Phoozy XP3 Thermal Phone Case
TEST SERIES BY MORGAN LYPKA

Initial Report - February 6, 2021
Long Term Report – July 6, 2021

TESTER INFORMATION
NAME: Morgan Lypka
AGE: 29
GENDER: Female
HEIGHT: 5’4” (1.6 m)
WEIGHT: 112 lb (51 kg)
EMAIL: m DOT lypka AT yahoo.com
City, Province, Country: East Kootenays, British Columbia (B.C.), Canada

Backpacking Background: I started backpacking 5 years ago, when I moved to the Rocky Mountains. Most of my backpacking ventures are 1 to 3 days long, typically around Western Canada. I get cold quickly, and handle heat well. My backcountry trips involve hiking, trail running, ski touring and cross-country skiing. I am getting into kayaking, rock climbing and fly fishing. I camp with a lightweight 3-person, 3-season tent and am starting to hammock and winter camp. Decreasing my packed weight in the backcountry is still a developing focus of mine (fitting everything was the first).

Initial Report

PRODUCT INFORMATION AND SPECS
Manufacturer: eXclaim IP, LLC
Year of Manufacture: 2020
Manufacturer’s Website: https://phoozy.com
MSRP: $49.99 USD
Colour Testing: Iridium Gold
Other Available Colours: various
Listed Weight:  not provided
Measured Weight: 1.7 oz (48 g)
Material technical specs: chromium thermal barrier, ultraskin ripstop with water resistant coating, impactor core
Size testing: Large/XL
Listed Dimensions: 6.75" x 3.50" x 0.4" (17.1 cm x 8.9 cm x 1.0 cm)
Measured Dimensions: 8.10" x 4.15" x 0.55" (20.6 cm x 10.5 cm x 1.4 cm)


DESCRIPTION
This phone case is designed to prevent a cellular phone from overheating, protect it from cold weather, prevent it from sinking, and prevent it from damage due to dropping. It also has attachment points to hook the phone in a variety of places for ease of access.

Features:

• internal mesh pocket for cards with Velcro closure
• 3 attachment points
• ULTRAGRIP EZ-Open pull tabs with Velcro closures
• water-resistant flotation
• 5-layers of Chromium Thermal Barrier to reflect heat from sun, and also provides insulation

OBSERVATIONS

The website did not really provide in depth information on the material used in the phone case. The measurements provided for the case were also quite a bit off - the case was much larger than I was expecting. My iPhone 8, which the website mentioned would fit the L/XL size, fits nicely inside of it, even with its thin hardshell case on. My phone with its thin hardshell case on measures 5.71" x 2.85" x 0.40" (14.5 cm x 7.25 cm x 1 cm). Even though the Phoozy XP3 case is larger than I was expecting, I can confirm that the case still fits in my snowboard jacket side pocket (more details to come in the long term report). My hands are small enough that I can reach my hand in all of the way to the bottom of the case, but it is a tight squeeze.

Visually, the 'pattern' or fabrication of the case material is small squares - I hadn't noticed this on the website originally, but see it now if I zoom in to the website images. The feel of the material is smooth but a bit sticky. The craftsmanship seems good, there are no loose or uneven stiches. On the back side some of the material is pulled more tightly in spots particular around the attachments which creates a more wrinkled look. The closure at the top of the case is just Velcro, not something to seal out water. The internal mesh pocket is mentioned on the website to be able to hold cards and cash - however, the pocket is not deep enough to fit a credit or debit card in there and seal the internal Velcro pocket. Fortunately though, the external Velcro, or top case Velcro, still seals without interference.

