Aquapac Bike-Mounted Waterproof Case

Aquapac's Small Bike-Mounted Waterproof Phone Case will appeal to those who regularly use their smartphone for navigational purposes on the bike – if you can afford the bar space and swallow the cost of the mount.

Keeping a phone safely out of the rain when it's in a bag or the like can be as straightforward as popping it into a freezer bag, but that's not going to cut it when it's out there in the weather no matter what. Aquapac are well known for creating fully submersible protective bags for gadgets and tech, and we've tested some of their 'weatherproof' rather than fully waterproof cases before. The catchily named Small Bike-Mounted Waterproof Phone Case is designed to be fully waterproof and is suitable for most medium sized smartphones, including the Samsung Galaxy S1 to S5 and the Motorola Droid Turbo. All Apple iPhones except the 6 Plus fit in too, but the Mini case is a better size.

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It's a straightforward setup with a handlebar mount into which the case clips, and the case itself is made from TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane), which allows the use of touchscreen technology and the front-facing camera. The seams are 'high frequency' welded (using electromagnetics to melt and fuse the two parts together) to create a sturdy seal, while the opening at the bottom seals watertight with an easy-to-use two-lever design patented by the manufacturers.

The bike mount itself is slightly bulky, though, not ideal if you're already short of space on your handlebar. And considering it's the primary difference between Aquapac's non-bike-mounted case and this one, the not-inconsiderable increase of £30 seems a bit steep. The case clips easily to the mount, though the small clip-in portion feels slightly flimsy.

The case itself secured the phone neatly inside, even though it was quite roomy for my iPhone 5S (a Mini would have been more snug), and it stuck well to the screen with static to make using the touchscreen easy. You can't use fingerprint recognition through it, so iPhone users will have to type in their pass code.

I'm not sure how useful being able to use the front-facing camera is – close up bike selfies anyone? – but it was easy enough and the result was pretty clear for both photos and video. The rear camera was obscured by the handlebar mount, but you can set the mount up so the phone faces forward, for videoing your ride. You'd have to use the volume buttons on an iPhone to access video on and off, so it would need to be set up in advance as you can't access any of the other controls when it's facing away from you. 

Footage using the forward-facing video facility was not as stable for me as that suggested by the video on the Aquapac website, admittedly not helped by my phone's ability to move within the case. Clarity isn't bad considering the case in front of the lens, but the nature of iPhone video means there are frequent 'ripples' in the video stream anyway.

Since the case has little in the way of rigidity other than the mounting plate, it doesn't give much in the way of impact protection, so an additional hard shell type phone case of some sort isn't a bad idea for prolonged on-bike use.

Off the bike, it was reassuring to know that my phone was fully protected from the elements, but an extra £30 for this case over the non-bike-mounting version seems excessive. Perhaps if you're a hardcore bike messenger or delivery person you'd be able to justify it. I, for one, would want a less bulky handlebar attachment taking up less of my precious bar space.

Verdict

Works, but expensive considering it's £30 more than the non-bike-mounted version