury, viewing the iPhone through the screen protector that doesn’t come close to maintaining the clarity of the iPhones Retina HD screen. The screen protector on the Patriot is quite prone to grease, diffuses the iPhone’s screen, increases the glare and reflections coming off the iPhone’s touchscreen but because of that large gap, doesn’t suffer from any sort of rainbowing. Any sort of permanent damage to the screen protector will result in added diffusion which just adds to the aggravation of using your iPhone inside of this case.

The last thing we will mention is that the belt holster on the Tech 21 Patriot is fairly nice as the belt clip doubles as a viewing platform that allows you to view your iPhone handsfree on a flat surface which was a nice find (in our opinion) during our test period for our Tech 21 Patriot Review.
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