Dropped my X51V at 30km/h, beware PDAir

[leviao]

Just yesterday I wondered if my axim would survive a fall in my new pdair aluminium case. Little did I know how soon I would find out. This afternoon I clicked my cased axim to the beltholder, plugged in my headphones, and started riding my bike home. After eight minutes after biking rather hard I heard a crash behind me at same moment I felt the weight of my PDA disappear. I braked, and looked back at my dear PDA lying on the asphalt 10 meters behind me. Just imagine my fear walking those dreadful meters back to recover what I thought would be remains (I knew from my bike computer I had been riding at close to 30 km/h).

The case had opened, and the axim was lying with the screen down. When I turned it, I was tremendously relieved to find the screen still showing Mortplayer playing the recent track! After running a self-diagnostic and jotting some things down with the touchscreen I could conclude that the only damage inflicted seemed be superficial. The SD memory card had slipped out on impact though, and was lying a meter away.

The beltholder had not let go, but the cause of the fall had been that the black round plug in the picture had let go of the case, since it is only screwed a few rounds into the case. The circular motion had apparently loosened it little by little. So beware of that all PDAir hardcase users! Of course the survival of the PDA was also a big sign of approval for the sturdiness of that same case. For my part though, I will probably not use the beltholder functionality of the case in the future, but the case is still excellent.

Lessons learned:
Beware the loosening of the screw on the PDAir aluminium case.
Use screen protection! My PDA was lying face down, but under my makeshift screen protector of overhead film, the touchscreen showed no scars at all.

[Super Dave]

While hindsight is 20/20 and I applaud your warning about the case, my I suggest a lanyard through slot near headphone jack as a failsafe or perhaps store Axim in more secure and static location (knapsack, bike frame etc)?

[dellaximx51v]

I think I will go some where and make my own case, I don't trust those case anymore.

[athlonduke]

get some lock-tite or superglue for the screw hole?

If you are going to keep the post attached to the case I would recommend a product called LocTite. It is an automotive product that keeps bolts/ screws tight. It comes in two types I think, one that is removable and one that is permanent. In a pinch a drop of regular Elmer's glue, the white stuff will work pretty well too.

get some lock-tite or superglue for the screw hole?

beat by the new guy by seconds...... dang.

[rcab]

I am glad that you did not experience any major damage. I too have a PDair aluminium case but have not had any problems with it coming loose. The only problem I had was the little black plug broke and I had to order a new one. Stories like this is reason that once I received my replacement X51V I purchased complete care from Dell for the remainder of my allowable warranty period.iy

[Super Dave]

I find the notion of carrying something valuable on a belt while bike riding a little concerning. Why not avoid the whole issue and keep in a pocket, attach it to the bike frame or heck, attach it under the seat?

[leviao]

The glue tip is great, thanks, but I'll probably be using a lanyard as a backup from now on (I was actually using one with the bundled soft slip-in before I got my PDAir).

[Super Dave]

I could perhaps see using scotch tape for a Palm but come on, this is a Dell we're talking about!!! : O

Ah bummer..

[mtgeorge]

Glad to hear your Axim survived :approve:

[texedomel]

glad to hear your axim is undamaged!

its a good thing that I NEVER trusted the screw part of the hardcase

[Lordkifar]

Good to see nothing happened to your Axim. I remember when I had my IPAQ 4150, I had it in a Pdair case and I didn't realize it had slipped out of my pocket and sandwiched itself between the car frame and the car door I kept trying to shut close.....Eventually I decided to look for the obstacle preventing the car door from shutting and notice my PDA....PDAIR case rescued it......

[mphayvanh]

Good to see nothing happened to your Axim. I remember when I had my IPAQ 4150, I had it in a Pdair case and I didn't realize it had slipped out of my pocket and sandwiched itself between the car frame and the car door I kept trying to shut close.....Eventually I decided to look for the obstacle preventing the car door from shutting and notice my PDA....PDAIR case rescued it......

Just ordered my PDAir case last week! Wow, thanks for the durability test (although not intentional). I had the Sena leather case and dropped it due to the belt clip not fully on and that was a heart skipper. It was then that I decided to go with the Innopocket hardcase and it failed because the screw in the back did not hold. Now I'm trying my third case with my new X51v and see if it'll do a better job than my two last attempts.

From your experience, it'll hold up to my lifestyle activities (No cycling, just jogging). Oh, anyone know of a good ARM BAND holder? I use it to play my MP3s while jogging. It'll be nice to have it attach to the arm similar to other MP3 players in the market.