Review: (The Horrible) Contour Design iSee-Video

I’ve decided to give Contour one more chance. One more chance to satisfy me as a customer, provide great protection for my iPod, and spread good word of their product. Well, it paid off and I am one happy customer who found the right iPod case with all the functionality I wanted…when Apple starts selling Windows on all its Macs!

Even though I was supposed to purchase the Agent 18 Video Kit, it instead went to my brother and I received the Contour iSee-Video. This only happened due to a mix-up in what sizes the cases supported; the Video Kit can only support either the 30, 60, or 80 GB models whereas the iSee can support all sizes due its interchangeable back. Now, in my last post I detailed my extreme dislike for the Contour iSee Showcase for becoming easily scratched and having horrible customer support. I wanted to give Contour another chance, thinking my last case was just defective due to how scratched it got.

Well, Contour, silly me for expecting great quality on what looks like an excellent case, that on paper does everything I need, no more, no less. That’s exactly how I feel: you had a willing customer who took the time and inconvenience to put up with a defective case. Many would’ve turned away at that point but I did not. I bought that iSee-Video thinking my previous Contour Showcase-Video was just plain defective. The iSee-Video literally redefines defective.

Before I go on about the many negatives of this product and attempt to persuade you not to buy this, there are only two and a half good things about the case. First is the compatibility for all sizes of the 5th Generation iPod (30/60/80) through the use of two different back plates so you have a perfect fit instead of having open space to accommodate all sizes. The half part is the protection of the case; I won’t spoil it just yet but all you need to know is if your iPod flies off your waist you’re only half protected because once mine hit the ground the back part came clean off. And the last good thing is the box it comes in. Everything is packaged neatly and can be returned to its original state when you bought it, making returns and exchanges that much easier, so at least Contour won’t leave you with a defective product.

Now for the bad parts and there are many. Like I said, Contour really redefined defective with this case through the belt clip, which was one of the major points for me to buy an iPod case. The clip will never really stay on at all. The clip that is supposed to snap in just hangs out and while it may seem firm it really is not. I learned this the hard way. I hadn’t even used the case for less than an hour before I already had trouble with it. While hanging on my waist I reached into my pocket to pull out my earphones and my arm hit the iPod. It was a tap, and had it been a pouch or other case it might have moved it around a bit, but not with the iSee. Since the clip is horribly designed it dislodged my iPod and…wait for it…actually opened up the case! Keep in mind that the case is extremely hard to open with your hands but evidently where each side of the case meets in the middle is where the groove is for the clip and when the clip is pulled on it can open up easily. I even recreated it by putting the clip tooth into the groove and pulling on it, and it opens up very easily which is not good.

Since my iPod hit the ground from about two feet up I expected the worst, that my case would be scratched badly, and I was right. You must be thinking that I am a complainer, that it’s absurd that I should worry about protecting my iPod’s protector. Well, my iPod is indeed a Video iPod so I bought it with the intention of watching videos and it’s really hard when you have deep scratches and light scratches on the plastic over the iPod’s screen. While watching videos or looking at the screen you can see the deep scratches reflecting a rainbow color and the light scratches are just in the way.

As a side note, and this can happen with any plastic case, dirt and other things can get trapped in between the iPod and the case, which may or may not be a problem. Also, air bubbles can show up easily.

If this review seems rather short I apologize, I would’ve liked to test it a lot more but I’d rather not put my iPod in jeopardy again. I encourage you never to buy any of the iSee cases from Contour; let this be a warning.