PureGear’s DualTek Extreme Shock Case + Shield for iPhone 5 ($40) resembles other cases on the market such as Speck’s CandyShell line, but stands out in a few ways. It offers more drop protection, but does so by adding bulk. Available in black, white, blue, green, pink, or yellow, each DualTek also comes with screen film and application tools.
The matte plastic and rubber case is about an eighth of an inch deeper than comparable cases. This comes from thicker material, an extra pad on top of the rubber lining, and a higher than necessary lip around the screen.
It’s a bit wider and taller too. In addition to all of that, there’s extra rubber at each of the four corners for even more shock protection. It feels pretty substantial. The inclusion of button coverage is appreciated, but the protection at the bottom isn’t implemented as well as it could be.
We can accept the single openings, as opposed to separate holes, but the lack of plastic reinforcing the rubber running across the front worries us. It already seems to have some slack, and with extended use, could stretch or tear.
We generally find CandyShell and other similar models to offer enough protection for day-to-day use. DualTek steps it up a bit for a few dollars more, but falls short of what more expensive options such as OtterBox’s Defender or Griffin’s Survivor offer. While there’s nothing really wrong with DualTek, we see no concrete reason to choose it over a slimmer case.
