Think back to the last time your iPhone 5’s battery let you down, and how depressing it was to see that red band across the bottom half of your battery icon. Everyone who owns an iPhone has at least one ‘insufficient battery’ situation, and those are exactly the times when the Incipio offGRID Pro shines.
Think of the Incipio offGRID Pro as a battery failure prevention kit.
Included in the package are two 2,000mAh batteries, the Incipio offGRID case (which can hold one battery at a time), a battery charger that can charge one or both batteries at a time, a screen protector, a micro fiber cloth, a stiff paper squeegee (to use when applying the screen protector), a 3′ long microUSB charging cable, and a 3.5mm extension cable (so that your favorite headphones will work when your iPhone is in the case). That’s actually quite a bit of stuff included!
The offGRID Pro case is composed of black plastic which has a rubbery exterior feel. The case is made up of three pieces: the back charging piece which holds one of the external batteries and plugs into the iPhone, the external battery, and the black plextonium bezel which fits around the iPhone and snaps into the back of the case.
The dual battery charger is made to hold the two external batteries stacked on top of each other so that they can be charged in tandem. The batteries ship stacked together inside the charger, and it’s easy to miss that there are actually two there when you unpack everything.
The case is powered by slipping one of the two batteries inside its charging tray.
Just a heads up: here is a little piece of yellow plastic on the battery connector inside the case back; be sure to remove it, or else the case won’t work. I was told that some people miss that, and then they incorrectly think that their case doesn’t work.
Plug the iPhone into the Lightning connector …
… press the bezel down over the iPhone and snap it into the back, et voilà — your iPhone now has a spare 2000mAh strapped to its back. In order to check the battery power available, you press the little power button on the bottom right of the case once; to activate the battery (or to turn it off again), you press and hold the power symbol.
The mute switch is left accessible on the side of the case, and a black plastic volume rocker makes adjusting the sound through the case easy.
Note the two sound ports on the front, just under where the iPhone ends: the speakers on the iPhone’s bottom have been ported to the front, which actually makes them sound much better. The now deeply recessed 3.5mm headphone jack and a microUSB charging port are on the bottom. I love that Incipio thought to include the 3.5mm extender, as so many cases which make the jack inaccessible don’t bother to do that.
With the case installed, the iPhone 5S now measures 5.5″ long x 2.5″ wide x 0.65″ thick, and it weighs 7.2 ounces. While this is definitely adding weight and bulk to the ordinarily svelte iPhone 5S, the tradeoff is tripled battery life and that the slightly beveled edges of the case make the iPhone comfortable to hold. Let’s accentuate the positive, okay?
The power button is now covered with black plastic.
The rear camera and flash are still open and able to function.
It’s pretty convenient to have a 2000mAh extended battery case that has its own 2,000mAh backup plan when recharging isn’t an option. Considering that the iPhone has a 1560mAh battery, this kit more than triples its battery life — that should be enough to get you through even the most-grueling day!
If you (or someone you care about) is frequently seeing the red battery meter band of doom, then the Incipio offGRID Pro can help!
The offGRID Pro is available directly from Incipio and from other retailers.
MSRP: $99.99; You can get it for $67.51 with free shipping from our Amazon affiliate store
What I Like: Two 2,000mAh batteries so that you can carry a spare and swap it out when the first dies; a dual battery charger is included in the kit; a screen protector is included in the kit; a 3.5mm extender is included in the kit
What Needs Improvement: Nothing — the system works well
Source: The Incipio offGRID Pro iPhone 5 Backup Battery Case was a manufacturer supplied review unit
