Baggicase Classic Phone Case

The made-in-Spain Baggicase is a great option for keeping your pricey phone safe while you ride, with a good level of protection, space for extras and some waterproofing. Its price tag might make you wince, however.

Phones have become ludicrously expensive – take Apple's flagship iPhone 12 Pro, which starts at £999. Worried about taking it out on a ride? You should be. Even if you don't have insurance that covers you for accidental damage, it's probably worth protecting your phone while you ride. So with that in mind, how about a similarly expensive phone case to suit your expensive phone? That's what the Baggicase, erm, case is offering here.

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The case comes in four different sizes to suit your size of phone, and cleverly you can easily find the one you need by choosing the make and model of your phone on the website when you're ordering – it'll recommend the size that best fits your device. In my case, the size medium was a perfect match for my, ahem, ludicrously expensive iPhone 12 Pro. It even works with the official Apple silicone case on, though it's a tight fit.

The Baggicase comes in black with two contrasting stripes on each opposing corner on both sides, while the luxuriously soft lining is a bright yellow with a synthetic leather pocket for stashing your cash, cards, keys, or whatever that might fit. There's even a small clear plastic pocket for putting your emergency contact details into.

You can change the colour of the stripe to suit your style, but the main body only comes in black, or there's an all-navy option. Personally, I would have liked to have seen more options to customise the exterior to different tastes. Even plain black, or just something a little more subtle, would be nice.

Back to the interior – the pocket is, for some reason, on the side that faces your phone screen when you drop it inside, which seems like an odd choice given the opposite side has the soft liner. Admittedly, you could just turn your phone around when you pop it inside, but that seems counterintuitive to me.

The outer material is made of tough Cordura, with synthetic leather at the bottom of the case and the same material running either side of the length of the zip. The combination of rugged materials and cushioning means your phone is likely to be well protected here. The case is also easy to clean – just wipe the surface with a damp cloth to remove mud stains or the like.

The zip puller is a chunky YKK camlock, meaning the zip can only be opened when you want it to. I can't imagine the case de-phoning itself, but it's nice to know it's held securely.

As well as being rather sturdy, Baggicase also claims its case is waterproof. Does the case live up to this claim? Under a very light stream of water, the piece of paper towel stuffed into the interior remained dry. However, under a more significant stream of water for a minute, the paper towel was sodden (as was the liner).

So, the level of waterproofing is best described as 'light'. It's probably enough for most rides given that if you encounter heavy rain mid-ride, you're likely to put a waterproof jacket on anyway.

> Emergency essentials: 10 things to take with you on every ride

Baggicase also claims the case is anti-bacterial, so it won't start to get funky after a few rides where sweat can transfer through your clothes into your back pocket. I can confirm the case still smells great after many rides.

Starting at 58g in a size small, going up to 73g for the XL – the size medium model on test came in at 72g, a few grams off the stated 69g – the Baggicase isn't the lightest case we've ever tested, but the quality of materials and level of protection on offer go some way to justify that slightly extra bulk.

Now, on to the only real issue I have with the Baggicase: its price, which starts at £57.90 for the small version, going up to £66.90 for the extra large. No bones about it, the Baggicase is expensive. Not that it fully justifies the pricing, but it's worth remembering that each case is handmade in Spain.

If you're feeling flush, for an extra £4.90 Baggicase offers the option to add a flag of the country of your own choosing as well as your name. If you want to go even further, there's a full custom option, but you need to order a minimum of 40 cases. A nice option perhaps if you run a cycling club and want to offer cases in your club design.

We've reviewed plenty of decent cases on road.cc for a fraction of the price of the Baggicase. The Muc-Off Essentials Case, for instance, offers pretty much everything you might need from a phone case for cycling, other than a lack of waterproofing (not that the Baggicase is totally waterproof, of course), and at £15 is much more reasonable.

The Chrome Large Phone Pouch looks similarly tough to the Baggicase, though again doesn't seem to be all that waterproof, and it only fits a certain size of phone.

While I don't believe the price to be justified, there are some good reasons to consider the Baggicase over the (much) cheaper options: you can choose the size to suit your phone, it offers a good deal of protection, and there's a decent enough level of waterproofing. It's very well made, too, so shouldn't ever need replacing... until your phone gets bigger.

Verdict

Top quality phone case that offers protection and some waterproofing, but the price is sky-high