[prozart]

These seem to be two of the most talked about cases for the 9700. I decided to do a review to compare their different strengths and weaknesses head to head.

I've owned and used both for about a week each, so I'm by no means an expert. If you have anything to add, please feel free to post it. I just highlighted the categories that I find important when trying to pick out a case.

-Price: The Epik Resin ftw here, at only $8 after shipping from Justin. The cheapest place I found the Commuter was I believe $22 after shipping from thecellguru. The Commuter does come with a screen protector, though, so that'll save you some money.

-Aesthetics: I'm very pleased with both cases. Neither adds very much bulk, the Resin being slightly thinner. Both of them look good on the phone, and they blend pretty well. I have the Black Resin case, so I can't comment on how good the other colors look.

-Access to outer buttons: While both cases do give you full access to the buttons, I feel the Commuter has done a much better job of it. It's very easy to push all the buttons, but not so easy they get pushed by accident. This is probably the thing I love most about the Commuter over the Resin. The Resin works, but you have to push the buttons harder. And as for the mute and lock buttons, they work fine, but for some reason there's no click to let you know you've pushed it. Now this may be a problem just with my case, but it's a bit annoying.

-Dust collection: The Epik Resin clearly wins here. It hasn't attracted any dust or lint from my pocket, very nice. The Commuter isn't bad, but because it has the underlayer of silicone, it has the downfalls of silicone. Where the silicone is exposed quite a bit of dust and lint clings to it.

-Ease of sliding into pocket: Again the Resin's material beats silicone. No problem sliding it in or out of your pocket. The Commuter is much better than a normal silicone case because of the plastic shell, but the exposed silicone can sometimes "stick" to the inside of your pocket.

-Ease of removal: for those of you who often take the case off for whatever reason, I've found the Commuter to be quicker and easier to take off. The stiff nature of the Resin can make it a bit of a pain to remove.

Protection: Both cases will definitely protect your phone from every day wear and tear, and against small drops. I think the Commuter protects slightly better just due to the dual layer protection, but they should both work fine for the every day user. If you need better protection I'd recommend the Otterbox Defender.

[papped]

Nice comparison, the situation is basically identical for the Otterbox Impact vs epik.

The only real two issues I have with the epik are:
-case feels grimy much easier than the impact
-the volume control buttons don't work nearly as well as the otterbox case...

The Impact protects the front of the case a bit better since it's a bit thicker also.

[nik9009]

good overview of both products. thanks.

[SolidOrange]

i'm totally with ya!

http://forums.crackberry.com/f120/ot...w-pics-402756/

i haven't even thought about getting my otterbox back out of the desk drawer since i wrote that. LOVE my epik!!

[Ronindan]

I agree with you OP. Removing the epic case can be a bit of a pain.

[eve6er69]

i just ordered 3 epic for my 8330.
cant beat 3 cases for 20 bucks

[anon(2104596)]

does the otterbox commuter come with a belt clip? i know the defender does, but wasnt sure about the commuter.

[jww700]

Commuter does not have a clip.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[rrrebo]

The Commuter fits into the OEM 9700 holster snugly, but not to the point where I refused to use it. My real complaint was that it was just a tad too tall, so the flap did not close completely.

I got a 9000 OEM holster, however, and the Commuter fits PERFECTLY. 9700 + Otterbox Commuter + OEM 9000 holster = WIN.

[ranpha2882]

I was using the Commuter on my 9550 for a couple of days.. in the end it was dusty allover the silicon part I found the dust is too hard to remove easily and really ruins the look of the device.

However, I improvised and end up using the Original Silicon made RIM (for the inner part) and combined it with the Commuter's hard outer shell.

I don't know how RIM did it, but somehow their silicon case is attracting less dust by far compared to the Commuter's. It is not an exact fit either, but good protection and less dust sticking to my 9550 is all that I want

[jfojordan]

ordered my epik last night. maybe there will need to be a seidio innocase vs epik resin case?

[JustinD2473#IM]

ordered my epik last night. maybe there will need to be a seidio innocase vs epik resin case?

thats not even a competition in my opinion

epik ftw !

[jaybb2]

which one protects better if you drop your phone on a concrete floor?

[stephyv1]

I have a epik case (which i ordered from justin- very fast and speedy recieve) =)

anyway i love the case..the one thing that i dont like about it is when u have your bb (in my case the 8900) synced to your computer or charging it..the usb plug falls out very easily. so you have to becareful esp when doing a os upgrade..i almost messed up my berry while doing the os upgrade cause the plug got loose but thankfully i was able to recover it and it is back to normal.

but all in all i love my epik case and plan on to order more =)

[GBP87]

I just got both of them. They are both nice, but the Commuter screams quality.

Commuter also have a nice masculine look and 2 girls I have talked to said it looks awesome. The Epik case is nice even though the buttons do not give ANY satisfying feedback. When you press lock or convenience keys, there is no click, just pressing until something happens on the screen.

I would get both if I were you guys. The Epik can be had for $6 and the Commuter for $20 on Amazon.

[jen2004]

-Price: The Epik Resin ftw here, at only $8 after shipping from Justin. The cheapest place I found the Commuter was I believe $22 after shipping from thecellguru. The Commuter does come with a screen protector, though, so that'll save you some money.

The screen protectors from Justin are only $1 each (at least for the S2, not sure about the others), and my total for 1 screen protector and 1 case was $9.

[StealthMan]

The Epik case is amazing especially when you factor in the price and in my opinion it looks better than the Otterbox as well.

[jfojordan]

thats not even a competition in my opinion

epik ftw !

after using my epik for over a week now..i think. i have to agree. with a few minor adjustments it would be even better

[pltan75]

I just got both of them. They are both nice, but the Commuter screams quality.

Commuter also have a nice masculine look and 2 girls I have talked to said it looks awesome. The Epik case is nice even though the buttons do not give ANY satisfying feedback. When you press lock or convenience keys, there is no click, just pressing until something happens on the screen.

I would get both if I were you guys. The Epik can be had for $6 and the Commuter for $20 on Amazon.

Get both and juggle between them? Do you guys actually do that? Why and under what conditions?


Apart from that I agree with you about the Epik which I just recently received. For that price, I like the feel and the protective qualities, but as mentioned there is almost no tactile feedback for the convenience , top and volume buttons. A few times I caught myself giving the screen LCD pressure-blur when I realised I was pressing the buttons way too hard, since you can't feel anything :P

[that_maynard]

I have the Commuter, but its just too big for me. I ordered one off ebay, (sorry Justin I didn't do a search for your stuff or I would've ordered from you) and I was told the Epik Pro Case was a bit slimmer. The Commuter has SO MUCH pocket lint on it after one day. Hoping the Epik pro doesn't have that problem.