Is the Dog & Bone Wetsuit tough enough? We’d think so. What do you think?
The Dog & Bone Wetsuit is a case that’s waterproof and shockproof up to 6.6 ft. Most waterproof iPhone cases are waterproof and shockproof up to that height as well but how the Wetsuit is designed, sets it apart from your average LifeProof and Otterbox case.
The Wetsuit has three pieces to the case, with the front and back housings made from engineering grade plastics that have over-moulded rubber bumpers. During our drop test, the rubber bumpers did prevent the plastic parts of the housings from scuffing. The boot is made from high-grade silicon rubber that covers all the ports and provides the waterproof seal for your iPhone.
One of the selling features of this case, is the fact that there is no screen protector. It’s topless which means there’s no screen protector for the case. There’s only one other case that has this feature and that’s the LifeProof Nuud. We’ve done a review for the LIfeProof Nuud for the iPhone 5S which can be found here:
Our initial impressions between the Nuud and Wetsuit include:
1. Dog & Bone Wetsuit provides better protection
2. LifeProof Nuud offers better access to your iPhone
In terms of waterproofing, the Wetsuit is quite different when compared to other waterproof cases. Other cases rely on o-rings that are embedded into the case to provide the waterproof seal. With the Wetsuit, the pressure on the silicon boot between the housings is what provides the waterproof seal. Our iPhone come out of the water test bone dry so we’re pretty comfortable with the waterproofing on the case. There isn’t a hole for the wrist strap so this might not be the best case to use as an underwater camera.
In terms of shock protection, the Wetsuit protected the iPhone from our 6 ft drops onto concrete. There are several shock protection features on the wetsuit which include the over moulded rubber bumpers which showed a bit of wear and tear but they absorbed the majority of the impact which meant that the plastic portions of the housings were left unscathed.
The entire boot of the Dog & Bone Wetsuit is made from a high grade silicon rubber which provides the waterproofing and a bit of shock protection. Getting to the buttons on your iPhone is quite simple,the volume and power buttons are easily accessed through the membrane, the Touch ID is covered with a film that isn’t like the stickily looking membranes of the LifeProof and Otterbox cases.
The Wetsuit did come apart during the test but it didn’t come apart completely. Even in the off chance that the case fell into water after the drop, there’s a really good chance that the Wetsuit would keep the iPhone dry since the pressure between the front/back housings aren’t directly responsible for the waterproofing of the iPhone case. This makes the Wetsuit more resilient than other cases like the LifeProof Fre/Nuud and Otterbox Preserver.
One of the things that we recommend to users with the Wetsuit is that you re-install the case after a big drop. We found that the case wasn’t snapping together well after our drop test but we didn’t have any problems after re-installing the case.
Dog & Bone does include a screen protector to install on the Wetsuit. We’ve contacted Dog and Bone about 3rd party screen protections and they’ve mentioned that the case hasn’t been tested with 3rd party screen protectors. From our un-official opinion, we’re guessing that you’re going to be able to use a 3rd party screen protector. We can’t see any reason why you wouldn’t be able to.
If you’re looking for more information on the Dog and Bone Wetsuit case for the iPhone 5 and 5S, check out our features and unbox/install videos for the case:
Unbox/Install: http://youtu.be/DfT7fPpn0IY
Features: http://youtu.be/N13EiGVtLSA
