Topeak in the past has produced many great well thought out products for us bikers so this was exciting to try something that wasn’t a tool.
First impression, out of the packaging and in my hands this feels substantial. Like if needed it could take a hit and leave the iPhone safe as intended. It is a little on the big side of the case world and I would rule out this as an everyday case if you don’t have an outside dangerous smart phone environment type job.
The bicycle mount is smart. It has two types of mounts, one that replaces the headset top cap which will be my choice of mount and a strap style that is very adjustable and could adapt to most bars.
The side buttons are convenient and well placed. But are clearly missing the sound switch. In order to turn your sound on or off you will need to plan ahead before closing the case and decide what setting you need. Don’t be that guy in the woods with you phone blowing up, you won’t be able to turn it off quick.
Getting in and out of the case is very simple. On the top, slide the “Open” to the left and due to the weatherproofing seal you will need a finger nail to motivate the tab underneath to pop open the back cover.
On the bottom are the access ports for the audio cable and lighting cable. These are well designed and very tight keeping out weather and dirt. One thing here is the audio cable opening is designed for the Apple headphone jack only, so a conventional audio cable for you car might not fit here.
Mounted to bicycle using the headset cap mount is very clean. The bracket is very adjustable with its pivot hinge, here I have it roughly set at 90 degrees or parallel to the ground. Also, the clip that connects to case can rotate 90 degrees. This way if you are using an app that can utilize a horizontal position it is very simple to change from one to the other. Check out the video below for how it works mounted.
Overall I like this case very much. There is no rattling when riding and is very easy to mount and remove . The home button works very well, even using your biometric thumb will work most of time. The screen is very sensitive and seems to work with riding glove very well. For a bicycle mounted GPS mapping tool mounted to my handlebars its the best I have seen and used with out being a dedicated GPS device.
Pros –
- Good strong case
- Screen has great touch
- Biometric Home works well
- Mount is very strong and doesn’t rattle.
- Portrait or landscape easy to change.
Cons –
- Audio port is very small if not using Apple headphone they might not work.
- No sound switch to turn off/on the sound without removing iPhone from case.
Price –
- $44 on Amazon.com
Topeak’s site with more specs.
https://www.topeak.com/global/en/products/weatherproof-ridecase-series/756-weatherproof-ridecase
