- Durable, molded hardshell design with compact profile provides maximum protection and fits in a stable position in glove compartment or center console
- Built-in microfiber cloth in “cleaning station” on inside lid offers a platform for cleaning the delicate GPS touchscreen
- Secondary compartment with mesh pocket and memory slots creates protective, convenient space for charger, cord and two SD cards
- Padded pocket with hook/loop closure provides protective storage space for and quick access to a GPS device
- Soft tricot-lined interior ofers protection from dust and scratches
Product Description
The 4.3 Navi Shield from Lowepro is the protective and inventive way to safeguard your GPS device, power supply and SD or map extension cards. Its compact, slim shape is designed to fit in a glove compartment or sit in a stable position on a center console. The 4.3 Navi Shield features a durable, molded hardshell on the exterior and soft, tricot lining on the interior. A protective, padded pocket with hook/loop closure secures a GPS device. Behind the pocket, a secondary compartment offers a mesh pocket to store a charger and cord, plus two convenient slots for extra SD cards. Inside the lid, you’ll find a handy “cleaning station” with a built-in microfiber cloth to clean the delicate touchscreen. Additional features include a wrap-around dual zipper and a D-ring attachment…. More >>
Lowepro 4.3-Inch Navi Shield GPS Carrying Case
April 16th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
I’m using a Tom Tom XL with a 4.3″ screen which I would consider an average sized if not slimmer than average GPS unit. Typical accessories to make the GPS useful would be the attached suction cup, car charger cable, bean-bag base.
This Navi Shield GPS case is attractive, constructed relatively well, has two compartments separated by a nicely padded pocket, however, the way things are arranged in the case makes it nearly useless.
The pocket has a nice Velcro tab except that the tab is attached to the back side of the case so that once affixed, the side that would hold the GPS accessories is inaccessible. The front side, the side that is open, can’t be used because that’s the side that the GPS pocket fits into.
“Okay,” you say, “so put your accessories into the back compartment.” Sure, except the car charger that comes with the GPS is about 1″ thick at it’s widest point. The storage side of the case is about 1/2″ to 3/4″ in width and, since the pocket for the GPS is constructed such that the screen faces the back of the case, there’s a risk of cracking the screen if pressure is applied.
It would make more sense if the pocket faced the side of the case that had the tab closure with the tab securing to the back of the pocket instead of the front. That would leave an entire side of the case open for slim accessories and may even allow for an additional 1/4″ of space.
The case itself is nicely constructed but appears larger than it actually is. I would not use this case to hold my GPS but it may make a nice case to store something like a small camera and camera accessories.
Rating: 3 / 5
April 16th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
I store my Garmin nüvi GPS in a spare camera bag. It’s functional, but makes for far more bulk and takes up more room than is really necessary. Lowepro’s Navi Shield GPS Carrying Case seemed to be a much better alternative.
Lowepro is known for excellence in design and top quality in their products. I own two of their camera bags and really like them. They exude quality and have held up superbly over the years. Given this, I expected the Navi Shield Case to be of top quality. It was not.
The bag has two zippers. Out of the box, one stubbornly refused to open. Try as I might, the zipper would stop cold and freeze before it would fully open. Apparently, the padding had caught in the zipper during manufacturing. When I finally managed to get the zipper to open there was a noticeable mar in the padding. As hard as it is to live with this kind of defect in a brand new product, its even more unpleasant to deal with a zipper that opens and closes, but doesn’t do so smoothly.
The bag is rather small, so don’t expect to keep a large number of accessories in it. It’s big enough to hold the GPS, some cables, and a few assorted small items.
The idea behind the Lowepro Navi Shield GPS Carrying Case is a good one. Let’s hope that the unit that I received was simply defective in manufacture and this is not a production issue.
Rating: 2 / 5
April 16th, 2010 at 10:31 pm
I own a thin Magellan Roadmate GPS unit that is not even 4.3 inches, which is supposedly the largest GPS unit you can put in this case. I was excited to finally have a decent case for my GPS and accessories, but my excitement quickly became disappointment when I attempted to put the GPS unit, power cord for cigarette lighter plug, and windshield mount in the case. I could barely get the case to close up with the GPS unit and power cord inside. It was so overstuffed that I felt like the zipper might give out, and the case was visibly misshapen due to the contents pushing outward on the case. Forget about the windshield mount. There was no chance I was going to be able to put that into the case. The concept behind this case is great, but the execution is lousy. If it doesn’t fit all the basic stuff, then what is the point?
Rating: 3 / 5
April 17th, 2010 at 12:21 am
i like the case a lot.
it is a bit large but i bought it to protect my gps when it is not in use.
i would recomend it highly.
Rating: 4 / 5
April 17th, 2010 at 1:38 am
This LowePro case for GPS systems is well made as can be expected from LowePro. It offers not only a place to store the GPS unit itself but also has room for two SD cards and the charger cable.
However, this is not a case I would take with me for travel because it is pretty bulky and way too big for my Garmin nüvi 350, causing it to slide around in the case. There is also no way to secure the unit with a strap or something similar so smaller units will always slide around unless one packs them into the compartment meant for the charger cable or the accessories pocket which closes with velcro. To be fair, this is a storage case meant for larger GPS units but a) I think that many people own smaller units and might look at this case for storage, and b) I still feel strongly that the case should offer a strap to secure the system to prevent it from accidentally falling out when opening the case.
I will go back to the case I used before, the Cool Carrying Case for Garmin Nuvi Naviagator + Screen Protector Kit (Many Color Available). It fits my unit much better, secures it with a strap and also has room for the charger cable (mesh pocket in the other half of the case). The only thing that it doesn’t have is a built-in cleaning cloth and pockets for SD cards but I much rather have a more compact case than one that is too large. For comparison, please see my uploaded pictures.
Rating: 3 / 5