Front of case, comparing size to 8.5" x 11" (21.6 cm x 27.9 cm) computer paper and package that case came in


Back with attachment points

Pros

• Lightweight

 
Cons

• It is quite large
• Internal pocket size is not deep enough for debit or credit card, interfering with internal Velcro closures

 

Long Term Report

Activities: snowboarding, sledding, ski touring, ice fishing, hiking, backcountry camping (winter and summer), front country camping

 

Locations - Height of the Rockies Provincial Park Wilderness Area, B.C.; Waterton National Park, Alberta; Columbia and Rocky Mountain ranges

 

Number of days – in total, 25 days of usage; 7 day hut-based ski touring trip, two 1 day ski touring trips, 2 days ice fishing, 2 days winter camping, 3 day backcountry camping trip, 2 day backcountry camping trip, 2 days resort/chairlift snowboarding, + additional day and beach trips

Lengths, Elevation Gains, Elevations – 30 km (19 mi) hiking, with 1800 m (5900 ft) and 60 km (37 mi) ski touring, with 4500 m (14,800 ft) gain

Temperature and Weather – ranged from -18 to 30 C (-0.4 to 86 F); snowy to overcast and sunny

I found the case to be large for jacket pocket use – I could fit it in my snowboard jacket pocket, but barely, and found it to be less easy to use my cell this way. For example, if I needed to quickly use my cellphone on the chairlift, rather than pulling it out of my jacket pocket, I had to pull out the case, then un-Velcro, and pull out my cell – this posed for more opportunities to drop my phone, and more actions where my fingers were exposed.

 

Since the case was so large and not able to fit in most of my pockets, if I was doing a hike and wanted to keep my phone readily accessible to me without taking off my backpack, I would have to carry the phone without the Phoozy case. For this reason, when I brought the case on a backcountry trip in Waterton, even though the weather was 30 C (86 F), I kept my cell in my hip pocket for the hike in and only put my phone in the Phoozy case when we were set up at camp.

 

The phone case worked well for winter camping, however I found that keeping the cell phone next to by body in the sleeping bag worked just as well or better for retaining battery life. From my experience, the case is best suited for hot days at the beach, to keep the cell out of direct sunlight. The case also serves a purpose for colder trips where the extra weight (although not much) and the extra size of the case is not an impediment, and where I want to keep my phone warm but not have it next to by body (say if I’m doing winter physical activity and sweating so I don’t want the phone next to my body as it might get wet).

 

I couldn’t regularly justify the extra space (and weight, even though it’s light) that the case takes up for ski touring. For that reason, on the 7 day ski touring trip, I only took the case with me for half of it, leaving the case at the lodge for the rest of the days. And to add to the convenience piece mentioned earlier, I wanted my phone accessible to take photos, whereas I couldn’t do that if it was in the Phoozy case, which was in my backpack because it couldn’t fit nicely and where it didn't hinder performance in my pocket. When I did have the phone in the case, I felt confident it would be protected from impact. On one of these days, I did also use a carabiner to hook the case to my backpack for a climb. This worked good, but I wouldn’t want to do it in an instance where I could fall, as although the Velcro seems to connect firmly, I wouldn’t have full confidence that my phone couldn’t fall out. With my phone in the case, I did lose some battery when I would pull out my phone, but the battery charge otherwise did not drop significantly by being carried in the case (the weather was -10 C, or 14 F).

 

The internal pocket was again very disappointing. It is not sized appropriately to fit any money cards, and I found no use for it on any of my trips – because a credit card placed in it sticks out the top, I found it more of a risk to do that then put the card into the bottom of the case and fully Velcro the case shut.

 

A nice feature to see would be if the case could fully seal shut, adding to its water resistance. The case does seem fairly durable, as it does not seem to show any wear and tear at this stage.

 

Phoozy case in snowboard jacket for resort snowboard day

 

Phoozy case tucked in to backpack for backcountry ski adventure

 

Phoozy case hanging out at the fire during winter camping

 

 

In conclusion, I would probably resort to the Phoozy more for protection against overheating in warm weather, rather than protection in cold weather, which is the opposite of what I went in to the test thinking. It protects the phone from harsh temperatures, but isn’t practical in size for backcountry, minimalist space and weight adventures, or where it’s desirable to carry a phone on the body instead of in a backpack.

 

Thank you to eXclaim IP, LLC and BackpackGearTest.org for the opportunity to test this case.