The orange accents were like a playful flirtation that caught my eye from across the room. Available replacement pieces had me reaching for my wallet.  And the GoPro mount compatible clips (even though not out for the 6 case yet) sealed the deal for this slick piece of protective gear.

My iPhone 6 is the first iPhone I’ve owned that did not wear an OtterBox case from day one (or at all). When my wife and I got our new phones last year; she quickly called “dibs” on the only non-pink Defender case in the store. I wanted a submersible case anyway, so I picked up a Pelican ProGear Protector case to get me by until OtterBox released a Preserver case for the 6 – which I wrongfully assumed they were making. The Pelican did really well and kept the phone safe from a few accidental drops. However, I wanted to be sure the phone would stay protected while out hiking, biking, or Jeeping and after looking into bulkier Pelican cases and the multiple offerings from LifeProof – I ultimately decided on the Catalyst Case.

Aside from the orange accents that originally got my attention; the Catalyst case holds all of the credentials you look for, or should be looking for, when purchasing adventure proof devices cases. It was designed to meet the IP-68 water proof rating up to 16.4′(5m) deep as well as the MIL-SPEC 810G rating for drops up to 6.6′(2m). In addition to the specs and aesthetics of the product, I always like to see how responsive a company is to consumer questions. Catalyst responded quickly to my tweets and DMs and even sent me a coupon code to use towards a purchase.

Another pro for the Catalyst case is the availability of replacement pieces.  Let’s face it, this case is likely going to slide down the side of a mountain, get dropped in a lake, or run over by a mountain bike and when the case does its job and saves the phone – you might want to replace the screen section or back panel if they get scratched.  You can also order spare lanyards, port plugs, and different colored gaskets in case you get tired of the orange – but seriously how likely is that?

The responsiveness of the company and ability to replace parts was enough to win me over; but wait there’s more! Catalyst doesn’t have a huge arsenal of accessories for their cases, but their clips (currently available for their 4/4S and 5/5S cases) are the best I’ve seen from any company.  You can get your standard “Cool Dad” belt clip, as well as a handle bar mount clip or a GoPro mount adapter clip.  The GoPro clips are genius and I’m holding Catalyst to their promise that these clips are coming soon for the iPhone 6 cases.  The ability to mount my phone anywhere I have a GoPro mount is awesome, and got me super excited for this case!

I’ve been using the case for about three weeks now.  In those three weeks the phone has been mounted in the Jeep for a fun trip to Raush Creek Off Road park, as well as a week long trip exploring the White Mountains in New Hampshire, a few hundred miles of commuting to work, and this past weekend’s local hike.  I’m happy to report that the case has performed as expected! Here are some photos taken with my iPhone 6 while in the Catalyst Case:

The case’s headphone jack opening is big enough for the Apple headphones, but not big enough for the cable I use in the Jeep to connect to my radio (Catalyst does sell an adapter that will allow use of any headphone or cable jack). The Touch ID works flawlessly (much better than with my wife’s defender case) and swiping up for settings or down for notifications is as simple as it was without the case.

Otterbox makes extremely high quality cases for iPhone and other devices, but the lack of a completely waterproof case made me look elsewhere; I’m glad I found Catalyst.  Overall I would absolutely recommend the Catalyst Case for everyday use as well as on exploratory missions. I’ll be sure to update as soon as the GoPro and bike mount clips are available for the case – hint hint Catalyst.

The Catalyst Case Rescue Ranger pictured and reviewed here was purchased for personal use; kevinspocket.com has no affiliation with CatalystCase.