Drop it like it’s hot!
Are drop-proof gadgets as tough as manufacturers claim? T3 heads to the lab with a brace of tech and a very tall ladder to find out
With breath held and buttocks clenched, i send the hard drive plummeting towards terra firma
Picture the scene: your beloved smartphone plummets towards the ground, seemingly in slo-mo, as you helplessly watch the carnage unfold. We’ve all been there and the prognosis is rarely good – at best the phone still works, albeit with funky glitches, a compromised screen or some ugly cuts and bruises. At worst you face an eye-watering repair bill, a tortuous insurance claim or a pricey replacement.
But that got me thinking: surely there are gadgets and accessories designed to accommodate the more butter-fingered tech users among us? And, if so, exactly how dropproof are they?
Climbing the ladder
The plan for this test is to drop a selection of tech from their claimed maximum drop heights, then assess any damage. I’m not exactly enthralled with the prospect of returning a new phone in pieces, so I really hope the drop-proof claims stand up…
Myself and the T3 testing team don our protective clothing and calibrate our sophisticated measuring equipment (um, a stepladder and tape measure). The testing begins with LaCie’s Rugged 2TB Thunderbolt USB C hard drive. Surrounded by a burly, non-slip orange bumper, this hard drive is clearly built for survival. Taking advantage of the Rugged’s 130MB/s Thunderbolt transfer speeds, I deposit a handful of video files, then scale the ladder, clutching the drive two metres off the ground. With breath held and buttocks clenched I send the hard drive plummeting towards terra firma. A brief moment of silence precedes an almighty crack as the tech hits the deck, pinballing along the ground. It doesn’t sound healthy, but when I scramble down the ladder to inspect it there’s barely a mark to be seen. LaCie reckons the Rugged drive is also crush-proof to one tonne, so naturally I dole out a few stomps from my size 10s for good measure. Plugging the hard drive back into T3’ s iMac Pro, the video files are as I left them and open without issue. The verdict? LaCie’s Rugged puts the ‘hard’ in hard drive.
Shock and awe
Next for the drop is Nikon’s vibrant Coolpix W300. Pitched as the adventurer’s companion, it has a dizzying drop-height of 2.4 metres and can keep pace whether you’re scaling mountains or exploring the ocean. I start rolling at 1080p/60fps and am immediately impressed with the rich image displayed on the three-inch anti-reflection screen – the NIKKOR lens is the business. But when I drop the Nikon, will it take the impact like a champ or is this going to be a one-way trip to camera oblivion?
Back up the ladder I go, climbing to 2.4 metres. This could hurt for Nikon. The loud bang on impact is followed by sweet relief as I discover the camera is still shooting away. Repeat tests produce similar results, although on one occasion the camera shuts down on impact and I lose the video… But it quickly boots up again, so no damage done.
For the next test, we pair GoPro’s new 4K/60fps-toting, voice-controlled HERO6 with a heavy-duty Super Suit housing. GoPro doesn’t state drop limits, but even without the case this camera is built to last – we’re not aware of many gadgets that can handle 1,000-foot drops! Don’t believe us? Have a gander at the insane videos on YouTube. As such, our puny test is no match for the almost indestructible GoPro and it takes drop after drop in its stride without fail.
This. Is. Sparta!
As a busy writer who enjoys being active, my watch has to be smart to deliver phone updates and track my workouts, and it needs to look the part in meetings. Enter Suunto’s Spartan Ultra Stealth Titanium, packed with wrist-based heart rate monitoring, GPS navigation and tracking profiles for 80+ sports.
At just 73g the Spartan is unlikely to leave a crater in the ground, but after flinging it from the ladder I was concerned for the safety of the vivid colour touchscreen. I needn’t have