AndrewSo my kiddo is lucky enough that I recently upgraded her tablet situation to an iPad Mini Gen 6. A bit of this was selfish on the part of mom and dad, it’s smaller and has a lot more storage compared to one of my old iPads I was letting her use. All that said, I needed to find a case that could withstand the handling of a rather active and sometimes clumsy kiddo, enter the Otterbox Trusty 360.
As I usually do I did my fair share of research to land on this and below are my thoughts on it.
What Is The Otterbox Trusty 360 Case?
Simply put, this is a full protection case, I’d guess that’s why it’s called a 360 case. This covers the full device including the screen from scratches, drops, and of course food. It’s worth noting, it is NOT waterproof. It might manage to protect from a light spill, but I wouldn’t trust it myself. It comes in a variety of colors and sizes depending on your tablet needs.
Features
Like most Otterbox products it has protection in mind, but there are a few features in this that I find rather nice.
- As mentioned above, it has a built-in screen protector, always good for the kiddos.
- On the back, it comes with an attachment that works as a kickstand or a way to “hang” the tablet from a seat in a car or airplane for hands-free usage.
- If your kiddo (or you) have an Apple Pencil Gen 2 it actually has a door that opens on the side to allow the pencil to connect and charge. I tested this with my Apple Pencil and it’s nice.
- The back has a “knob” of sorts that allows for tiny hands to hold it easily, my daughter loves this.
- Fully speaker, port, and button access at all times (part of the reason it’s not waterproof).
What I Like About The Trusty 360 Case
I’m a big fan of Otterbox for applications such as this. I trust that the product they built will withstand some drops, bumps, and scrapes. For the Trusty 360 Case, this is still part of the reason I like it, it’s an Otterbox.
I also like how simple yet effective it is, I see a lot of the kid’s cases for tablets have so many unneeded additions. They have flaps, straps, lanyards, an animal body or face…. all things that overcomplicate it and make it cumbersome for both the kiddo and the adult. Even though this is a simple case, it looks cute and my daughter loves that, she loves the pink and teal colors and can’t wait to start to put stickers all over the back of it.
I like that it’s rather simple to put on the device. I’ve had Otterbox cases in the past that have 3 layers and in a time crunch that can be a pain, this was easy.
Finally, I like that my daughter feels like she can handle it. She loves the ability to use the kickstand and manipulate the angle of view. She just overall seems like she feels confident in the experience and I think part of that is this case doesn’t get in the way of her using her tablet. By the way, is it just me, or are kids these days just wizards (at all ages) with technology?
What I Don’t Like
Let’s touch on what I don’t like, and I’ll say overall this list is short.
First off, the sense of security with the kickstand and using it to connect to a car headrest or the back of an airplane seat, simply put, I don’t trust it and neither should you. Yes it works and it will hold for most needs, but if the car came to a quick stop or hit a bump hard I could see this thing giving up and the tablet goes flying (hopefully not at my kiddo).
The next thing I don’t like is the Apple Pencil “door,” at least not for our needs. My daughter loves, loves, loves to draw in Procreate… what kid wouldn’t love limitless crayons and paints?! But when I got this iPad for her I decided to get her a Logitech Crayon since it’s about half the cost of the Apple Pencil and is made for tiny kiddo hands. She loves the Logitech Crayon, but the Pencil “door” can’t hold anything other than the Apple Pencil. I found a way around this, took a notebook pen holder, and attached it to the kickstand, works great. Yes, this one is a bit nit-picky, but hey, I can do that sometimes.
Cost & Final Thoughts
When it comes to cost, this case isn’t all that bad. It is more than many of the Amazon options, but when you consider the fact that it’s going to protect a device worth a few hundred dollars, the price becomes worth it. This case for the iPad Mini comes in at $59.99 right now.
As a final thought, if you are looking for a case to protect a tablet (specifically an iPad) for a kiddo this is a solid option and one I’m happy with. I add this to my “buy” suggestion for anyone that asks in the future. I suggest taking a look on Amazon, I’ve seen it on sale in the past and it does come in a variety of colors and sizes for other iPad variants.
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