Review: Palm Leather Holster for Treo 750

Palm offers a good selection of branded accessories for its Treo line from cases to cradles to cables. Amongst these accessories is the Palm Treo Leather Holster ($24.95). The leather case is more of a slip pouch with no flap or lid. The leather cases fit acts as retention to keep the phone in place.

Read on for the full review!

Performance/Fit

I tested this case with the Treo 750 and the initial fit was tight, requiring a good amount of pressure to slide the phone completely into the case. After about a day of use, the leather wore in and the phone slid into the case easier. It didn’t loosen enough to cause concern that the Treo would fall out.

The case uses a plastic swivel clip that extends a good distance from the case. The clip tension is strong but I don’t know if it is long enough to securely fit on a belt. In wearing the case on a 1.25” wide belt, the clip wasn’t long enough to span the distance of the belt. On several occasions the case rode up on my belt to the point of almost falling off my belt. I would have rather seen a “hook” style clip or one a ¼ inch longer on the case to better hold it in place.

The other issue I have with the clip is how far it extends from the case. The clip has a post that extends the case a good bit from your belt. The result was that the case snagged on seatbelts, corners, and chair arms. Personally, I like a belt case to ride close to my hip and the Palm case was uncomfortable to wear.

As mentioned, the case has no flap or lid to help protect your phone and keep it in place. It is lined with a felt fabric to protect the phone from scratches and is padded to offer another ounce of protection.

Overall Impression

Palm made a good effort at offering customers an open top, vertical, leather, bare bones case. While solidly constructed, the case rides too far from my hip to be comfortable and the clip isn’t long enough to properly fit on a belt. This may be more an issue of personal preference but I felt the case needed to ride closer to the body.

The case also lacks a protective flap to help secure the phone in the case. To its benefit, the case itself is compact and if they clip was redesigned, it would be much improved. As is though, I’d be inclined to look at SPE’s Top Pouch as an alternative.

Overall: 3/5