Customer Reviews

Zebra Case - Raspberry Pi B+ (Black Ice)

I purchased this case right after the release of the B+ Pi, so there were few options to choose from. I was glad this was one of them. I would choose this enclosure over the many existing B case designs. It does not compromise on form or function.

Function: The Micro SD card is fully accessible. All ports are easily accessible. There is plenty of room around the Micro-USB power port for different size cable plug heads. There is a cutout for the GPIO header so you can add or remove the cable without taking the case apart. There are slots cut into the top for the camera and display cable.

Form: There is a vertical piece of acrylic that surrounds the HDMI, A/V, and power ports giving tight tolerances around the ports. It comes with metal nuts and bolts instead of nylon. It is low profile without exposing too much. The evenly stacked layer design looks awesome.

In my opinion a great case.

The paper protectors aren't that big of a deal if you have an exacto blade and a spare 10 minutes. The fellow reviews decrying an implementation used purely for quality assurance astounds me. Moreover, I recommend using a feather-duster on the pieces because seeing lint trapped in between may bother those harboring attention to detail. Buying a case for a Linux based product somewhat implies that the said device requires some extra attention anyways; peeling paper hardly brings it to the realm of the absurd. I don't find the etching on the bottom piece bothersome at all because, well, it's on the side that isn't being showcased; let a humble, small company, show some pride for Its fine product. My single critique on the aesthetics side was more to do with the screws: if the rubber bumpers covered the screws rather than having to be placed next to them, it would make it perfect. But due to my same standard as the etching, they're placed on the bottom side and thus not viewed regardless. This is a beautiful case; and I am very happy with it, down the road I may consider their more wood-based products, but this alone is a quality product nonetheless.

I imagine any employee at this manufacturer's company who has to assemble these on a daily basis is going to one day end up in a mental asylum. The protective paper stickers are very difficult to get off. Took me at least 7 or 8 minutes just to do that. I suppose hobbyist doing this don't mind a little time spent, but if you were doing a big project with a bunch of these, you probably would go nuts. Getting everything in place is a little bit of a trick, but not too hard.

With that said, the case is pretty easy to put together once you know how. It has a lot of pieces for what it is, but a lot of that is for the aesthetics of the "layered" look. It looks REALLY nice, which is why I bought it. Mine looks exactly like the one in the photo advertised.

Overall, it's a solid 4. The unpacking and assembly is really the only downside. Otherwise this is a 5 star product.

This case looks great, and I received it a lot quicker than I had expected. It was slightly tedious to put together at first. It seemed like the fit wasn't quite right, but then everything ended up settling together and fitting quite nicely. I just needed to have the slightest hint of patience.

I'll keep my eye Engrained Products for more great products!

It would be particularly awesome if they sold stand off kits so you could buy multiple cases and stack them. That way you could buy all the parts from the same place and receive them at the same time.

I like everything about this case except the sticky paper lining on both sides of each layer. I spent at least 3/4ths of the assembly time trying to get ahold of the edge of each paper covering, so I could peel it off. I probably spent 15 minutes or more just doing that, while taking no more than 5 minutes or so to actually assemble the case. And yes, I have normal length and strength fingernails. It's just that the edges of the plastic layers are so finely cut, and the paper with them, that there is just no easy way to get a purchase on the paper edge (and you don't want to use a sharp instrument, as that'll surely scratch the plastic.) I eventually found that a *lot* of vertical pressure on my nail, straight down right next to a corner, and then keeping that pressure on, pulling away from the corner, would peel the paper back after a few tries. My nails hurt like heck after doing that for both sides of every layer, but it did work.

The assembly went fine, and the B+ fit in there very well. All the various main plug receptacles -- USB, HDMI, power, Network, A/V -- are easily accessed, the associated plugs insert fully, and the plugs retained properly. The two ribbon connections for camera and display have associated slots in the case which align well, though I'm not using them at this time. The main GPIO ribbon also has a full width port that is generous enough for just about anything you might have in mind. There isn't enough room in the case for an extra board, however, the *potential* for it is there because you could just pull the bolts and replace them with longer ones, then add more layers (perhaps Black Ice will consider that as an idea for a future product.) I think the case itself is good looking. The little rubber feet are a nice touch, and access to the interior is quick and easy with the removal of four little nuts and the lifting off of the top layer.

I feel much better about the B+ in a case. Having that PCB lying around made me paranoid. This is a very good product, and you'll be happy you bought it... as soon as you can get over the huge fight you'll have trying to get the sticky paper off!

