In the past with DVD’s, CD’s, BluRays, and any other kind of disc you have to worry about finding a case to hold your discs while traveling. I have always found that case logic cases protected your discs from scratched well but lacked style. When looking for a case with a little style I had trouble finding one that was made with good quality and protected my discs. When our lan sponsor Slappa sent us out a few things to review I was very excited too see that they included one of there HardBody CD cases. It worked out that by the time I found time to take a close look at this case I was packing up for ShowDown Lan and needed a quality case to carry my game and system discs. This was perfect chance to put the case through its paces while saving room in an already full car. Please read on to find out how the case performed.
Review Sample Provided by: Slappa
Review by: Garfi3ld
Pictures by: Garfi3ld
Packaging
The HardBody case came in a microfiber bag with the Slappa logo on it; I’ve never seen a CD case come in anything like that. After pulling the case out of the bag the packaging was very simple. A 6 to 8 inch wide tag was attached to the handle. On the tag it has a few of the details on the Hardbody. Specifically it tells us this case holds 160 discs or 80 discs with 80 covers.
Design
The first impression of our Camel colored HardBody case is, WOW! This is an amazing looking case. The camel color z-suede and rubberized PVC exterior finish is an attention getter. The handle is very durable looking; each side has four rivets attaching it to the case to keep it from coming off. You wouldn’t want to drop your important discs all over the ground. Speaking of keeping everything secure, Slappa has attached large easy to grab Slappa logo’s to the zippers. You will also find a rubber Slappa logo on the front of the case so that you can show off their cool logo along with your cool case.
Just inside the case on both ends they have included a mesh to toss random items that won’t fit in the CD pouches. This was a nice addition that you don’t see in every case, sometimes its small things like this that really show that they put some thought into the design of the case. The CD pouches are very smooth so there should never be any worry of scratching any of your discs. Slappa put a pouch with a window for a disc or a CD cover and then directly behind that there is a second pocket. This means that if you want you could put a tracklist or disc cover in the front, but if you want to hold more discs you can use it to double the case capacity. In order to keep the pockets together Slappa has hand stitched between each of them, this is much more durable than most cases (most just melt them together). Inside they have also included a couple black tabs if you would like to sort out your discs, and a cloth to clean up your discs before you put them back into the case.
Performance
As I packed up for Showdownlan I packed all of my driver discs, games, OS discs, and more games. Because I didn’t want my games and OS keys visible for everyone to see, I used the back pockets to tuck them away behind the disc. This worked out great with games that had small manuals and cheat sheets also. I had a couple discs that had the keys stuck directly onto the jewel cases, because of this I couldn’t fit them in the normal pockets. But the mesh pockets at the front and back of the case held them perfectly for the entire trip.
After everything was packed up I did find that the case got a lot of attention from just about anyone who saw it. Without even knowing what it held people wanted one. That says a lot about the style and quality of the case. Speaking of quality, I felt like I could toss the case around without any worries of damaging the discs inside. The only problem I did find really is that the case looks so great that you worry about damaging the case itself (is this even a problem?). Even after carrying the case too ad from the lan each day I never once found any discs that had slipped out. Even though the pockets are very soft they do a great job of keeping the discs secure.
Overall
At the end of the weekend not only was I in love with this case, but so were a few of my friends. For 31.49 before shipping it is a little higher cost than even the high end cases you find in store. But considering you don’t have to worry about it falling apart it’s worth it alone not to mention the amazing style. If camel isn’t your color, they do produce this same case in 5 other color combinations. Every color combination is amazing, if I had to pick I would have a hard time picking just one that I like. Slappa also produces their CD cases that hold 40, 80, 240, 360, 420, and 600; a case for almost anyone! If you are looking for a high quality case to store away your discs I highly recommend checking out the HardBody line of cases from Slappa.
