Griffin Survivor Review – iPhone 6

Design – The Griffin Survivor is a BIG case

The Griffin Survivor will almost triple the thickness of your iPhone 6. This is not a small case but on the flip side, the case is fairly light. Installing and removing your iPhone is simple with this case, if you need to know why, we’ve elaborated a bit more on the website.

In terms of build quality, the Griffin Survivor feels solid, even after a few drops. The case fits well together and it doesn’t show an excessive amount of wear and tear. We will note that the rubbery parts of the case seem to attract lint. We reached out to our viewers on Facebook and Chad Graham has also mentioned the lint-magnetism of the Griffin Survivor.

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Protection – This case will ensure your iPhone survives almost anything

The Griffin Survivor is drop rated up to a height of 6.6ft and is rated to meet Mil-Spec 810G. From our drop tests, we noticed that the flaps covering the ports may come undone during the drops. We dropped the case on a corner where the speaker cutout is and the plastic on that corner is pretty deformed but still protected the iPhone 6.

In terms of water protection, the Griffin Survivor isn’t waterproof. It will offer a decent level of water resistance, as indicated by their marketing on their box (ml’s per hour). The speakers are all covered so you can use your iPhone in a light rain without having to really worry about water getting through the speaker cutouts.

The part with the least amount of water protection is the rubber cover over the lightning port connector. The port cover doesn’t flap around but you can definitely see the iPhone even when the cover is tucked into the case.

In terms of dust protection, there’s another marketing stat on their box but from my point of view, this case will provide better dust protection especially when compared to its primary competitor, the Otterbox Defender. Between the iPhone 5 version and the iPhone 6 version of the survivor, Griffin has updated the how you use the camera. On the 5, you had an annoying camera flap. On the 6 Griffin has replaced it with a camera and flash cutout that is built right into the case. This means that their is one less part of your iPhone 6 that is exposed to the elements which is great.

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Functionality – During our Griffin Survivor review, we discovered a company that listens to its customers!

Accessing your iPhone 6 through the Griffin Survivor is one of its best features. The buttons are easy to use, the Touch ID membrane works, sound is effected by the case and we didn’t notice a difference in signal attenuation. The one thing we have to note is a slight distortion of photographs taking with the Griffin Survivor. The plastic film seems to make the photographs a little hazy. I’ve tried to clean the plastic lens cover to see if that was the issue but it’s not.

In terms of accessing your touchscreen, the Griffin Survivor doesn’t get in the way. There is a slightly noticeable gap between the screen protector and the touch screen but you’re not going to bothered by it unless your actively looking for the gap.

The worst part of the Griffin Survivor is actually the screen view ability of your iPhone 6. It doesn’t suffer from any rainbowing effects but it does diffuse the iPhone’s touch screen. This diffusion seems to pixelate the Retina HD screen of your iPhone. For me personally, this bothers me a bit because I really like the crispness of my iPhone’s screen. There is a bit of glare that comes off the case but its not too bad.

With all that being said about the screen veiwability, unless you’re staring at multiple iPhone screens with different cases, you’re going to get use to how your iPhone looks like through the Griffin Survivor.

When comparing the Otterbox Defender vs Survivor, we’d go with the Griffin Survivor. It’s cheaper, provides better protection for your iPhone 6 and you’d be supporting a company that is actively improving their products. The only thing that the Defender is better is the screen protector as it doesn’t diffuse the iPhone’s touch screen but the gap on the Defender is a little more noticeable.

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