PROS
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Looks nice:
Once finally assembled, the case does look very nice, with the exception of the etchings on the bottom marring an otherwise very nice looking case

Fits very very well:
The case fits the Raspberry Pi B+ like a glove. Even the micro SD slot is accounted for and allows enough space for a card to sit and is protected from accidental bumps and contacts.

Connector holes:
There are well placed holes in the case that allow for wires to run to the various connectors.

CONS
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Price point seems very high:
For sitting at roughly 20 dollars to house a 35 dollar piece of equipment, the price of the case seems a little high.

Shipping protection stickers are a nightmare to get off:
As countless other reviews have mentioned over and over, the 'shipping protection' stickers are an absolute nightmare to get off. I understand they're there to protect the case from scratches but this issue seems like it would be easily solved if they shipped the unit already assembled they would only need a sticker for the top and bottom of the unit. GREATLY reducing the time spent for the customer's assembly time on sticker removal and placing the pi into the unit. Another solution would be to have a small tab that extends over the cut parts of the unit.

First time assembly is roughly half an hour +/- 10 minutes:
From the time I sat down with the instructions and parts to when the case was securely fitted to the pi, about 28 minutes had passed. If I had to do it again with what I know now I could prooobably cut it down to 15 minutes. For a single expenditure of time, that's not a big deal. If you're looking to move a lot of units, this can really cut in on your time.

VERY easy to break pieces when assembling it:
Once the case is together, it feels very sturdy and well made. Its component pieces, though, feel very fragile when not assembled and can be snapped/broken very easily. Take care when unboxing, removing the stickers, and assembling.

Could definitely do without the etching on the bottom:
It's as simple as that. The etchings unnecessarily mar an otherwise very nice looking case.

Lots of holes for dust to get in:
This is a minor one, and if you plan on using the connectors, you can ignore this. If you don't plan on using the connectors, though, then the holes are left open for foreign objects to easily enter the case. If you plan on moving it around a lot, you'll need a case for your case.

Final Thoughts
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If this is a one time purchase for a single Raspberry Pi device you want to play around and experiment with, trying different configurations, etc, this is the case I would actually recommend for you. If you want anything else out of your Pi, I would recommend looking elsewhere.

Length:: 3:27 Mins

Upon finding out about the Raspberry Pi B+ revision, I decided to purchase one because of the two more USB ports that it comes with. That was it, I'm hopping on-board the micro-computing train. Let's see what I can do with this thing. The first priority was to find out what I needed for my uses and a lot of things come to mind though I ultimately decided I was going to host projects from the Raspberry Pi and use it as a Kali Linux box for some pen-testing. Nothing too serious, you'll notice, so I'm not looking for the fanciest stuff. Trust me, there is a lot of cheap options when it comes to cases for the Raspberry Pi but I'm trying to do this the right way. I decided on the Black Ice Raspberry Pi B+ case by Engrained Products over some similar options for a number of reasons;

It looked very sleek.
Made in the USA.
It gave the Pi a certain desktop feel.

The other cases had an appendage sort-of feeling. Like they were to attach to something much bigger and mightier than they. While I do have mine currently hooked up to a 24″ display, I preferred that the Pi look like what it was: a home server and penetration testing box! It needed to have a sort of presence and when considering another option that looked very similar to the Engrained Products case, I went with this one because it was taller and bolder-looking. Between this and another similar, yet smaller case, there was a 10 dollar difference and it was worth it to me to get this one because my assumptions based on the pictures and the description were not incorrect! The case is gorgeous.

Right out of the box, it's reminiscent of a Lego kit. Pieces of high-quality acrylic and topographical instructions were tightly packed in an envelope that included a bag of screws and nuts for securing the pieces together. Putting it together was a slight challenge as I figured out the easiest ways to stack things in order. Once I figured it out though, it was a breeze and felt "right" in the case. This is important. If it doesn't feel one with the case, I'm not convinced it's worth my money so this gets a pass on that level. Very tight, very snug. Again, very Lego-y. Some might like this about setting it up.

Upon finalizing the assembly for the case, I took a moment to appreciate it. Noticed that there's some residual peeling-paper left in the inscriptions but that's not a huge deal. I plan on scraping the bits out with a razor later. The peeling-paper kept it all nice and clean. Speaking of which, acrylic is a dust-magnet. Don't leave your Pi in the crevice of a workshop and you should be okay. I recommend getting some wipes off of Amazon though if you really want to keep it nice or if you have it showcased somewhere (which wouldn't be weird in a case like this).

