It’s been quite a while since we did the last Vaja case review. The last one from a few years ago detailed some cases for the very popular, yet now near forgotten, iPAQ 3800 series.

Back then, we were doing a lot of case reviews, and the Vaja offering was definitely at the top of the heap. Excellent fit and finish, great usability, never bulky, and always classy.

The new lines do not deviate at all from this standard of quality.

Recently they sent me four new cases, as well as the new clip mechanism to check out. I received two cases for the iPod video and two for the iPod Mini.

Personally, I still like my iPod Mini. They haven’t been available for a while, and they aren’t the smallest, or have the highest capacity, and actually, they don’t even have color. But they make for a great small form factor MP3 player that has a really tough aluminum case. I was delighted that someone was making a case for them.

I was shipped two, one white and one black, to check out for the Mini. The fit is great. It’s snug, but not enough to make getting it in and out a chore. In my experience, there is no way that your iPod is going to fall out of this case, it’s just a great fit. The sync cable works fine with the iPod in the case, so pulling it in and out is only necessary if you’re using a dock.

It doesn’t obscure the screen, and the click wheel is still very easy to operate. The leather is beautiful as usual, of very high quality, and the thickness definitely adds a bit of protection.

The video cases were just as nice, and leaned more towards the classier side of things. The leather was extremely nice, and was more akin to a high-end shoe leather that you would find on a nice pair of dress shoes. It’s nice for a company to have so many variations on texture, as that’s a big part of liking a case.

Both video cases of course fit excellent. One had the standard open click wheel access, and the other had a protector over it. The protector I thought would be annoying, but the wheel works just fine through it, and it has a nice texture to it also. They also had screen protectors that were very clear and weren’t distracting while watching the video.

All in all, these are still my favorite device cases ever, and even if the price seems high, if you keep a device for any length of time at all, they are well worth the investment.

Robert Hartley
Tech Editor

http://www.vajacases.com/