**Experience with the OtterBox Defender Case**

As someone who's had their fair share of phone cases, I can attest that the OtterBox Defender case is one of the most durable and rugged options available. My mother, who had the same Galaxy S4 and was prone to dropping her phone frequently, used an OtterBox Commuter case, which she destroyed almost every time. This led her to ensure that when we upgraded to a newer model, I got a similar case for my new phone. In this article, I'll share my experience with the OtterBox Defender case and highlight both its strengths and weaknesses.

**A Closer Look at the OtterBox Defender Case**

The OtterBox Defender case is designed to be extremely durable and protective of your phone. When I first opened it up to take a closer look, I was impressed by its complexity. The outermost layer is a rubber shell that helps absorb impacts and provides a grippy texture. This layer is also quite thick, making it difficult to remove without some effort. Beneath this layer lies a plastic shell that encloses the case around your phone and holds everything in place.

**Removing the Case**

One of my major complaints with the OtterBox Defender case is how difficult it is to remove. The case has multiple layers, including little clips that need to be released before you can take it off. This process can be frustrating, especially if you're not used to taking apart your phone case. However, I have learned to do this after using my previous OtterBox Commuter case for a while.

**A Complex System**

While the OtterBox Defender case is designed to protect your phone from damage, its complex design also has some drawbacks. One of these is that thicker items you need to plug into your micro USB port, such as my MHL HDMI adaptor, may not fit inside the case without causing issues. I had this problem with my previous S4 and was unable to use it with the OtterBox Commuter case.

**Screen Protector Issues**

Another major complaint I have with the OtterBox Defender case is that the screen protector adds an extra layer of protection that can also be a curse. While the screen protector helps protect your phone from scratches, it can also make it difficult to clean and wipe down your phone's screen. Additionally, dust and dirt can easily accumulate under the screen protector, making it difficult to get rid of.

**Investment Worth It?**

Despite these minor complaints, I highly recommend investing in an OtterBox case like the Defender if you're seriously concerned about protecting your phone and keeping it safe. The OtterBox brand is known for producing high-quality cases that can withstand rough handling, and their designs have only gotten better over time.

**Alternative Options**

If you're not set on using an OtterBox case, there are other options available. For example, the Pelican Voyager case has a similar build quality but with a different layering design. I haven't personally used this case, but it seems to offer similar protection at a slightly lower price point.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, my experience with the OtterBox Defender case has been largely positive. While it's difficult to take apart and remove, its durability and protective capabilities make it well worth the investment for those who want to keep their phone safe. However, I do have some minor complaints about the screen protector issues and compatibility problems with thicker items that need to be plugged into your micro USB port.