The GPIO port on the Pi looks like it has plenty of space for a ribbon to leave the case and the plug to attach with ample space but I don't have one to test with. I'll work on that for future reviews. In other areas, there seems to be plenty of space though I noticed the HDMI port can get a bit tight if you have one of the more high-end/bulky HDMI cables. Also worth noting, now that the Pi has 2 additional USB ports, this case does not get in the way of the many things I have plugged in including a hefty wireless network adapter, wireless keyboard/mouse receiver -- even my ethernet cable has plenty of room and most people may not even be using a ground connection. So if you had concerns about how much space there is for external devices, you probably won't have to worry about this one.

The new push-push microSD slot on the Pi is awesome and makes much more sense than the last one, many people will agree. This case does nothing to offend the efficient location of the slot. It's still incredibly easy to swap out your microSDs in the event that you have multiple OSs with this case and the trapezoidal access portion of the bottom for your finger is a nice touch that could have been executed worse in the design but remained consistent with the "sleek" look I was talking about before.

Another nice touch with this case is that despite sitting just fine on the steel nuts securing the screws and acrylic, Engrained Products includes 4 rubber feet for the Pi to sit on which serves to keep it somewhere it can be appreciated and draw attention to the bold approach of the case. The Raspberry Pi was meant to do big things and to help accomplish big projects and it just wouldn't be fair if it didn't include little rubber feet; and it does. The lights on the front are as indicative as when the Pi is bare and aren't refracted by the transparent layers like you would expect. Though this may be a problem for people who have this close to where they sleep or for college students in a similar situation as any Pi owner knows how bright the LEDs are and this case does nothing at all to soften the glow. Maybe include some solution for the indicators along with the rubber feet? Or as an alternate accessory? There's something to be said for that, either way.

Sitting on my desk in any other case but the Black Ice B+ case by Engrained Products and I'd be more inclined to spruce my desktop environment up, my desk wouldn't look as nice and surely I'd lose functionality attempting to save money on a China-made, plastic, click-together piece of junk. I'm glad I got this one over the smaller, less snug ones and in exchange, didn't lose the space around the ports and the microSD slot. Putting it together was a minor challenge but since I just criticized cases that snap or click together, it looks like this is a healthy medium of assembly difficulty. Maybe I need to touch up and practice with some Legos. This might not even be an issue for everyone. At first, the case was a bit confusing and I didn't understand the role some of the parts played individually until it all came together and I see how the Pi was meant to fit in certain places tightly and in other places with a lot of space. The solder points on the bottom of the Pi's PCB make this a challenge for any engineer trying to manufacture an impressive case and despite my difficulty, putting together the case from Engrained Products was hardly a hassle. Additionally, their support is incredibly responsive and their work ethic and philosophy are integral to the quality of their product as you will see if you buy this case over any other. Which is exactly what I recommend every Pi B+ owner go do right now.

Actually a very nice, simple and good looking case. Well made and TIGHT tolerances! no slipping around inside considering you dont have to screw the board down to anything!

Quality case, Well designed and produced.

Came with instructions and a bunch of parts you assemble by sandwiching the parts down a machine screw. Easy to dry fit parts before removing protective skin. Some of the parts are fragile based on thickness of plastic in a few places, but assembled, it's ROCK SOLID and protects your board nicely.

My only gripe is ventilation. If you're not using Pins, there is a large opening for air to enter and exit. If you experiment alot on the device and anticipate having a ribbon cable connected to output pins, the only air flow will be 2 very thin slots on top of case. IMHO - If it had more air flow in top of case it'd be perfect.

I will probably use this ( Pi+case ) for a Web server or XMBC and use another case for working with Pins on a 2nd Pi.

Another note is the SD card slot. After assembling, I took out microSD card and went to put it back in to test fit... and the card slipped under the board to bottom of case. I had to disassemble to get my SD card out. You have to be careful when installing and removing SD card, but it works if you're careful.

It's a keeper though - I like the case

I chose this case for my first Raspberry Pi (a B+), and it was a great place to start. It looks very nice (exactly like product photos), and the manufacturing tolerances are extremely tight-- the fit of the B+ module is perfection. The co-founder even slipped a hand-signed "satisfaction guaranteed" card in the box, which was nice. I wouldn't change anything about the design itself.

A couple very minor areas for improvement:
1) There is protective sticker paper on the top and bottom of each plexiglass layer (you actually stack 8 layers to make the case). I spent more time trying to pull off the paper than I did assembling the case. I had to be very careful with an exacto knife to get the paper to start peeling off without scratching the plastic. I would've liked pull tabs of some sort so that one could easily just peel the paper off and get going.

2) The screw nuts on the top of the unit are fine, but make it look a bit "home made." It would be great if these nuts had covers or something to make them look a bit more polished.

All together a really nice product. I would buy another one in a heartbeat!