# Griffin Survivor Fake vs Real



## Alex_225

I saw a post a week or so ago about buying a Griffin Survivor case and it was mentioned about fakes, something I'd never even considered when I got mine off E-bay.

So I had a look at my E-bay case and got suspect as it was only £20, then I was in Tesco the other night and they had a real one at the real price of £50. The quality and design was very different so I invested in a real one.

I've now ended up with a real survivor case for my iPhone 5 and iPad, both very impressive all be it pricey bits of kit. -

The real case has three parts, a back that you lay the tablet/phone in first. You then fit the rubberised sleeve and then the front along with screen protector goes on last.

In terms of looks, the front has a matt black plastic frame and the home button is rubber and pokes through it.










The back has two obvious black panels that come through the rubber and press in around the black inner plastic.










The fake case starts with a plastic back and front (including the screen protector) you then fit the rubberised casing over the whole lot, like a fitted sleeve.

As you can see the rubber part of the case covers right up to the edges of the screen, there is no clip on front.










The back, again is just one piece of rubber. Cleverly designed to look very similar but again not of the same quality as the real one.










Now I can't say that there haven't been design changes and my 'fake' one is similar to perhaps an older version of the real thing but there are certainly differences in fit and finish. But I have a replica one (not sold as a Griffin) for my spare iPhone 4 and a real one on my 5 and the same difference apply as above.

All I would say is that the fake ones, even ones advertised as Griffin and in similar packaging aren't bad for £20. I put the fake on on my Mrs iPad 2 as she only had a pants plastic case and it saved her screen from a tea spillage. :lol:

BUT the real thing fits better, looks better, has a better finish and I would trust it to protect my expensive devices more. As for whether you deem it worth the extra I don't know but as is said often on here, you get what you pay for.

P.S - sorry for the boring post just thought I'd do a write up as I've ended up with both types.


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## DW58

Which version of the iPad you have the "real" case on? I have an iPad 4 with Lightning connector and have long considered the Griffin Survivor. I had an Otterbox Defender case on my iPad 2, since passed to my son, and while offering excellent protection it is a tad clumsy and the stand broke of my first one after around six months.


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## Alex_225

The real case is on my iPad 3 although the fake one I had before fitted the 3 and fits the 2 just as well so should fit the 4 too.  

As for the stand, it's probably the the most flimsy bit of the design but it clips on and stays tucked away until you use it so no reason for it to break. Personally I don't really use it on mine anyway. 

Sadly none of these hardcore protective cases do anything for the tactile feel of a naked iPad but the proper Griffin case feels like its part of the iPad rather than a case. The fake one never felt like that.


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## Tank.

dont get me started, ive already been stung by a seller selling fake cases for the iphone 5, bought one knew it was fake immediatly with incredibly poor build quality. called him out and he gave me a full refund, to be honest what did i expect a £30-40 case for £15.

spotted another tonight and emailed the seller, fair play to them she messaged back saying it was a rep but a high quality one.

decided to take the hit and buy direct from griffin, went onto their website and theres an option to customise your own selecting the colour for each component, ended up being £36 including standard shipping


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## DW58

It's not just Griffin, I got stung with a fake Otterbox Commuter case for my iPhone 4 via an Amazon Marketplace seller, it was seriously shoddy, dimensions were slightly out and the soft/hard parts just didn't fit properly unlike the real one it was replaced with.


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## HeavenlyDetail

Not nesseccarily on the cases. I wont go into details but ive sold a large number of Survivor cases over the last 3 months through various legitimate sources and have a direct link to Griffin. I spoke to them about 3 weeks ago regarding the iPad cases.
There was a patency change on them and very slight improvement just before christmas and the serial numbers changed from part 2xxxx to 3xxxx

You can see below the difference between the older and newer versions, and also price change for the newest style.














































The reason Amazon and ebay can sell so low is because the Disti's they use are stock piling out their old stock and they are importing in but not stating newer version because the box doesnt say. I know probably the top 5 Amazon sellers of this product and they are legitimate even low priced but ebay is a different matter but not necessarily fake, Griffin monitor it well.

I also work with Otterbox and these are rarely faked well if any still exist.


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## Alex_225

I can certainly see the similarity with my first case to the legitimate one you're showing me there. 

The only other thing that led me to believe my first is a fake was also the strange message I got from E-bay regarding the seller not long after I bought it. Didn't think much of it until I was reading about the fakes, which would then explain the slightly under par build quality of the original.


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