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"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat's going on everybody my name is anna marie buzz box and welcome to my review of a phone case but not just any phone case the otterbox for my galaxy note 5 this video was brought to you by leap drops leap drops partners with indie game developers to bring you three or four awesome pc games each month straight to your email inbox think of it as a loot crate but for pc games with $40 of games delivered each month visit leap drops calm and use coupon code box to save three dollars on your first order that's l33t drops calm I have another box on my galaxy s4 it was my first smartphone and I wanted to make absolutely certain that I didn't break it I had I had 18 months until I had could get a new one I had never held a phone like or had a phone of held one I never had a phone that was a smart phone before and I needed to make sure that I didn't damage it because yeah just didn't want to and everybody I knew that had their iPhones always dropped him and shattered the screens and that seemed a very common but as someone who can't buy forward to $600 phones all the time or ever I had to make sure I didn't do well then when I got my LG g4 for review which is what I'm actually filming on right now I was cocky I was like okay I had my galaxy s4 for a year and never dropped it so I'm fine to keep the LG g4 outside of the case and just look at it's awesome sexiness well then I got in a weird car incident didn't you actually get into a wreck but almost got almost rear-ended somebody because someone because they just stopped out of nowhere out of green light and the phone went flying off with a little consoling it was on and hit some metal pieces under my car seat shattered the screen so when I upgraded my galaxy s4 to the Galaxy Note 5 I got an otterbox originally I didn't think they'd make an otterbox for it because it's such a big ass phone and you need the cutouts for the pin and stuff like that but of course I under most underestimated of course I underestimated their ability to make a phone case and so they did actually have an auto box for my galaxy note 5 picked it up on Amazon it was $60 that is quite the hefty price tag for a phone case and honestly I was going to go with the Pelican Voyager case which appeared ice has set it out in the store it seemed to be just as good of a case but for cheaper but I couldn't find the one I want out on Amazon I went ahead and got the OtterBox just to be safe and it is pretty freakin cool so it does have the cutout on the top for the microphone has cutouts on the bottom four with two flaps for the USB the headphone and then a cutout for the speaker microphone on the bottom and then a cutout for the S pin and the cutout for the s-pen is totally convenient it could use more room on the top of the pin to actually reach it and press it but frankly if it did that then the top layer would be too thin to actually support it properly the buttons for the up and down buttons are and the lock button are fine and then the actual case build quality is great it's set up just like the one I had on my galaxy s4 and these are the defender models by the way so they do come with the belt clip which goes over the front I don't use that because I'm not gonna mount my phone on my belt but you can get it you can do that if you like so it has those little plastic clips on the top and bottom and then it has the built-in screen protector on the front this one is white and great and it goes perfectly with my white Galaxy S or galaxy note 5 the one I had on my Galaxy s4 was black and my s4 was white so that looked a little weird the white and gray actually looks really really good with a white phone it's not covering up the screen or anything like that the touch button or the home button is perfectly accessible the tabs are capacitive touch buttons for back and your app manager are all still usable and your cutouts for your top camera microphone speaker all that jazz work just fine so the question becomes does this case work yes it does I did drop my Galaxy s4 a few different times as had my mother who had the same Galaxy s4 and also had an otterbox commuter case and she's destroyed almost every phone she's used no offense to her but that's been just our running thing with her which is why she ensured that she got not a box on when we upgraded I made sure she got the s6 active as I'm supposed to be a lot more you know durable and rugged and mom proof every time we pulled out the phones it looked like they were brand new which is a lot more than I can say for your typical just plastic basic case so I'm pretty excited main cons to this it's annoying as hell to actually take apart this one's a lot tighter than the one on my s4 was so the actual it's a double layered design here I'll go ahead and take it off and you'll see most of this in b-roll but it's a dual it's got multiple layers here so the outermost layer is a rubber shell which helps absorb most of the impacts of drops and things like that and also gives it a very grippy texture pretty cool it's very thick as well then you have a plastic shell this plastic shell is what really holds your phone in place and encloses the case around your phone now this is a pain in the ass to actually take off because it has a bunch of little clips and until you've taken it off quite a few times which frankly you shouldn't be doing but with my s4 I ended up doing a lot because I needed the case off to access various different things it can be a pain in the ass to get off and then you have another foam padded layer at the back of your case to absorb more impact on the back of your phone so all in all you go you know