Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I want to review this product honestly and thoroughly, but I know that when I read product reviews, I'm often looking for clues that the person writing the review is experienced enough with the device/item to really be offering their insight. So, let me preface my review by showcasing my Apple device pedigree, lol! I personally have owned or currently own: Late 2011 MacBook Pro 13", 2016 MacBook Pro 13", iPhone 4, iPhone 3G, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6s, at least 15 different iPods including the click-wheel versions, the Touch versions, and the Mini versions, an Apple Watch, the First Gen iPad, iPad 2, iPad Mini, iPad Mini 3, and now the iPad Pro 9.7". Whew! As far as my experience with this device and case, I ordered this case the day that I bought my iPad Pro, and hardly used the iPad Pro at all until the case arrived. I own a small business and although I currently use many devices daily (MacBook Pro 13", iPhone 6s, and an Apple Watch), the iPad Pro is my only daily device that I can honestly say takes a fair amount of abuse. See, the MacBook just sits on the desk, the iPhone is compact, and the watch just chills on my wrist. But the iPad Pro is constantly in motion. I take all my notes on it, and when I'm on the phone (which is a lot), I'm always one-handedly flip-flopping it around between tablet mode (to jot down notes) and laptop mode (to type in a URL or something), during which, I'm pretty sure I mangle the keys a fair amount and I KNOW I bend/flop/slap/drop parts of it pretty often as well. To be honest, I've had front-flap style cases on iPads for so many years, I keep forgetting that this one has actual electronic components that I shouldn't be slinging open onto the table or tapping on with my water bottle lol. My point in mentioning my use (and abuse, lol) of my iPad Pro is just as a testimony to the sturdiness and reliability of this case. I don't feel like I'm EXTREMELY hard on things; I like to think that I take pretty good care of my devices, as I typically sell them when I'm done with them, so don't take my examples as proof that this case should be able to withstand your toddler or golden retriever, but as an adult business owner who has a lot of tech in my life, I am rougher on this than normal. And it's held up quite well! On the note of longevity, I'll try to remember to update this review in another few months, but if you're curious, feel free to comment and I'll respond with a current status update lol. I was VERY hesitant to purchase this item for a few reasons: 1) I type about 90 WPM, and I was afraid that if the keyboard wasn't just right, it would slow me down or at least annoy me and cause me to avoid using it, 2) I wasn't crazy about the aesthetics of it, and there's no options for different colors or upgraded materials like leather, and 3) I haven't owned anything made by Logitech in several years, but the last few things I owned were less than spectacular as far as performance, reliability, and longevity. However, after spending way too much time narrowing down choices (there aren't many good ones, honestly), deliberating, and reading reviews (I can never get enough pre-purchase reviews!), I bit the bullet on this case. First off, just wanted to say I'm REALLY surprised that there aren't more companies making cases for the iPad Pro that encompass the Smart Connector/Smart Keyboard, the automatic screen locking magnetic closure thing, and an Apple Pencil holder. I found plenty of cases that had two features, but very few had all 3. The ONLY thing that kept me from getting the Apple Keyboard Case is the lack of a place to put the Apple Pencil. I don't want it hanging around outside of the case to get damaged; that thing was expensive! Anyhow, when the case came in, I was excited, but not as excited as I probably should have been. I was still a little disappointed because of the 3 reasons I listed above, but the packaging improved my outlook immediately. Logitech's packaging for this case definitely took a lot of cues from Apple... no, not the colors or fonts, those things are still in the standard Logitech brand's styling, but the actual packaging itself was sturdy, explanatory, well-made, and kinda neat. That might be a weird thing to comment on, but it's the thing that initially cued my brain into the idea that maybe Logitech isn't the same company I remember from 5 to 7 years ago. Putting the iPad Pro into the case was a breeze; I was a little nervous at how hard I had to push the corners to get them to go in, but it worked like a charm. The quality of the case really is above average and immediately apparent... it may not be offered in designer leather or "Apple colors", but in my opinion, it feels every bit as well-made as an Apple product. The keys feel great, as they're similar to the Apple keyboards I'm used to. The outside of the case feels great; the texture and material is such that it slides easily into a backpack yet has enough grip that it feels great in your hand and isn't easy to drop or mishandle. The attention to detail really shows, and it's easy to see all the little features that Logitech really spent time on: - The buttons on the case, which correspond to the device's on/off button at the top, and the volume buttons on the side, feel wonderful and function perfectly. - The material that the Apple Pencil holder sleeve is made from feels supple and almost a little stretchy; I was worried at first that I might tear it while grabbing the Pencil from it in a hurry, or that it would stretch out over time from use (seriously, I put the Apple Pencil in the case's sleeve and remove it again probably 20 or 30 times a day), but it's really holding up well. - The front-flap fold that allows you to use the iPad like a tablet without leaving the keyboard keys exposed on the back is clever and extremely well-implemented. You might THINK that this is actually just smashing the keyboard keys into the back of your iPad, but look again; another example of the thought and engineering that Logitech put into this product is that the keys actually won't touch the back of the iPad unless you were to really force it. Neat! - The light that lights up behind the keys is a fantastic feature that is so often overlooked, and since Logitech doesn't have much competition for this particular case, they probably could have cut costs and skipped the light without sales being affected much. But they didn't cut that corner, which makes me feel like they didn't cut corners on the internals of the case, either. I know there are more components that I CAN'T see than ones I CAN see, but typically when a manufacturer's corner-cutting is visible on the outside, it's even worse on the inside. I feel good about this