Review of BestSkinsEver for Sansa e200

[Fireball]

EDIT: Updated Review reflecting new skins!

New Skin:


As you all probably know by now, I wasn't exactly 100% satisfied with the original set of skins I received. In short, the back skin had no access holes for the screws, which trapped in the water/soap mixture I had used when applying the skins in the screw holes, causing my screws to rust. Also, the old front had a problem with being cut to only affix to the flat portion of the front cover. However, the old cut was flawed in the sense that it was cut just marginally too wide, causing the edges of the skin to stick over the flat face, but too short to be folded over.

In this regards, the old front was also inferior to the InvisibleShield (which many people consider the "standard" for comparison) in that the IS had protection which extended to the rounded/angled edges of the front plate, whereas the BSE did not. This was my original review of the BSE:

Got the BestSkinEver for my Sansa, and have mixed feelings about it.



I spent about 2 hours putting the full body skin on (i'm a real stiffler when it comes to being a perfectionist). I don't have the "orange peel" effect that some people have been talking about, so I may suspect that some of the "orange peeling" may be due to the skin not being applied and subsequently squeegeed well enough.


The back, well, I got absolutely amazing results with. No bubbles, excellent fit - just like the product is slated to do. I was a little miffed by the fact that the screw holes on the back are covered by the BSE, but after e-mailing BSE, the president of the company told me that they would be redesigning the back to allow access to the screws, and sending me a new one for testing. In the pictures, you can see that my top two screws are oxidizing (wewt, meaning the sansa is back for an exchange for the second time in....a week and a half? :P), but the bottom two aren't. I'm not sure if this may be attributed to the application solution (soap/water or windex) being trapped there (even if the solution is squeegeed away from ports and divots, as suggested in the manual), but the new rear skin should fix this issue. For the time being, I can't stand having my rear screws rust away (if that indeed is what is happening), so I'm going to have to rip the damn thing off and replace my sansa. In other words, 10 dollars and 2 hours have gone down the pooper.


The front, well, is a complete nightmare. Despite my best efforts to apply the skin as perfectly as I could, there were bubble trapped underneath. Also, after the skin and adhesive dried, I was horrified to find that there were scuffs on the front of the skin, possibly from where I had maybe squeegeed with not enough solution on the top of the skin? Nevertheless, for a product which is slated to supposedly protect your product from scratches and scuffs, I was amazed to find something as measly as the dull end on the side of a credit card could scratch/scuff the front covering.


Also, I have noticed that the InvisibleShield wraps around the angular front sides, whereas the BSE doesn't. On this note, the BSE covers only the flat face portion of the front; it is also cut a tad too large, causing overhang which is too short to be able to fold over and stick well. In this respect, I would prefer having an IS shield for the front of my Sansa, because it actually covers the entire front.


All in all, I'm not sure what my exact feelings are for the product. On the one hand, the skin for the rear of the player shows great promise, as it lives up to, and even surpasses my (high) expectations for the product. Yet, on the other hand, there are certain things that miff me, including the absence of the holes which allow access to the rear screw holes (the president, however, claims to be re-designing the back per my observation), the scuffs on my front skin (considering the product is supposed to be scratch resiliant to the point where only a sharp object should mark it), and the mediocre (in my opinion) designing of the front skin.



Rating (scale of 5) - ratings subject to change when the new skin is sent to me:

Price - 5
Functionality (does the product work? / does it live up to what it claims to do?) - 3.5
Quality - 3.5
Customer Support - 5 (extremely prompt and friendly!)

However, with a few e-mails, this all changed!

Within a matter of a month, the president of the company, Mr. Herring, had notified me that he had re-designed the skins, and that he would be sending me a complementary set of skins to replace my existing ones! Talk about awesome customer service! Unfortunately, the first "replacement" set that he sent me had the updated back, but did not include the updated front. Another e-mail, and the problem was again resolved to my complete satisfaction!

The new skin now provides complete protection to all faces of the Sansa player. As you can see, there are now proper access holes cut out for the upper and lower set of screws on the back plate of the player. The front now has flaps on all four sides of the rectangular portion of the skin, as to protect the angular edges of the front plate of the player.

