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Saturday, January 16, 2010

PSPgo Traveler case mod review



I bought the PSPgo Traveler case shortly after buying the PSPgo itself; so I've owned & used it for about 3 months.

There are quite a few good reviews for this case out there. My biggest concern was the tightness of the case over the PSPgo's top panel. As shown in this pic (found on the web) the case "flaps" hug the PSPgo top panel VERY tightly:



It makes it really tough to actually slide the panel into the up position. And I was worried that all that pressure on the top panel could contribute to it loosening even more (as I described before)

So I modded my Traveler case by cutting down the flaps that grip the PSPgo's top panel... now it only grips onto the bottom panel:





One side is a bit messily cut; at first I tried to cut it down using a boxcutter razor. I was attempting to cut the inside plastic, leaving enough of the outside faux leather skin to re-glue & cover the cut area. It didn't work, it's too tightly glued to the core plastic of the case, making it impossible to separate cleanly.



So then I used small garden shears to cut the other flap off with a clean cut. It was really tough but it worked very well; I wish I'd done it for the first side.



Overall the PSPgo Traveler case is a really nice case. It reminds me of my favourite case for the PSP-1000: The CapDase Luxury case.

The PSPgo Traveler case has a faux leather surface that feels really good to grip. I'd almost want the back of the PSPgo itself to be coated with it! And it adds very little bulk to the PSPgo.

A couple of complaints: One, when the top panel is slid up, it's very difficult to access the volume, screen & sound buttons. I have to slide the PSPgo's top panel down just to change the volume.



Two, the clasp attaches to the back by velcro.



It's not bad, but it would be better if it was magnetic like some other PSP cases, because the velcro-hooks part is on the bottom of the case. That's why all my review pics show the case on top of an Xbox magazine-- if I laid it down on the carpet, the velcro would stick to it. I think they didn't use a magnetic clasp because the PSPgo seems to be prone to magnetic interference. I was looking at the insides of one (from pics on the net) and there are thin metal plates to protect the circuits from electrical interference... I think they're only partly effective because sometimes the PSPgo gives off a faint high-pitched hum. So magnetic clasps near the console, especially the back, might adversely affect it.

But even if they put the velcro hooks on the clasp part, and put the fabric on the back (instead of the other way around) it would be more convenient to put the case down on fabric surfaces like bed sheets or carpeting.

The makers claim that it can be used as a stand, but I've never gotten it to stand up, plus I have headphones plugged in most of the time so I can't really stand it up in any way.

I wish the case makers hadn't tried to grip both panels of the PSPgo, I think they were overly concerned about it holding. And it doesn't hold the PSPgo as tightly with the flaps cut down.... but I never hold the case by the cover alone, so I've never had any problem with the PSPgo falling out of it-- even used it on my trip to China. Held up great. It's a great case. Very comfortable to play the PSPgo with it on.




later
don

2 comments:

HerrJeff said...

As indicated before, instead of PSPGo, I received an Ipod Touch in November and I think it complements better my PSP-2000, each with their strengths and weaknesses. I prefer playing games and watching movies on the PSP, in part because of the bigger screen but mainly because the Ipod Touch does not offer the ability to choose which minute of your mp4 file you want to go to like PSP does.

However, Ipod Touch is slimmer, offers better storage with 64Gbs, better web browsing and MANY apps to choose. And to get to your topic here, there's no interesting case to carry both my Ipod and earplugs together. I finally bought one designed for slim digital cameras in order to fit earplugs as well as a small USB cable to be able to recharge my Ipod, because there's no way to switch a spare battery either. I liked traveling with my electronic boarding pass on the Ipod but was afraid the battery would run out before I'm back home!

Don said...

Oh nice... a 64GB iPod Touch... if it wasn't for the fiasco of last year's Apple announcement (everyone expected it to have a camera but it didn't get one) I probably would've gotten one. It feels like Apple is going to add a camera to it but maybe there was a last-minute snag that stopped them, or maybe they didn't want to compete with their Nano line that got the camera. Still, I think it's inevitable that I will get one eventually... if any device looks like a PSP-killer it's the iPod Touch.

My biggest concern with the iPod Touch is whether it will play my .MP4 files I record from my Neuros Recorder II+, and my videos encoded using PSP Video 9. I know that the iPod plays back H.264, and the Neuros recordings are .MP4 Simple Profile, but I can't be sure they're compatible.

If I send you a couple small videos, a few MBs each, could you test them out on your iPod Touch to see if they'll play?


later
don