Jacspire Red Dragon Nintendo 3DS Skin Review

Filed under: Gaming,Nintendo 3DS Accessories,Reviews |

So you’ve got your nice and shiny new Nintendo 3DS and you’d like to keep it that way right? You could get a 3DS case, but they can be bulky, at least some can from what I’ve seen. The other option would be to get a skin for it which adds virtually no bulk and still protects your investment. Why settle for a plain clear skin though when you can get something fancy with a design that matches your personality? It will protect your 3DS and add a bit of style to it as well. Today for review our friends at Gaming Zap have sent me over a skin for my Nintendo 3DS which is from a company called Jacspire. I’ve never heard of them, but figured I’d like to check it out anyway. There a a few styles available on Gaming Zap for this skin but I chose the Red Dragon themed one. It’s more of a techno, futuristic thing though than what you might think it would be when you think of a dragon. Anyway, read on to check it out..

 

Info:

Product Name: Jacspire Nintendo 3DS Skin – Red Dragon

Author: Kristofer Brozio

Provider: Gaming Zap

Price: £14.95 / $23.61

– Stunning designs from artists around the world let you customize your 3DS
– Revolutionary 3M technology ensures easy, air bubble free application
– Premium materials used prevents scratches on your 3DS

The Jacspire range of Nintendo 3DS Skins offer stunning artwork and designs from around the world, letting you customize your Nintendo 3DS console quickly and easily whilst adding protection against scratches. Made using premium 3M materials and a patented 3M adhesive technology, the special Jacspire 3DS skins are extremely easy to apply and leaves no residue on your 3DS console when removed.

Using a unique design, the Jacspire skins ensure that they remain bubble-free for each application. Specifically designed for the Nintendo 3DS, they cover all of the major panels to give all-round scratch protection as well as a perfect fit. With an ultra-slim form and eye catching design, the Jacspire skins are perfect for customizing your 3DS as well as providing scratch protection on the move.

**Quick little reminder, Gaming Zap is also carrying the Nyko Kinect Zoom now. They just wanted me to let everyone know…

 

The Review::

The skin comes in a very small package, I was expecting bigger, but then again it is for a small device.

skin1 skin2

When you open it up you’ll find two sheets with the skins on them. One has the top and bottom skins, while the other has the inside skins.

skin3

 

Here’s a closer look at them for you. As you can see it’s not exactly what I would call a dragon, but I guys it’s someone’s version of one anyway. I like it, it’s different. The second page of skins there has the covers for around the top screen and around the control on the bottom.

 

skin4 skin6 skin5

The skins are made of 3M Controltac which is and excellent choice for this type of thing. Most skins I’ve come across are made from it because it’s durable and comes off easily without any residue.

skin7

 

Well here’s my 3DS with the skins before putting them on:

skin8

 

The first thing I did was put the skins on the top and bottom of my 3DS and I found it was fairly easy to do. I did find that the skins aren’t exactly cut perfectly for an exact fit, but unless you look very close you really can’t tell here.

skin9 skin10

 

Next I applied them on the inside which required a lot more patience with all the holes for the speakers, camera, controls and buttons. From a distance it doesn’t look too bad.

skin11 skin12

 

When you look closer though you’ll really notice that the skins aren’t cut correctly. I tried moving them around, reapplying them to get them to fit correctly but they just aren’t cut quite right for the 3DS it seems. The buttons and controls aren’t exactly centered within the skins. It’s not too big of a deal though, you really can’t notice that much unless you’re looking for it.

skin13 skin14 skin15 skin16

 

Where you really notice the bad cutting is the speaker holes. I actually had to take my xacto knife and re-cut the holes for the speakers. I did this as carefully as I could, but it still doesn’t look that great sadly. Essentially the holes in the skin ended up above the actual speaker holes, and in some cases actually covering the holes completely.

skin17

 

The little 3D indicator also has a cut-out square so you can see it, you can see it’s off center and you can see the speaker holes again in the following picture and how they’re off-center.

skin18

 

Conclusion:

I’m hoping the bad cutting job is not a common thing for the Jacspire brand of skins that Gaming Zap carries as that wouldn’t be a very good thing at all.

The skin itself is made from quality materials and it looks good. I like the fact that it covers most all of the 3DS and how it carried the theme all the way through the parts. The skin is simple to apply,  it can be removed easily and re-positioned if you make a mistake and it won’t leave any sticky residue behind if you decide to remove it altogether.

For now I’ll leave the skin on, it’s not bad, but I don’t care for the ugly speaker holes I have now. I can live with it being slightly off-center on other parts, but those holes now just look ugly. So I’ll leave it on for now, at least until I get another skin for review! Of course I could just take the top section off, I don’t think it would look that bad without it.

Over the years I’ve reviewed several skins from MusicSkins actually and I know they use the same 3M Controltac material for their skins. Regarding price I checked their site and found they sell Nintendo 3DS skins for $20.00 plus shipping but their skins don’t cover the bottom control buttons (Select, Home, Start) like this Jacspire does. Gaming Zap is selling their 3DS skins for $23 and change plus shipping so I guess it evens out in the end.

Overall I do like it though, and all things considered I’d give it a generous 8 out of 10 score.

 

8-10-award

 

PROS CONS
+Uses 3M Controltac
+Looks good
+Will protect your 3DS
+Covers pretty much everything
+Removable with no residue
+Fairly easy to apply
-Not exactly cut perfectly to fit the 3DS

Scores::

8 out of 10

Overall: score-8-10
Aesthetic: score-9-10
Value / Price: score-9-10
Build Quality: score-7-10
Usability: score-9-10

Disclosure:This product was given to Review the Tech for review by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the review, we do not, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products. This product may have also been bought by us for review purposes and does not influence the review.