The skin still exhibits extremely slight "orange peeling" when the player is viewed under harsh light and at extreme angles. However, under normal operating conditions, the skin is completely unnoticeable. However, the skin does have a different tactile feel to it than the player's own materials, which especially noticeable on the "Liquidmetal" back of the player. Yet, I don't spend all day feeling up my player ( ), and the different texture of the BSE has no effect on the function or aesthetics of the player.

If you are curious, I applied the skin using blue (original) Windex diluted 1:1 with tap water. I diluted the Windex because I had a problem with the Windex "tinting" the last skin applied slightly blue. New application took around 1 hour.

The skin does increase the thickness of the player by marginal amounts (fractions of a millimetre), so some external cases which are already a tight fit for the player before the application of the skin may run into problems with the added thickness of the BSE. Furthermore, the material of the BSE causes it to "stick" to plastic/polyester type surfaces, so the skin may not work well in conjunction with cases that have the see-through plastic "windows" for the Sansa's screen. However, with this said, the thickness is not a concern for the normal user. For me, I only use the OEM sleeve with my player, and it still fits perfectly fine.

I didn't have problems with the "scuffing" of the skin during the application as before, although I did notice some small lines (under harsh lighting, once again...if you haven't noticed, I'm the worst nitpick when it comes to fine details) on the skin itself; these are not noticeable whatsoever under regular light and usage.





As far as differences between the BestSkinsEver and the InvisibleShield, this is my personal comparison between the major points of the two:



-BSE has the price point advantage over the IS. However, BSE does not include a "lifetime replacement" clause covering their product, so you will have to purchase a new skin out of your own pocket if you ever need to remove it for servicing, or damage it (although I can't see how you would be able to wreck it). With this said, is it important to note that InvisibleShield charges a ~$5 "shipping and handling" fee for their "free replacements". In my case, I don't forsee myself needing to replace my skin, so the BSE edges out the IS in this regards



-The BSE uses the exact same material as the IS. The material is the exact same as the material I have applied to the fronts of my vehicles to eliminate chipping/scratching/denting of the hood by flying rocks and such.





New Rating (scale of 5)

Price - 5
Functionality (does the product work? / does it live up to what it claims to do?) - 5
Quality - 5
Customer Support - 5 (Extremely prompt and friendly! Service like this is extremely rare in today's commmercial world!)



See below posts for pictures.

[CrowdAds]

[Fireball]

Front:



Back:



Clarity of the skin when viewing screen:

[Fireball]

Top of Player:



MicroSD Slot:

[Fireball]

NEW Front:






OLD Front:

[Fireball]

NEW Back:







OLD Back:

[dbpaddler]

I bought them and haven't put them on. I actually bought the travel kit and figure the screen protector and case should do just fine, though I wish the leather case fit just a bit more snug. Perhaps the extra thickness of the skin would help there. That sucks about the front. PITA to go through that effort to have that result.

I wish I could get a dummy that is solid with no buttons or wheels or openings and just take that liquid rubber you dip instrument handles into. Then cut a small opening at the top and roll it down then roll it up my sansa, mark the cutting areas and make my own little skin case that's thinner than the silicone case.

[Fireball]

A machinist should be able to mill you out an aluminum block based on the sansa specs for fairly cheap...

Maybe you could work on it that way, since you'd have a "negative" for the rubber?

[pantslessape]

Just wanted to let everyone know I also have the BSE for my Sansa. It has been wonderful and still is after about 2 months. I decided first to apply the rear to get a little practice and it went on easily. I did the front next and it came out with no bubbles and is very clear.

I've yet to have the screws rust.
I used the recommended solution of 10oz of water to a quarter sized drop of dishwashing liquid.

I've also had good experience with their support, I accidently ordered the wrong ones for my Razr phones and they were quick to send me out new ones, even though it was completely my mistake!

[Fireball]

I found out, after removing the skin, that most of the oxidization was on the skin itself, but the screws were still rusting a bit. If anything, the problem was probably on Sandisk's side.

Hopefully it won't happen when BSE sends me a new set of skins for review.

[Fireball]

Just received the updated skin with the screw holes on the back. Will apply next weekend when I have more time.

Someone mentioned that they updated the front skin to cover the entirety of the black front, but the version I received in the mail just two days ago is still using the same sized front piece...

