The Alocsak spent 45 days as the constant guardian of my new iPod Touch while in Afghanistan. It was in my pocket all the time. It went everywhere in my cargo pocket– even on 3-day patrols. Out in the field one night, a 3 hour sand storm left all our equipment covered by a thick layer of sand and dust. But, not a bit of it touched my iPod. Keep in mind we were sleeping out in the open (under only mosquito nets) and I fell asleep reading a book (using the Stanza book App) through the clear Alocsak.

I used another Alocsak to keep my cables, memory cards and adapters clean and dry (as shown above). The seal has held up through hundreds of open/close cycles so far and shows no sign of wearing out. The bag itself is no longer crystal clear, but it’s clear enough that I can see and use my iPod through it. In fact, all of the functions of the iPod Touch, including the touch screen, work flawlessly through the bag. Typing and playing games was not an issue. Listening to music or watching movies with earbuds plugged in to the iPod, I found the extra length of the bag was helpful. With earbuds plugged in, I folded the extra material at the top of the bag a couple times with the cord passing through it to form a labyrinth gasket that helped keep dust out.

The 4.5” x 7” bag fit the iPod with room to spare, though I might try to squeeze the iPod or iPhone into the smaller, horizontal opening 5” x 4” model if you don’t want to use earbuds. For the price and size, these are the best environmental protection you can get for a delicate electronic device. A small Pelican or Otter box would offer the same dust/moisture protection and even add impact protection, but it’d be much larger and much more expensive. You can afford to keep scores of extra Alocsaks in the space you’d need for a single hard box.

With my iPod Touch in the Alocsak, I was able to stay productive (and entertained) in some of the harshest terrain on the planet without a worry of damage. I even wrote this review on my iPod in the Alocsak during a break in the field. Get more info on the Alocksak at their website.