Vaja Palm V Case

Gadgeteer Hands On Review by Julie

April 17, 2000

Device:
Palm V/Vx

Vaja is a high quality leather case company located in Argentina. This is a review of their Palm V series belt clip case. This play through case comes in a variety of colors: black alligator w/black leather, brown alligator w/brown leather, blue nubuck w/brown leather, green nubuck w/brown leather, horse leather(w/hair) w/black matt leather, brown ostrich w/brown leather, black ostrich w/black leather, and brown leather (all are made of embossed cow leather except the horse leather version which is actually made of horse leather).

This classy case is made extremely well. I think it competes directly against the Ondata Palm V case for a very high quality case.

The case has a flip up cover which is padded and has a stiff insert to protect the screen. On the inside of the cover are 2 business card slots and one large pocket which is behind the two card slots. The cover is held in place with a Velcro strap that wraps around and attaches to the bottom of the case. The cover fits flush against the case when it is closed.  Even though I'm not a big fan of Velcro, this method works much better than the method that the E&B Palm V Slipper case uses to secure the screen cover.

On the outside of the cover is a small metal badge with VAJA inscribed in it. Usually I don't care for insignias on cases, but I kind of like this one. The Palm V slides into the case from the top and is a nice snug fit. There are cutouts for the power button, and two stylus silos.  The application buttons and up/down scroll buttons can also be accessed without any problems. I didn't have any trouble playing games that required using these buttons. Even though the leather is thick, it didn't seem to get in the way. The back of the case is padded and is a nice thick leather. It is much more substantial than the back of the E&B Palm V Slipper. The thickness of the leather and padding do increase the overall size but not enough to complain about. The case is lined with a softer light brown leather which is very pleasing to the touch.

On the back of the case is a plastic stud that the swivel belt clip attaches to. I would rather this be a metal stud instead of a plastic one. The belt clip itself is small and attaches to your belt. It can accommodate belts up to ~ 1.25 inches wide. This might not be big enough for some wider men's belts. The clip itself stays on your belt. The PDA can swivel back and forth while on the clip. To remove the PDA, you have to rotate the PDA till it is upside down and then pull up and off the clip. This feels awkward to me and always required me to use two hands to actually remove the PDA. I really prefer the type of belt clips that E&B cases use. They have a button that you press that releases the stud so that you can remove the case. You can get the Vaja case without a belt clip if you wish.

A great feature of the Vaja cases is the ability to customize them (for a separate fee). You can personalize the case with your name or company logo on the inside of the case next to the power button. Up to 30 characters on one line. The price is $10 and will delay your order for 3 days. The inside lining behind the PDA can also be embossed with up to 300 characters in 12 lines of text. This costs $30 and delays your order 10 days. The inside cover has a basic graffiti reference chart. Instead you can get an advanced chart with symbols or no chart at all. The advanced or no chart will delay the order for 5 days.

What is nice is that once you do get a personalized case, you don't have to pay for the personalization a second time. If you want 10 cases with your company logo, you only have to pay for the logo once.

I really like the Vaja Palm V case. It is made very well, provides adequate protection to your PDA, and can be uniquely personalized. It is also quite a bit less expensive than the Ondata case.

 

Price: $49.90 ($47.90 without belt clip)

Pros:
High quality leather.
Padded.
Can be personalized.

Cons:
Belt clip is a bit hard to use.
Have to remove to hotsync.