Re: iPhone Protection for the Field
There are four main places I use my iPhone where good protection is critical:
Road/Mountain Biking
Skiing
Hiking
At the range/shooting sports
All four require durability, drop protection, and dust protection. But, for me, they also require weather/water resistance. That's where the Otterbox Defender comes up short. Plus it is huge and sticky. Makes it difficult to slide in and out of pants pockets or sleeve pockets.
As was mentioned above, the Lifeproof case addresses all these issues.
It is water and snow proof, drop/shock proof, and dirt/mud proof. All things likely to be encountered in any and all of the activities I've listed. Plus it adds minimal size to the iPhone. It is the smallest case with this level of protection that I'm aware of.
Now there are a couple things that might be considered drawbacks. The first is that this is a relatively involved case to put on and take off. Before putting the iPhone in for the first time you do a waterproof test to make sure your particular case passes muster before trusting your iPhone to it. It then takes a bit of work putting the phone in and taking it out. I like a slim profile at work so I only put the Lifeproof case on when engaging in activities but think the level of protection is worth the extra effort involved.
Another drawback is the sound quality, both transmitted and received. All the microphone and speaker ports have gore-tex membranes for waterproofing. If the case has any retained air inside as it's sealed, it can force the membranes against the openings thus degrading the transmitted sound. There is a very easy fix for this which is essentially just blowing into the ports to force the membranes away from them.
At the end of the day, though, when I'm out doing any of these activities, I'm not really all that interested in taking calls. When I'm shooting I want to use my ballistic calculator without messing up the phone. When I'm riding bikes I want to use the cycling/mapping functions without messing up the phone. When I'm skiing...you get the picture. Way down on the list is talking to someone on the phone, but when I have to, the sound quality is adequate with the Lifeproof.
I really think it's the best tool for the job at this point.