[cardartist]

I've done my research on the forums and I'm just creating a thread so see which skin works best. I've narrowed my research down to these 2 skins so now the rest is up to you. VOTE !

[danoh]

If you've done the research you've said then you know the pros and cons and what everyone thinks about each product when you read the numerous threads about each product. So, why another thread just to get other people's opinions on each product, when you already know those opinions?

But, I digress. I liked Phantom when I used them.

I'd suggest you try one, and if you don't like it try the other. Nobody here can really tell you if YOU will like one over the other.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[milly177]

I have not used BSE, but I have used Phantom. I will have to say that Phantom is a very quality product. I love the fact that they send you 2 sets of skins for the price of 1, and also they are having a promotion that will give you 33% off. The Phantom has a wonderful fit on my Tour and as of right now have no complaints.

[Iceman0803]

Phantom gets my vote. I've had my screen protector on for about a month now and it still looks as good as the day I bought it. Not bad considering I don't use a holster and I keep my phone in my pocket (usually accompanied by my keys, a lighter, and some loose change). Plus you cant go wrong with a lifetime warranty. The one minor drawback is the install process. I do wish it was a little more simple but, if you take your time it's not too bad.

[Nic]

I have used both BSE and Phantom Skins. They seem identical to me. BSE has a lot less packaging. They had a deal going on where the full body skin was $4.99 I believe. That's like a 1/4 of the price of Phantom. BSE does not state that they have a lifetime warranty like Invisibleshield, but if you email customer service, with an issue, they will send out a new skin. I screwed up one of the side pieces, I asked them If i could just purchase the part I needed. They sent me out a complete skin, no question asked.

[JR_Rider]

I should be able to help you out because I have installed both on the Tour. I initially purchased the Phantom Skinz full body kit because they were having a 33% off special and was growing anxious waiting for BSE to release their kit. So after installing the Phantom Skinz kit I really did not see any difference between their product and the BSE skins I have on other devices. I always planned on purchasing the BSE just to have as a backup in case I didn't like the Phantom Skinz and sure enough after receiving the BSE I decided to take the Phantom Skin off. When comparing the two sets of skins side by side, the BSE actually provides more coverage than the Phantom Skin. The top chrome piece as well as the side rails have better coverage with the BSE.....additionally I like the design of the BSE better because the skins that cover the bottom portion of the phone are MUCH easier to install. Although BSE does have more pieces to install, it offers better protection and is 1/3 the price. And to add to that BSE has better customer service than Phantom Skinz. Really I don't know why anybody would pay 3 times as much for a Phantom Skin.

[boomhower1820]

I vote for (C), Bodyguardz. Somebody had to be that guy so it may as well be me.

[pre me]

I should be able to help you out because I have installed both on the Tour. I initially purchased the Phantom Skinz full body kit because they were having a 33% off special and was growing anxious waiting for BSE to release their kit. So after installing the Phantom Skinz kit I really did not see any difference between their product and the BSE skins I have on other devices. I always planned on purchasing the BSE just to have as a backup in case I didn't like the Phantom Skinz and sure enough after receiving the BSE I decided to take the Phantom Skin off. When comparing the two sets of skins side by side, the BSE actually provides more coverage than the Phantom Skin. The top chrome piece as well as the side rails have better coverage with the BSE.....additionally I like the design of the BSE better because the skins that cover the bottom portion of the phone are MUCH easier to install. Although BSE does have more pieces to install, it offers better protection and is 1/3 the price. And to add to that BSE has better customer service than Phantom Skinz. Really I don't know why anybody would pay 3 times as much for a Phantom Skin.

You really think that Best Skins Ever offers more coverage than Phantom Skinz on the Blackberry Tour? I have the Phantom Skinz full body kit on my Tour and absolutely everything is covered besides the QWERTY keyboard and the actual camera lens. I honestly have no idea how anything else could be covered. Maybe you have Phantom Skinz confused with some other company because you also claim that BSE has better customer service. The Phantom Skinz customer service is one of the main reasons I chose Phantom Skinz back when I had my Storm, and dozens of others rave about them having the best customer service out there.

I'd be interested if you posted some pictures of areas that BSE covers that Phantom does not, but I'm guessing you're confused and are talking about another company or have your post backwards.

And finally, I agree that the Phantom Skinz MSRP or retail price or whatever you want to call it is more expensive, but I also think that they offer a much higher quality product. People on this forum say that BSE uses the same or extremly similar film to the Zagg Invisible Shield, which I have experienced first hand and find to be a much lower quality product than the Phantom Skinz. Wayyy too much orange peel texture and tackieness for my liking. Especially when I had a touch screen Storm.

[redwanhuq]

Neither, get BodyGuardz. They're application solution is the same as Invisible Shield but doesn't require you prepare your own and butcher the job. Plus you get 2 screens.

