I want to share our experiences with cases to save you guys some money as I know many of you are looking for that case that’s going to save your kiddo’s iPad, but which one? The contenders seem to be the Griffin Survivor (or link for a black one) and the Otterbox, from what I have seen and heard. They both claim to do a great job protecting against lots of wear and tear and both come with stands.
So, we bought a Griffin Survivor for our daughter’s new iPad mini, pictured above. We have never had a Griffin before as we’ve always gone with Otterboxes. The Griffin was cheaper on amazon, so we thought we’d give it a try. We’re pretty disappointed in it. The hard plastic shell that you put the iPad in, is so much thinner than all the Otterboxes we have had. The rubbery, plastic part that goes on the outside almost feels a bit thicker but there are flaps covering some of the holes that seem like they would break off easily. One of the flaps covers the camera and you have to try to hold it back while you take a pic, which is a pain. Then we get to the stand. This is a must for my daughter, Abbey, with autism. As you may be able to see in the picture, her Otterbox for her old iPad one in the background is duct taped. After many new stands, we finally gave up and taped it. I have seen the stands for the newer iPads and the iPad minis by Otterbox and they seem much stronger. The stand for the Griffin is very weak and I think it props it up too high. Also, the stand for the Otterbox also serves as a cover that snaps over the screen, when on the go, very important for putting Abbey’s iPad mini in her purse as she has no idea about being careful with it, that it could break. All this to say, we’ll be getting an Otterbox for her iPad mini, as soon as we can! Hope this helps and I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on cases, we can learn from each other!:)
P.S. All of this goes for the cases for iPhones too! We have always had Otterboxes and I bought a Griffin survivor for my son’s iPhone 4….not good. The same with all of the above, plus the rubber that covers the power button at the top keeps pushing down on it on it’s own and trying to turn it off:(