it's a very it's a very complex system to keep your phone safe but it does a good job main cons are that it's hard to do or it's hard to take apart as I just said and one big complaint that I personally have that most people aren't gonna run into if you have thicker things you need to plug into your micro USB port on the bottom you're gonna run into a lot of trouble with it the main reason why I kept taking my outer box off of my Galaxy s4 was because I needed to use the HDMI output with my MHL HDMI adaptor to record my phone and I could not use that with the OtterBox because the cord just would not fit within the little support beams of the case and that appears little that looks like it's gonna be the same issue with my note 5 as well so bigger fatter micro USB connections aren't going to work your standard Chargers in just general micro USB cables will be fine but bigger adapters will not and other major complaint is that the screen protector does add another layer on top of your screen which means it's very easy to get do leave fingerprints or get dust and dirt up under that to then which then you can't just wipe off because it's up under the screen now this doesn't happen at first in fact that's part of the point of the case is to avoid getting dust and dirt in there but it still happens and then after a while you have to pull it off and dust it off and no matter how great you are it you know wiping off your phone and stuff when you go to put it back on and get it all set up you're gonna find something else that's in between those layers that's gonna drive you nuts if you're someone like me so those are my major complaints with it but I do definitely recommend you make the investment if you're seriously worried about protecting your phone and keeping it safe and you want a good case for that I definitely recommend making the investment into a an Otterbox case or maybe a Pelican Voyager case I have not actually used one of those but like I said I did test it out like a you know looked at it myself in the AT&T store and it seemed to be about the same build quality just with a different way the layers worked so these are my thoughts on the OtterBox Defender case just kind of in general but applied specifically to my galaxy note 5 with experience from my gal or galaxy s4 Andrew hope you enjoyed this video if you did be sure to smash that like button subscribe to the channel for more awesome videos comment down below if you'd happen to want to see me do more case reviews for some reason I'll see you in the next video don't forget to subscribe come follow us on social media we have an Instagram Facebook page Twitter never miss an upload by following us on social media and always seeing when we post a new video and check out the awesome glamour shots we post with the new very high quality cameras on these new phones we've been testing things like that links down below see you next timewhat's going on everybody my name is anna marie buzz box and welcome to my review of a phone case but not just any phone case the otterbox for my galaxy note 5 this video was brought to you by leap drops leap drops partners with indie game developers to bring you three or four awesome pc games each month straight to your email inbox think of it as a loot crate but for pc games with $40 of games delivered each month visit leap drops calm and use coupon code box to save three dollars on your first order that's l33t drops calm I have another box on my galaxy s4 it was my first smartphone and I wanted to make absolutely certain that I didn't break it I had I had 18 months until I had could get a new one I had never held a phone like or had a phone of held one I never had a phone that was a smart phone before and I needed to make sure that I didn't damage it because yeah just didn't want to and everybody I knew that had their iPhones always dropped him and shattered the screens and that seemed a very common but as someone who can't buy forward to $600 phones all the time or ever I had to make sure I didn't do well then when I got my LG g4 for review which is what I'm actually filming on right now I was cocky I was like okay I had my galaxy s4 for a year and never dropped it so I'm fine to keep the LG g4 outside of the case and just look at it's awesome sexiness well then I got in a weird car incident didn't you actually get into a wreck but almost got almost rear-ended somebody because someone because they just stopped out of nowhere out of green light and the phone went flying off with a little consoling it was on and hit some metal pieces under my car seat shattered the screen so when I upgraded my galaxy s4 to the Galaxy Note 5 I got an otterbox originally I didn't think they'd make an otterbox for it because it's such a big ass phone and you need the cutouts for the pin and stuff like that but of course I under most underestimated of course I underestimated their ability to make a phone case and so they did actually have an auto box for my galaxy note 5 picked it up on Amazon it was $60 that is quite the hefty price tag for a phone case and honestly I was going to go with the Pelican Voyager case which appeared ice has set it out in the store it seemed to be just as good of a case but for cheaper but I couldn't find the one I want out on Amazon I went ahead and got the OtterBox just to be safe and it is pretty freakin cool so it does have the cutout on the top for the microphone has cutouts on the bottom four with two flaps for the USB the headphone and then a cutout for the speaker microphone on the bottom and then a cutout for the S pin and the cutout for the s-pen is totally convenient it could use more room on the top of the pin to actually reach it and press it but frankly if it