[JR_Rider]

You really think that Best Skins Ever offers more coverage than Phantom Skinz on the Blackberry Tour? I have the Phantom Skinz full body kit on my Tour and absolutely everything is covered besides the QWERTY keyboard and the actual camera lens. I honestly have no idea how anything else could be covered. Maybe you have Phantom Skinz confused with some other company because you also claim that BSE has better customer service. The Phantom Skinz customer service is one of the main reasons I chose Phantom Skinz back when I had my Storm, and dozens of others rave about them having the best customer service out there.

I'd be interested if you posted some pictures of areas that BSE covers that Phantom does not, but I'm guessing you're confused and are talking about another company or have your post backwards.

And finally, I agree that the Phantom Skinz MSRP or retail price or whatever you want to call it is more expensive, but I also think that they offer a much higher quality product. People on this forum say that BSE uses the same or extremly similar film to the Zagg Invisible Shield, which I have experienced first hand and find to be a much lower quality product than the Phantom Skinz. Wayyy too much orange peel texture and tackieness for my liking. Especially when I had a touch screen Storm.

Wow......I'm kind of mad you're coming at me like I don't know what I'm talking about........but let me provide you with some more facts to further demonstrate my point.......

I ordered my full body Phantom Skinz kit on July 20.....order #5229. I paid $16.72 shipped after the 33% discount. I received the kit on July 27. Upon receiving the kit I inspected the kit and installed it on July 29 (after Locked Up Abroad went off because that's my show....LOL!!!). First thing I noticed about the Phantom Skinz kit after installing it was that it had the exact same "orange peel affect" that people complain about on other kits including the BSE....personally I could care less because the only time you actually notice it is when the screen is off...but that is besides the point. After completing the install, I noticed a couple of things....the design for the logo branding piece/bottom of the phone was not the most effective as it was one piece and didn't provide coverage on a small area on the bottom sides of the phone. I didn't take pictures comparing the two skins side by side but wish I had because the visual comparison would be more effective than anything I can describe....Additionally, a portion of the top chrome piece above the speaker outlet on the left and above the mic jack on the right side of the phone was exposed. Also the side rail coverage is not as great with the Phantom Skinz kit. I'm not saying that the Phantom Skinz kit is a bad kit, just that BSE is a better kit and considering that the BSE kit is 1/3 price, there is really no comparison.

As far a customer service goes, BSE certainly does have better customer service than Phantom Skinz. Any time I have had an issue with my order and emailed them, they promptly respond within 24 hours. I emailed Phantom Skinz with some questions and let's just say it took a little longer to get back a response than BSE.

Having ordered from BSE multiple times for an 8130, 2 8330s, 2 8830s, a Palm Pre, an Ipod Touch, a 9630 and the Macbook Pro, I am very confident in saying they have the best customer service in the business.

And as far as your comparison to Invisible shield you aren't even speaking from personal experience so how can you discredit what I'm saying? You're saying other people on the forum have ordered BSE and compared them favorably to Invisible shields and since you've had an Invisible shield and now the Phantom Skinz, that it's better than the BSE?? It's funny to me that you think Phantom Skinz offers a higher quality product compared to BSE when you have not even seen the two side by side....they are the same....just different packaging.

If I came off abrasive, I apologize in advance......but why post if you don't know what you're talking about.......?? That just adds to the confusion.......

[mjbesen310]

Just get Phantomskinz.. there by far the best coverage sheild out there. I have them on my Tour and could not be any happier with them. There customer service is outstanding. I recomend Phantomskinz out of any other sheild out there.

[dohturdima]

I think Phantom Skinz is pretty much equal to BSE, but given that I paid $4.99 + ship for BSE > PhS

Btw, I applied BSE to friend's Tour, mine has a GadgetGuard skin (Ebay) which IMO is no better than PhS or BSE. Can't go wrong with any of them, so select the cheaper (thus far, BSE is the cheapest of'em all).

[pre me]

I should be able to help you out because I have installed both on the Tour. I initially purchased the Phantom Skinz full body kit because they were having a 33% off special and was growing anxious waiting for BSE to release their kit. So after installing the Phantom Skinz kit I really did not see any difference between their product and the BSE skins I have on other devices. I always planned on purchasing the BSE just to have as a backup in case I didn't like the Phantom Skinz and sure enough after receiving the BSE I decided to take the Phantom Skin off. When comparing the two sets of skins side by side, the BSE actually provides more coverage than the Phantom Skin. The top chrome piece as well as the side rails have better coverage with the BSE.....additionally I like the design of the BSE better because the skins that cover the bottom portion of the phone are MUCH easier to install. Although BSE does have more pieces to install, it offers better protection and is 1/3 the price. And to add to that BSE has better customer service than Phantom Skinz. Really I don't know why anybody would pay 3 times as much for a Phantom Skin.

