[REVIEW] Skinit.com "Switch Safe" Skins
We were generously given a set of skins to review from Skinit.com that are supposed to be "Switch Safe" ( i.e. they do not damage the plastic when removing them from the unit itself). Let's take a look!
Shipping and Product:
The skins arrived in a no-bend document envelope, perfecting for making sure they don't get any bends or kinks in them that would render them useless.
The skins are a nice thick vinyl with strong adhesive that are cut -perfectly- to fit each of the different components of the Switch console. I opted for the White and Red Carbon skins (for reasons I will get into later). The cool bumpy "carbon" texture also feels really good to hold onto.
Application:
True to their word, they do not damage the plastics if you want to change out or re-center any of the skins-- though to be fair, it seems only a small number of skins were actually doing this in the first place.
The skins, for the most part, look fantastic. Some of the pieces where edges are supposed to meet are either a hair too long, causing overlapping (on the dock unit mostly), or are too short and leave a small gap in between layers of the skin. Thankfully, unless you are scrupulous in your inspections of the applications, you will never notice this. I did also notice that some of the long, skinny bits weren't exactly cut straight, and had small curved deviations, but these weren't really noticeable once the skins were applied.
A couple of the pieces were a little tricky to apply, especially the front skin for the Switch unit itself, because it is one large, very intricate piece. It was a little intimidating at first, so I started at the top, making sure all the ports were aligned, and as I smoothed it down onto the console, the rest of the skin seemed to line up magically without much effort needed to re-adjust anything, even the bottom ports ended up perfectly aligned!
The only major drawback I can find to the skins themselves is that your fingers catch on the edges where your hands rest, i.e. the Joycons and Joycon controller adapter-- meaning sooner or later the sticky edges will start to push up and curl, then the adhesive will wear out, and you'll be left with a dirty, semi sticky application of the skin at the edges... and at $34.99 a piece, you may want to just remove it as opposed to replacing it. Perhaps they should consider selling the joycon bits as a separate, more cost effective package for replacement purposes?
Variety:
My final issue isn't necessarily with the product, but with the company itself. The skins that they offering are BORING. Everything just looks like a screenshot or press kit that has been cropped down and centered, then printed onto the skins. They have absolutely no original designs (that I could see), so unless you are in to sports teams (REALLY into sports teams) or directly-copied logos of games or other franchises, you will probably just stick to the flat colors like I did.
Despite that, I was more than happy to receive and apply these as I had already picked up a mysterious scratch right through the logo on the back of my Switch-- bummer! The skin on the front of the Switch also covers the "bump" area inside the dock that has been supposedly scratching the screens on the unit during docking/undocking, so you don't necessarily need to go put on a screen protector on top of the skin.
If you want to check out some designs or order one for yourself, you can can check them out
HERE !
Shipping and Product:
The skins arrived in a no-bend document envelope, perfecting for making sure they don't get any bends or kinks in them that would render them useless.
The skins are a nice thick vinyl with strong adhesive that are cut -perfectly- to fit each of the different components of the Switch console. I opted for the White and Red Carbon skins (for reasons I will get into later). The cool bumpy "carbon" texture also feels really good to hold onto.
Application:
True to their word, they do not damage the plastics if you want to change out or re-center any of the skins-- though to be fair, it seems only a small number of skins were actually doing this in the first place.
The skins, for the most part, look fantastic. Some of the pieces where edges are supposed to meet are either a hair too long, causing overlapping (on the dock unit mostly), or are too short and leave a small gap in between layers of the skin. Thankfully, unless you are scrupulous in your inspections of the applications, you will never notice this. I did also notice that some of the long, skinny bits weren't exactly cut straight, and had small curved deviations, but these weren't really noticeable once the skins were applied.
A couple of the pieces were a little tricky to apply, especially the front skin for the Switch unit itself, because it is one large, very intricate piece. It was a little intimidating at first, so I started at the top, making sure all the ports were aligned, and as I smoothed it down onto the console, the rest of the skin seemed to line up magically without much effort needed to re-adjust anything, even the bottom ports ended up perfectly aligned!
The only major drawback I can find to the skins themselves is that your fingers catch on the edges where your hands rest, i.e. the Joycons and Joycon controller adapter-- meaning sooner or later the sticky edges will start to push up and curl, then the adhesive will wear out, and you'll be left with a dirty, semi sticky application of the skin at the edges... and at $34.99 a piece, you may want to just remove it as opposed to replacing it. Perhaps they should consider selling the joycon bits as a separate, more cost effective package for replacement purposes?
Variety:
My final issue isn't necessarily with the product, but with the company itself. The skins that they offering are BORING. Everything just looks like a screenshot or press kit that has been cropped down and centered, then printed onto the skins. They have absolutely no original designs (that I could see), so unless you are in to sports teams (REALLY into sports teams) or directly-copied logos of games or other franchises, you will probably just stick to the flat colors like I did.
Despite that, I was more than happy to receive and apply these as I had already picked up a mysterious scratch right through the logo on the back of my Switch-- bummer! The skin on the front of the Switch also covers the "bump" area inside the dock that has been supposedly scratching the screens on the unit during docking/undocking, so you don't necessarily need to go put on a screen protector on top of the skin.
If you want to check out some designs or order one for yourself, you can can check them out
HERE !