product, inside and out! Overall, FANTASTIC job, Logitech! :D There are a few things I want to mention in this review that really don't have much to do with Logitech's case directly, but they are things that I wish I would have thought about when I was shopping for it. If this is your first foray into the iPad Pro, and you're planning on using a keyboard AND an Apple Pencil with it pretty frequently, here's a few things to think about: - This case makes the device pretty heavy. In my opinion, it's well worth the added weight to have a keyboard AND a very protective and sturdy case, but it's worth mentioning because the added heft is definitely noticeable. I am not knocking points from Logitech's case for this; I think the added weight is totally justified; anything much lighter might have been flimsy and/or less protective. - This case makes the device a bit awkward to hold. Not just because of the extra weight, but because of the movement of the case itself. There's really only two ways to fold the front flap (which contains the keyboard) back to use it as an iPad tablet rather than an iPad laptop... you either have to fold it back like a normal front flap which leaves the keyboard keys exposed face-down, or use the case cover's fold over position, which allows the keyboard keys to be protected. If you use the first option, it lays flatter on a surface, but if you're holding it (as I typically am), your hand is pushing the keyboard keys. This doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things; the keyboard isn't connected to power, nor to the device itself, so it's not as if you are typing strings of random letters somewhere (that wouldn't work out as well if this was a Bluetooth keyboard), so as long as you're not putting the keys through hell while you're holding the device, no big deal. But the movement of the keys as you move your fingers on the back of the pad is enough to cause you to drop the iPad Pro, or if you're nervous about being too rough on the keys, you may be holding it so gingerly that you drop it anyhow. If you use the second option of folding the front flap back, which is to fold the front flap inward BEFORE folding it back, the keyboard keys are protected, but at a high price of reduced "holdability". When folded back like that, the right side of the device becomes much thicker, leading to an uneven thickness overall. Add that to the motion of the two halves of the case going in opposite directions (which is caused mostly by the iPad's weight), and you're almost juggling sometimes. It's not a deal-breaker for me, because when I use it, I'm usually in my office... worst-case scenario, I'm in the grocery store or my living room or something. This MIGHT be a deal-breaker for anyone who would be using this "in the field", where they might be trying to handle it without a table, with just one hand, and/or with gloved hands. - I love the Apple Pencil, and now I write with it constantly, but it took some getting used to. When I initially bought this Logitech case, I had no idea that I would want or need any accessories for my Apple Pencil, since I had only had it a few days at that point. However, I quickly determined that the Apple Pencil's cap is pretty easy to lose when you're charging it, and the little charging connector/adaptor that comes with it is easily misplaced as well because of its size. There's nowhere for these items to really "go" for everyday use storage, so I purchased this (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HCGYZHS) to help me keep track of things. Obviously, the piece that goes onto the Apple Pencil to keep the cap nearby when charging, doesn't fit through the Apple Pencil holder sleeve of this Logitech case, AND it makes the Apple Pencil too thick for it to actually be in its normal position within the case and still have the case's magnetic closing auto-off thing happen effectively. The case will fold over and lay (mostly) flat, but it won't consistently trigger the magnetic auto-off function. It's a bit of a pain. It seems like Logitech could come up with clever storage for the Apple Pencil charging adapter thing; maybe just an additional sleeve, identical to the current one, in the same place but a bit lower and much shorter since the Apple Pencil charging adapter is only about an inch long. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do about this issue, but what I'm going to try first is trimming down the thickness of the silicone on two sides of the Apple Pencil cap holder thing, to see if that helps. Note, the Apple Pencil still goes into the case's sleeve (except the part with the silicone thing on it), it's still held in place nicely, and I don't think it's causing any damage to anything, so this is just a minor annoyance. - The next issue I had is that the Apple Pencil, for all its beauty and amazing functionality, is somewhat difficult to grip while writing. I don't consider myself to be "writing furiously", I never broke pencil leads in school, and my ink pens don't leave an indention of my writing 5 pages deep in a notebook, but I kept finding myself getting hand cramps when using the Apple Pencil for long periods of time because I was having to hold it so tightly to try to prevent it from sliding up. I guess my hands get a little sweaty and slippery from time to time while writing? Anyway, the only solution I could come up with is to put a grip on it. I found the thinnest pencil grip I could find, which I took off of a cheap mechanical pencil, and now, between the grip on one end and the silicone cap-holder on the other end, I can't get my Apple Pencil into the case's sleeve at all lol. Since the sleeve seems kinda stretchy, I MIGHT be able to force it, but I definitely don't want to risk messing it up, nor do I really want to struggle with pulling it out of such a tight squeeze and putting it back in there so many times every day. So, right now, my Apple Pencil is just chilling in the case's crevice without being in the sleeve, just laying on top of it. Not ideal. My plan is to experiment with some tape wraps as a grip instead; I'm hoping that if I only use one or two layers of tape, it will be enough to grip, but not enough thickness to prevent use of the case's sleeve. I'm definitely not looking for this issue to be solved by Logitech lol, BUT if the Apple Pencil holder had a slightly different design (maybe if the Pencil snapped into a partially open plastic claw-style grip?) then it might be able to accommodate a fairly wide variety of Apple Pencil accessories. That about wraps up my review for this Logitech Smart Keyboard Case for iPad Pro 9.7" and I really hope that it will be helpful for at least one person who is stuck in the same decision-making process I was stuck in several months ago. Thanks for reading! :)