did that then the top layer would be too thin to actually support it properly the buttons for the up and down buttons are and the lock button are fine and then the actual case build quality is great it's set up just like the one I had on my galaxy s4 and these are the defender models by the way so they do come with the belt clip which goes over the front I don't use that because I'm not gonna mount my phone on my belt but you can get it you can do that if you like so it has those little plastic clips on the top and bottom and then it has the built-in screen protector on the front this one is white and great and it goes perfectly with my white Galaxy S or galaxy note 5 the one I had on my Galaxy s4 was black and my s4 was white so that looked a little weird the white and gray actually looks really really good with a white phone it's not covering up the screen or anything like that the touch button or the home button is perfectly accessible the tabs are capacitive touch buttons for back and your app manager are all still usable and your cutouts for your top camera microphone speaker all that jazz work just fine so the question becomes does this case work yes it does I did drop my Galaxy s4 a few different times as had my mother who had the same Galaxy s4 and also had an otterbox commuter case and she's destroyed almost every phone she's used no offense to her but that's been just our running thing with her which is why she ensured that she got not a box on when we upgraded I made sure she got the s6 active as I'm supposed to be a lot more you know durable and rugged and mom proof every time we pulled out the phones it looked like they were brand new which is a lot more than I can say for your typical just plastic basic case so I'm pretty excited main cons to this it's annoying as hell to actually take apart this one's a lot tighter than the one on my s4 was so the actual it's a double layered design here I'll go ahead and take it off and you'll see most of this in b-roll but it's a dual it's got multiple layers here so the outermost layer is a rubber shell which helps absorb most of the impacts of drops and things like that and also gives it a very grippy texture pretty cool it's very thick as well then you have a plastic shell this plastic shell is what really holds your phone in place and encloses the case around your phone now this is a pain in the ass to actually take off because it has a bunch of little clips and until you've taken it off quite a few times which frankly you shouldn't be doing but with my s4 I ended up doing a lot because I needed the case off to access various different things it can be a pain in the ass to get off and then you have another foam padded layer at the back of your case to absorb more impact on the back of your phone so all in all you go you know it's a very it's a very complex system to keep your phone safe but it does a good job main cons are that it's hard to do or it's hard to take apart as I just said and one big complaint that I personally have that most people aren't gonna run into if you have thicker things you need to plug into your micro USB port on the bottom you're gonna run into a lot of trouble with it the main reason why I kept taking my outer box off of my Galaxy s4 was because I needed to use the HDMI output with my MHL HDMI adaptor to record my phone and I could not use that with the OtterBox because the cord just would not fit within the little support beams of the case and that appears little that looks like it's gonna be the same issue with my note 5 as well so bigger fatter micro USB connections aren't going to work your standard Chargers in just general micro USB cables will be fine but bigger adapters will not and other major complaint is that the screen protector does add another layer on top of your screen which means it's very easy to get do leave fingerprints or get dust and dirt up under that to then which then you can't just wipe off because it's up under the screen now this doesn't happen at first in fact that's part of the point of the case is to avoid getting dust and dirt in there but it still happens and then after a while you have to pull it off and dust it off and no matter how great you are it you know wiping off your phone and stuff when you go to put it back on and get it all set up you're gonna find something else that's in between those layers that's gonna drive you nuts if you're someone like me so those are my major complaints with it but I do definitely recommend you make the investment if you're seriously worried about protecting your phone and keeping it safe and you want a good case for that I definitely recommend making the investment into a an Otterbox case or maybe a Pelican Voyager case I have not actually used one of those but like I said I did test it out like a you know looked at it myself in the AT&T store and it seemed to be about the same build quality just with a different way the layers worked so these are my thoughts on the OtterBox Defender case just kind of in general but applied specifically to my galaxy note 5 with experience from my gal or galaxy s4 Andrew hope you enjoyed this video if you did be sure to smash that like button subscribe to the channel for more awesome videos comment down below if you'd happen to want to see me do more case reviews for some reason I'll see you in the next video don't forget to subscribe come follow us on social media we have an Instagram Facebook page Twitter never miss an upload by following us on social media and always seeing when we post a new video and check out the awesome glamour shots we post with the new very high quality cameras on these new phones we've been testing things like that links down below see you next time\n"