Once again, I do not think that BSE offers more coverage than Phantom Skinz. Different, I agree, but more..... definitely not. If you want to compare, then I included a picture (at the bottom of the post) of the coverage offered by both companies according to their respective websites. I also started my own thread with actual pictures of the Phantom Skinz on my Tour when I got the phone. The link to that thread is in my signature.

The top chrome piece and the side rails do not have better coverage. They are completely covered by my Phantom Skinz.

Wow......I'm kind of mad you're coming at me like I don't know what I'm talking about........but let me provide you with some more facts to further demonstrate my point.......

I ordered my full body Phantom Skinz kit on July 20.....order #5229. I paid $16.72 shipped after the 33% discount. I received the kit on July 27. Upon receiving the kit I inspected the kit and installed it on July 29 (after Locked Up Abroad went off because that's my show....LOL!!!). First thing I noticed about the Phantom Skinz kit after installing it was that it had the exact same "orange peel affect" that people complain about on other kits including the BSE....personally I could care less because the only time you actually notice it is when the screen is off...but that is besides the point. After completing the install, I noticed a couple of things....the design for the logo branding piece/bottom of the phone was not the most effective as it was one piece and didn't provide coverage on a small area on the bottom sides of the phone. I didn't take pictures comparing the two skins side by side but wish I had because the visual comparison would be more effective than anything I can describe....Additionally, a portion of the top chrome piece above the speaker outlet on the left and above the mic jack on the right side of the phone was exposed. Also the side rail coverage is not as great with the Phantom Skinz kit. I'm not saying that the Phantom Skinz kit is a bad kit, just that BSE is a better kit and considering that the BSE kit is 1/3 price, there is really no comparison.

As far a customer service goes, BSE certainly does have better customer service than Phantom Skinz. Any time I have had an issue with my order and emailed them, they promptly respond within 24 hours. I emailed Phantom Skinz with some questions and let's just say it took a little longer to get back a response than BSE.

Having ordered from BSE multiple times for an 8130, 2 8330s, 2 8830s, a Palm Pre, an Ipod Touch, a 9630 and the Macbook Pro, I am very confident in saying they have the best customer service in the business.

And as far as your comparison to Invisible shield you aren't even speaking from personal experience so how can you discredit what I'm saying? You're saying other people on the forum have ordered BSE and compared them favorably to Invisible shields and since you've had an Invisible shield and now the Phantom Skinz, that it's better than the BSE?? It's funny to me that you think Phantom Skinz offers a higher quality product compared to BSE when you have not even seen the two side by side....they are the same....just different packaging.

If I came off abrasive, I apologize in advance......but why post if you don't know what you're talking about.......?? That just adds to the confusion.......

You're right about me not being able to speak from personal experience about BSE being the same film as Invisible Shield, but based on the characteristics other members of this and other forums describe, I would think that they are extremely similar..... if not the same. The characterisitcs I'm speaking of are the orange peel texture and tacky/grippy/sticky feeling that people describe. Yes Phantom Skinz does have the orange peel effect.... but much less than invisible shield, bse, etc. because of the added clear coat they put over the urethane.

Here is a great example of a comparison of multiple skins that a user on a different forum made.

http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pr...ja-fortte.html

And once again, I agree with you that they charge a higher price, but I also think they offer a higher quality product. They also give you two kits in each package if you order it online (i guess in case you mess up the install which they expect you will do) and they back their product up with a lifetime warranty which BSE does not. To some people, the extra $10 that Phantom Skinz charges is worth it, but thats just a personal opinion. That being said, I actually paid $35 for my Phantom Skinz and it was put on for me while I ate lunch, and if I ever have any problems, I can take it back and they will replace it no questions asked.

Back to the coverage, now you say that because the bottom piece of Phantom skins is one piece that it does not cover the chrome on either side of the bottom where the skin is seperated. But in the BSE design, there is a gap along the entire bottom of the phone that is exposed, not just the two corners, as far as I can tell. And if you want to split hairs, the TINY piece under the camera is not covered by BSE, but is covered by Phantom Skinz. (Just joking around here, not trying to be mean)

If you want to take pictures of your BSE and compare them to the pics I posted about Phantom Skinz thats fine with me.

As far as customer service goes, numerous people on these forums mention that the customer service at Phantom Skinz responds almost instantly and they even have someone who moniters the threads here and answers questions for people. But once again, I have not dealt with their email customer service personally, just the cart at the mall in Gilbert AZ. As far as your criticism goes, I hope you didn't do something like send them an email Friday and didn't get a response back till Monday and bash their customer service for something like that.



Lastly, I was not trying to come at you in any way. I just feel like I have done a lot of research about these types of products and have learned a lot more than most people. To say that I am posting and don't know what I'm talking about..... really?

Mostly, I just wanted to make it clear that Phantom Skinz offers just as much protection as BSE, and that the two companies DO use different materials.

Whew.... I think I need to take a nap now. Sorry about the long post