I don’t really like having cases on my phone, but after dropping a dumbbell on one and smashing it to pieces a few years ago, I reconsidered that decision.
After that lovely experience, Nomad sent over a few of their cases to help protect my newly repaired phone, and I’ve kept my eye on the brand ever since.
Once my new iPhone 14 Pro came a few weeks ago, I wanted to check out the latest batch of cases from Nomad, and they were nice enough to send me a few to check out for this review.
I received a nice little variety pack, including their modern leather case, the sport case, and their abuse-proof rugged case.
The packaging is pretty simple; each case is contained within a cardboard box that sides open with a little string to (what I assume) allow it to hang on a store display.
The rugged case is on the left, the leather is in the middle, and the sport case is on the right.
Each one offers its own level of drop protection, starting at 6 feet for the sport model, 10 feet for the leather, and all the way up to 15 feet for the rugged case.
There’s something about leather that always grabs my attention, and it will always be my first pick when it comes to phone cases.
There’s something so satisfying watching the leather slowly darken and patina over time.
I also regret picking up the iPhone 14 Pro in silver/white because of how reflective the sides are.
At least I can hide it while using one of these cases.
The rugged case feels more prominent in my hand than the other two, but it’s not that big of a difference.
It has quite a bit of protection improvements from the other two cases, boasting 15 feet of drop protection from its reinforced sides.
The inside of all the cases look similar, each covered with a soft lining to help reduce little scratches as you add or remove your phone.
Each case works with wireless charging (which feels like a requirement) and I like how each has a little circle hinting where the wireless charger connects to the phone.
The color of the sport case is nice, and I like the contrast on the metal volume switches.
I did notice that this version showed a ton more fingerprints than the other two, which you can see a little bit in the photo above.
I must say, it feels surprisingly grippy for how smooth the material is.
Like the previous Nomad case I used, this leather version has a nice design detail where the leather back forms into the dark polycarbonate, giving it a bit of a two-tone look.
Notice those two small circles on the bottom left and right? Those are attachment points for lanyards if that’s your sort of thing.
The leather case doesn’t have a different color for the volume buttons but instead sticks to the same black color as the outer part of the case.
I think this makes sense since the leather back already provides enough contrast with the dark plastic.
There’s ample room at the bottom of the case, and speaker holes and charging port are clear from getting blocked.
You know how these new phones have an annoying wobble from the camera bump when the phone is laying flat on a surface? The other benefit of these cases is that it eliminates that altogether.
While I can see the use for rugged cases, I don’t really fall into the group that requires one (I don’t typically drop my phone and work at a desk all day).
This leather case has to be my top pick out of these three.
It’s small enough to not be significantly bulky in my pocket, its black polycarbonate frame hides the annoyingly reflective sides of the silver iPhone 14, and the leather will only look better over time.
Overall, these are all solid options depending on what kind of case you're looking for, so I think it all comes to what sort of protection you're looking for, then just finding a color that you like.
