Review: Aquapac Keymaster

I decided a few weeks ago to give an Aquapac Keymaster a go as a mobile phone case. It's a new design using Aquapacs patented Aquaclip. The phone I have just fits, a little snugly, but it fits all the same. The Aquapac is supposed to be waterproof to 5 meters, a little beyond my depth to test at home, but I tried it anyway.

If you are unfortunate enough to drop your phone or other delicate items into a puddle then survival is the name of the game. The Aquapac Keymaster is made of a tough TPU with seams that are high-frequency welded. Along with the Aquaclip the bag is rated as IPX8, the highest waterproof standard that can be reached.

The Aquaclip System.

Features include the ability to use a touch screen through the TPU, a brightly coloured lanyard to make spotting it easier and what seems to be quite a quick access into the bag considering it's credentials.

Of course, the only way to find out how waterproof the bag is would be to put it to the test, so I did. I put a small weight into the bag, not my phone as any failure would lead to weeks of depression, and immersed the bag at the bottom of a bucket full of water. I left the bag there for around an hour. After the hour, I removed the bag from the bucket and carefully dried it. I didn't want any water from the outside to potentially contaminate the results. Once dried, I opened the bag, and it was dry, not a drop. Success!

For me the Aquapac Keymaster has one handicap, price! From the shop I bought it I paid £15, not a fortune, but not cheap either. I decided to test a cheap waterproof dry pouch which I paid a total of £4.49 including delivery from Amazon.

I put the cheap alternative through the same test as the Aquapac, one hour in a bucket of water and had the same result, dry. Now you might think that this makes the cheap version better, it is around double the size as well.

But after searching on the Internet, it seems that the double zipper system on this pouch can have a tendency to fail. The Aquapac on the other hand, I can't find any failures after a search of the Internet. Now I'm not saying the cheap one will fail and the Aquapac wont, but it's a case of "you pays ye money ye takes ye choice".

Double zipper system of the cheaper alternative.

The Aquapac has one other advantage, something I mentioned earlier, it's a lot quicker to access than the cheaper alternative.

So, if money is an issue, the cheap alternative might be the thing to go for. If not, then I would go for the Aquapac. Which ever you chose, either is better than no protection at all.