iSkin Claro Special Edition for iPod

iSkin Claro Special Edition:

Based upon the company’s earlier original for the iPod, largely protective rubber and hard plastic case design, this Special Edition case includes a pop-out video-ready mounting stand and integrated, non-detachable belt clip. Unique two-layer design provides good balance of access to and protection for iPod’s ports; rubber skin and hard plastic case are black colored, like Apple’s U2 iPod, with a built-in red rubber Click Wheel protector.

The case comes in two sizes. Size A for 30GB Video iPods Size B for 60-80GB Video iPods.

The look and feel of the Claro Special Edition case is nothing short of awesome. The red Click Wheel is very sleek and sets this case apart from the standard Claro case.

An enhanced version of the company’s earlier Claro-a fifth-generation iPod clear hard plastic case with a removable, replaceable silicone rubber insert inside, the Claro Special Edition for iPod with video combines a translucent smoke black hard case and a U2 iPod-styled black- and red-rubber insert, creating a physically harder take on iSkin’s eVo3 Special Edition.

Unlike the first Claro, which lost a Build Quality point for having slight tears in its interior rubber lining, the new Special Edition version is a little stronger on the inside: the rubber sleeve had no tears, and was accented by a red painted-on Click Wheel cover, plus a hard black Action button cover glued to its center.

iSkin has also mostly preserved the prior hard external hard shell, with holes that line up properly with the iPod’s, though the new case’s front isn’t quite as scratch-resistant as before. After a couple of weeks of normal use, including jostling around in bags, we noticed that the front shell showed some hairline scratches - not enough to make the case look bad, but they’re there.

The 5G iPod’s headphone port, Hold switch, Dock Connector port, Click Wheel, and screen are all accessible while inside, and despite the use of both paint and rubber on the Click Wheel, you’re still able to control the iPod without any issue - more than we can say for some other rubber Click Wheel protectors.

As with eVo3, if video playback or screen brightness generally are important to you, you’ll do better with the standard edition Claro than with this version. The original version of Claro was unquestionably a novel iPod case design: the combination of clear hard plastic, a silicone rubber inner shell, and iSkin’s rear belt clip-slash-stand remain standouts even today. As you can see from the photos, a large belt clip is permanently attached to the back of this case, and a video-ready stand is cut out from its center, parts that make Claro thicker than the similar-looking eVo3 with its belt clip removed.

If pushed together, Claro’s belt clip and stand both serve as a belt clip, but the stand can be pulled out to place the iPod on a nearly perfect recline, with “nearly” only applicable because it’s not user-adjustable into sturdy, ratcheted positions. Other than that limitation, and the aforementioned screen tinting issue, this is a highly convenient case for frequent video watchers.