• $50

• Small size and light weight
• Can HotSync Palm in case
• IR port still accessible

• Not very attractive
• Costs more than competition

Design:
Cost/benefit:
Coolness:
Overall:

Exterior
The exterior of the hardcase is thin aluminum. It gets much of its strength from its design. The cover has several large ridges on both front and back that make it stronger in the same way that corrugating cardboard makes it stronger.

While a more protective case is a good thing, these ridges do make the case a bit thicker than it would otherwise be. On the outside, the case looks kind of industrial. The Rhinoskin logo has been stamped into it in raised letters.

When the case closes, it makes a fairly good seal though I wouldn't call it water-proof by any stretch of the imagination. The top edge of the case has been shaped so that the infrared port can be used and the stylus can be removed relatively easily.

The cover of the case doesn't fold all the way around to the back. It goes just a bit past open flat.

Interior
The palmtop is held in place with a rail that fits into the left slot. This case has been designed to fit not only the Palm m500 series but the V series as well. This must have been a bit of a challenge because the slot on the left side of the m500 series is much smaller than the one on the V series. Rhinoskin dealt with this by supplying two plastic pieces that fit over the top and bottom of the rail to enlarge it to the size the V series needs.

I know someone will ask so I tried putting an m505 in with the Vx adapters on and using the right channel slot. It fit but not very well. I wouldn't recommend it as a permanent solution. Besides, that would leave you with no place in the case to put your stylus.

I know some people who had the original version of the V series molded hardcase complained that because the rail fit so tightly, it stretched out the stylus slot to the point where it was unsuitable for other uses. The rail seems to fit tightly into the m505 but not any more tightly than the other cases I've used with it.

Because it has been designed for three different sized handhelds, it fits none of them perfectly. (Don't forget there is a size difference even within the m500 series.) The m505 doesn't rattle around or anything but there's some extra space inside the case.

Inside the case is a thin lining to give the handheld a bit of a cushion. This is cut out where the Up/Down buttons are to prevent the case from pushing them and keeping the device on all the time.

Accessibility
Like I said, the IR port is accessible when the case is open. The serial port is reasonably usable, too. You can open the case as wide as it will go and move both the front and back off to the left and insert the handheld into its cradle. But this won't work if the cradle is on a flat surface because the bottom of the case takes up too much room. I put the cradle at the edge of my desk so the Rhinoskin case can hang off the edge and it works fine. This doesn't work with my Stowaway keyboard, though. The handheld has to be taken out of the case to use that.

Protection
The main idea of a hardcase is to protect the expensive handheld inside. I think the Rhinoskin Molded Hardcase provides a decent level of protection. It will probably protect your Palm if you accidentally sit or step on it. They advertise that the Neoprene lining will protect the handheld if it gets dropped. But this case is a compromise between the convenience of not adding too much bulk to the handheld and providing serious protection. I wouldn't, say, drop an m505 in this case out of an airplane and expect it to survive. But how often is that going to happen?

Conclusion
I think this is a good case. It's light and gives the handheld some much-needed protection. Appearance is in the eye of the beholder but I say this hardcase isn't the best-looking one on the market. At $50, its also a bit more expensive that the competition.