UGeek PDA Review: RhinoPak 2000


RhinoPak 2000

Reviewer: Craig Wiernik
Posted: 3/17/99

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At A Glance
Description   PDA carrying case
Highlights   Holds any PDA with dimensions of 7" x 4.25" x 1.25" or smaller; elastic straps secure unit inside pack
Lowlights   Must remove unit from case to use fully; very little padding, especially between internal objects and the PDA
Manufacturer   Rhinoskin Inc. (
Street Price   US$49.95

Now that I've finally (I was an original Apple Newton user!) gotten a new PDA--the Philips Velo 500--I needed a good carrying case for it to get it back and forth safely. That's where the RhinoPak 2000 comes in.

The RhinoPak 2000 is a case that comes with a few frills that I would've left off to make a better product. This case is about the size of a standard VHS video cassette, with a zippered main compartment. The zipper zips over 75% of the case, so it opens very much like a portfolio-type case when fully unzipped. From the looks of it, the case seems designed for rugged use, but I wouldn't try it.

The padding in the case itself is nothing exceptional; it just feels like a thin piece of foam. From just looking at the case from the outside, I would've thought there'd be more padding for better protection. Inside are four elastic securing straps for securing your PDA inside the case. I never use them and I don't see when I would (unless I was going in and out of this case for items other than my PDA). You cannot strap in your PDA in an "open" position because of the way two of the four straps work. I would've liked to have been able to open my case and thereby open my PDA, so the case acts like a second skin and I never have to remove my PDA from it. This was not the case (pun intended).

There is also a mesh pocket on the inside, large enough to hold a floppy disk or two, which is all I would ever put in there. You also get a loop where a pen could be held. I probably wouldn't use this because I'm concerned about a pen putting undue pressure against the back of the LCD screen, which is not good. There is no padding between where your PDA goes and where a pen fits in. Something I really do like is the two half loops, which were designed to hold two batteries of type AA or smaller. The only problem is that Rhinoskin put these two loops just a bit too close, so that my battery on the bottom will overlap the one on top unless I really shove it in.

The backside has a zippered pocket along its entire length. This pocket could hold some cash or a credit card or two, or maybe (if you're lucky) a checkbook. There are also multiple belt loops on the back as well. If I ever get a GPS unit for my PDA, I would take the RhinoPak 2000 and just strap it to the back of my backpack! There is also a front pocket, sealed with a front buckle cover. This cover also has a pocket in it. I found this small pocket to be useless because it can hardly hold anything, and I couldn't get more than two of my fingers in there, making it good for only very very small or very very light items. The buckle and zipper combination just add unnecessary weight.

Ratings Defense
The RhinoPak 2000 is not a bad case, but it's not quite what I was looking for either. It seems to have been designed to be a carry-around case for daily use. Having to open the case to pull out my PDA was not as nice as being able to open the case and my PDA at the same time and work with it like that. In some instances, it seems that this case was overdesigned (such as the outer front buckled pocket with zippered pocket on it), and in others it seems woefully underdesigned for the way it was built (such as using a very thin piece of padding).

While the RhinoPak 2000 can hold my PDA and my modem cable, I wouldn't use it to hold an AC adapter, or the modem card, or anything that isn't small and flat because of the undue pressure that would likely be experienced by my PDA. For the reasons I've given here, I give the RhinoPak 2000 3.5 Geekheads for Quality.

The RhinoPak 2000 gets 3 Geekheads for Geekness. The frills it has are a bit different from other PDA-type carrying cases, but they fail in their implementation.

This isn't a bad case. As it stands, I'll still use it primarily to lug my PDA back and forth between work and home. But once my PDA comes out in the morning, the case stays in my briefcase, not to be seen again until the end of the day.