[mdscriber3]

Originally Posted by Fireball

Just received the updated skin with the screw holes on the back. Will apply next weekend when I have more time.

Someone mentioned that they updated the front skin to cover the entirety of the black front, but the version I received in the mail just two days ago is still using the same sized front piece...

I posted about the BSE being updated (should've posted the thread in this forum, sorry). I just saw these pics above and definitely there is about a 0.5 cm overlap of the BSE down the sides, not like what is pictured above.

I would just email the owner of BSE and tell him you want the updated front skin and I'm 99.9% sure he will just send you one. They really do have awesome customer service (I've bought a BSE for every device I've owned except my Karma) and had trouble receiving the one I ordered for my ZVM and they were awesome and sent me two additional shipments with extra BSE's for my trouble. The owner of BSE was really great to deal with via email.

Let us know how it all goes I'll try to post some pics of my BSE'ed Sansa later today (I just did the front, not the back) ... it really came out awesome ... looks fabulous, no bubbles or dust underneath the skin, smooth as glass except for the usual very minor orange peel like texture). I used straight Windex for application.

I've got my BSE and my black Kroo silicone skin and I'm stoked ... awesome protection ...

[Fireball]

Hey MDScriber3:

Thanks for the update. I e-mailed them, and asked if I should send in my current set (haven't had a chance to apply my current set yet, so they're still new on the backing) to get it exchanged. We'll have to see.

Their customer service is excellent, that's for sure. If indeed the front is recut (and I'm sure it is, by what you've said!), then I'd say the BSE edges out the IS in every aspect, save the "free replacement" part - in reality, IS still charges you 3-4 dollars to send you a new one, whereas that's almost the price of a brand new one from BSE!

[mdscriber3]

Ok, here are some pics.

Note that all dust showing in these pics are on the outside of the skin and player, not below the BSE.


I wanted you to see where the cuts are around the corners and how the BSE covers the sides. Again, I did not apply the BSE to the back, just the front.

I applied with straight Windex. This is now about 22 hours after application.

[Fireball]

Yep. I most definately have the old version of the front skin.

If I get a replacement set, I'll start carrying my player naked, instead of having it in the sleeve all the time

[mdscriber3]

Originally Posted by Fireball

Yep. I most definately have the old version of the front skin.

If I get a replacement set, I'll start carrying my player naked, instead of having it in the sleeve all the time

Yeah, it looks awesome without any case on it and just the BSE ... that's what I love about it. I swear by it on my Zen Vision:M and it worked out great for the Sansa now that they updated it. I was prepared to have the BSE the old way and was very happy and surprised to see that it was updated.

I'm very happy with it. And what a steal at like $7.00 ...

Let me know how your new one works out!

[PookiePrancer]

Whoa! That's even better coverage than InvisibleShield on the front! Looks like BSE is the way to go now!

[Fireball]

I kinda feel bad for bugging Mr. Herring about it - this is going to be the second time I've asked for a replacement.

I've offered to send back my current one, because I don't want it to seem like I'm ripping it off....though I do feel he owes me a new one because the new front and back was part of the original e-mails I sent to him which prompted him to do a new template for the skins...

[mdscriber3]

Originally Posted by Fireball

I kinda feel bad for bugging Mr. Herring about it - this is going to be the second time I've asked for a replacement.

I've offered to send back my current one, because I don't want it to seem like I'm ripping it off....though I do feel he owes me a new one because the new front and back was part of the original e-mails I sent to him which prompted him to do a new template for the skins...

LOL ... I'd probably feel the same way, too ... but really, you're even offering to send back the one he just sent you. I'm sure he'll understand. You wanted full coverage of the front plastic ... and I'm sure anyone who knows how these things work would want the same.

Let us know his response.

Besides, I think it's also kinda strange that you got one that didn't have the updated front. Looks like we both got ours around the same timeframe ... weird ... *shrugs*

[Fireball]

Good news. I'm getting set another set of skins (for my 3rd set) :P. Damn good customer service, if you ask me!

[mdscriber3]

Originally Posted by Fireball

Good news. I'm getting set another set of skins (for my 3rd set) :P. Damn good customer service, if you ask me!

Great! I hope you get the right ones!