Digital Home Thoughts: Quick Look: iPod GelaSkins

As many of you may have figured out by now, I am an iPod sort of guy and to me there is nothing worse then scratches on my trusted digital friends. If you had read my last case review you may have picked up on one of my more unfortunate situations regarding my wife, my iPod nano, and what looks like an application of sandpaper and some elbow grease. Today at DigitalMediaThoughts we get a chance to try out a product from GelaSkins that should alleviate my issues with my nano AND offer it some protection in the future.

To start with GelaSkins are a thin vinyl covering made with 3M materials that use a residue-free adhesive to keep themselves attached to the surface of the iPod. Now you might be thinking that you have heard of this type of material from other companies but where GelaSkins stands out is with their patented micro-channels that prevent bubbles from forming as you apply the skin. I can’t even count the number of tries I needed to get a bubble free install with my Invisishield clear protectors but didn’t have a single issue when applying the GelaSkin.

This feature brings us to an interesting observation, and depending on your personal preferences may either be important to know or an unimportant facet. The micro-channels do cause a slight cross hatch pattern to appear on the surface of the protector that becomes visible at certain angles in the light. Now this aspect doesn’t bother me in the least but I felt I should mention it as it does not show in photos both here and on the official site. Overall the skin’s artwork is hardly obscured and continues to receive a lot of compliments from co-workers and family.

Speaking of artwork, art is always subjective but I have to say that this group seems to have my number when it comes to the many different designs. With the different design styles and ranges available they have a wide array of choices to choose from and deciding on just one is a wonderful problem to have. Hat’s off to the artists as there are some truly amazing works in there that just have to be seen.

So how does it stack up? After a couple days of use there has been no sign of the GelaSkin skin peeling up or fading and it looks as good as it did the day it was applied. I have been very happy with the skin in both the scratch protection it offers as well as its ability to hide scratches that were already on the device. If I had a rating scale I would have to give this skin two thumbs up, and that’s because I only have two.

Jason Eaton lives...on the Earth, and he likes most gadgets, but not the Eggtractor. It just never works.