Overview

The Prima Treo Premium Leather Low Profile Jacket Case comes in a simple white box with the Prima logo on front. The case itself is in a sealed plastic bag with a styrofoam insert to help the case maintain its shape. The case itself is made of high quality leather with a non-removable low profile belt clip. The small elastic side vents allow the case to tightly hold the Treo safely inside. The craftsmanship of the case is excellent in every way. The clip is spring loaded and rotates 180° locking in a total of seven different positions. The clip design makes it best suited for belts and bag straps around the size of a belt. Even though the clip is fairly low profile, it still protrudes out enough that the case probably wouldn't be suitable to use within a pocket.

Usability

This style of case pretty much functions like any standard plastic holster but provides a bit more protection. This case is not really suitable to use if you need to access the buttons or ports while the Treo is in it. You could connect a headset or headphones (with a right angle jack), but only by having the Treo not inserted completely in the case. The case holds my Treo 700p securely and it even holds it when held upside down, but not something I'd recommend. In my case there is a bit more grip to my Treo because of the invisibleShield skin I have on my Treo. I primarily clip the case to the top of my left front pocket or my belt. In either case the clip held the case in place and made it fairly easy to remove and insert. When it was clipped to my front pocket it wasn't as easy to remove because the clip would allow the case to slide up until it hit the edge of my pocket. On the other hand when attached to my belt, the case didn't move at all which made it very easy to insert and remove. In my use of the case I didn't have any worries about the clip breaking. It is an excellent design that it so much better than the typical removable belt clips. Since the sides of the case have stretchable vents, it maybe possible to fit a Treo with an extended battery, but I would suspect that it would be too tight of a fit.

Protection

There is no cushioning to this case so I wouldn't expect it to protect the Treo all that well if dropped more than a couple of feet. The top of the Treo and the bottom two corners are exposed, so there is the chance of those areas getting scratched or damaged if dropped. Even though the lower corners are exposed, they are protected to a degree since the edge of the back of the case extends a little from the front of the case. The inner lining of the case is quite soft, so I wouldn't expect the Treo to be damaged over time from inserting and removing it from this case.

Conclusion

This style of case fits my usage quite well. The case I use on a day to day basis is a leather holster style with a magnetic closure at the top. The clip on that case is a bit tighter, so it suits my use of the case clipped to my front pocket a bit better, but I didn't find much difficulty using the Prima case the same way. I can say that not having a magnetic closure over the top was nice, since it made it much easier to get to the Treo when needed. I think the construction of this case will hold up a bit better than my current case since the leather is better quality that's not overly soft. With this style of case you want it to be a bit stiffer, and that's what you get with the Prima case. I'm going to continue to use this case, and for those that would like the added protection of a leather holster style case should definitely consider this case. It holds the Treo very securely, looks good, and is very well made. It is currently available for $24.95 directly from Prima Cases.