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Hitcase crio
SCORE
4.0 Eh’s out of 5
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PROS:
– Magnetic lens mounting system is easy to use
– Comes with a magnetic back
– Not as bulky as other camera cases
CONS:
– Chance to lose a lens is higher than other cases
– Case edges are low
– Needs more texture
At Mobile Reviews Eh!, we do reviews based on actual usage. We do tests and use the products for days and maybe weeks. Weʼve been reviewing for so long that we get to see how companies evolve their products. From our perspective, the HitCase Crio is an upgraded HitCase Snap but eliminates some of the annoying parts of the snap, namely the lens attachments.
If you like how we do our reviews, please consider buying the products on the links scattered on this article.
When it comes to taking your iPhone further, there isnʼt any case manufacturer like HitCase. The HitCase Crio is just another example of HitCase making it easier for us to do awesome things with our iPhones.
Some of the funnest videos weʼve shot with HitCase products and some of our fondest memories were captured with an iPhone in a HitCase product. Our biggest problem is the size of the products was the size of the products. We actually think HitCase knew this because their HitCase Pro has evolved significantly over the years. HitCase has actually reached a point where you could almost use it like a day to day case.
design
The HitCase Crio is closer to a Caudabe Sheath or a matte Black Spigen Liquid Crystal when it comes to design. The HitCase Crio is quite thin and light which means it wonʼt add a lot of bulk to your iPhone. The case generally fits the iPhone well. However, we do have prototypes so the final fit should be better.
The camera attachment points work quite well as the lenses easily snap on. There isnʼt a lot of finagling that you have to do to ensure the perfect fit. Again, this system beats the thread lenses like the ExoLens as it eliminates the chance that youʼll miss the thread.
The lens generally stays on under normal movement even if you shake it a bit. This means you wonʼt be losing the lenses as you move from shot to shot in normal circumstances. However, the lens pops off easily with a bit of pressure so be careful. You donʼt want to accidentally KO your lenses on a concrete sidewalk.
We were a little curious to know if the lenses would stay on during slightly more aggressive movements. We tried to strap our iPhone X in the HitCase Crio with a wide angle lens to our chest and did a bunch of gymnastics stuff with it. The results were the lens seem to be fine. But we wouldnʼt recommend getting the HitCase Crio if you use your iPhone to capture more intense stuff. Just go with the HitCase Pro.
The texture on the case is a bit mild for our liking. This is especially when you consider that an iPhone in the HitCase Crio will be put into slightly more compromising positions for videos and photos. As we said before for this HitCase Crio review, the case we had were prototypes. But we’ve been told that the coating has been improved. The coating should make handling a bit better.
To ensure maximum safety for your iPhone, we would suggest getting their tripod mount as well for stationary shots. For on-the-go shots, we’d suggest attaching a wrist strap to the case to minimize the risk of drop damage.
The HitCase Crio comes with a magnet on the back of the case which makes it compatible with your favourite magnetic car mounts. However, the magnet also negates the ability to charge your iPhone through Qi-charging. From our perspective, that isnʼt a bad thing since Qi-charging in general is quite useless. We tried using only Qi-chargers for a week with our iPhone X and our iPhone battery basically sat at low power the entire time.
SEE ALSO: iPhone 8 Fast Charging – Everything you need to know
PROTECTION
The HitCase Crio will offer the corners of your iPhone 2m drop protection. This seems like a lot given how thin the case is. We personally wouldnʼt drop the iPhone from 6ft in the HitCase Crio for fun. However, we’re quite confident it will handle any day-to-day mishaps without any issues. The corners of the case also have ribs. This creates air pockets for the corners of your iPhone which adds to the drop protection.
When it comes to screen protection, the HitCase Crio has a minimal lip. We suggest you should get a screen protector. Preferably a plastic one. When a face first drop does happen, you donʼt chip the edges of the glass. This happens because the case isnʼt rigid enough. This is why we say the HitCase Crio might offer the corners of the iPhone with 2m worth of drop protection.
Accessing your iPhone is average. Average in the way that it doesnʼt get in the way of accessing anything on the device.
Hitcase crio lenses
First of all, we think HitCase needs to come up with a unique way of managing the lenses. Now we know that putting them in a bag is the simplest solution. However, with the magnetic attachment capability, surely there must be a way to make the lens storage different. We will note that these new lenses will work with HitCaseʼs newer cases as they still have a thread which is a value add in our opinion.
For this section, we took a series of photos between the older lenses using an HitCase Pro for the iPhone 8 and the HitCase Crio on the iPhone X.
When it comes to the wide angle lenses, the older lens and Crio lens were identical except for the magnetic ring along the base of the lens.
Based on our comparison photo, we’d say that the lens is almost identical as the distortion along the edges of the photo are the same.
SEE ALSO: ExoLens Pro + Case Review
HitCase sent us two lenses to use with the HitCase Crio and we initially thought that the big lens was another SuperWIde lens. We put on the HitCase Crio and noticed that everything was blurry. We initially thought it was “Brutal”. Followed by “Idiot” as we looked at the lens a little closer. Itʼs a macro lens. The new macro lens is much larger than their old one.
The lens is actually better but it’s really hard to tell when youʼre taking macro shots. The depth of field on these macro lenses are actually quite shallow so itʼs hard to see the distortion in the lenses. For the most part, every macro shot we took between the two difference lenses was somewhat similar. The only way we could tell was by shooting an out of focus object. The photo below is the edge of our countertop. As you can see, there is very little distortion along the edges of the newer lens.
If you are asking if the magnetic lenses had on the OIS on the iPhone X, we tried to test it out. This actually interest us because in Appleʼs accessory guidelines, magnets are frowned upon as they can mess with the radios as well as the image stabilization found on newer iPhones.
For this question, we went for a quick drive during a snowstorm and recorded with the HitCase Crio on and the HitCase Crio off. From what we can tell, the magnetic lenses do not interfere with OIS on the iPhone Xʼs camera.
The HitCase Crio is better for video or photos?
Based on all of our time with camera cases, we’d have to say that the HitCase Crio is better suited for videos due to the quality of the lenses. HitCase’s True Lux lenses are decent but the distortion along the edges of the photos becomes quite noticeable especially when compared to other lenses such as the ExoLens and Moment Lenses.
With videos, the iPhone crops the sensor a bit so the distortion along the edges of the video isn’t as noticeable. With videos, the viewers attention is often placed on the middle of the shot and since everything is moving, they won’t notice the slight distortion along the edges.
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