[Moto 360] Chris_c81:
Today I received a surprise package through the post from the good fellows at SnuG. The surprise was down to the fact that I had not placed an order! But upon opening the familiar SnuG branded brown envelope it became clear. Contained within was a hand written insert which explained all. As a thank you for my review of their product(s) they had sent me a couple of version 2.0(?) bumpers along with three new patterns they're launching soon. Kudos to SnuG as I'm an international customer to them and I'm grateful they appreciate custom from outside the USA, as much as they do within.

So on to the good stuff. I won't cover old ground here, I'll just get straight to the new bumpers. You can apply points about quality and packaging etc. from my original review to this update as there is no change where those are concerned. So the first thing I did when I took out a v2 (I'm going to refer to them as v2 and the previously reviewed products as v1) and a v1 and compared them. On initial inspection, I have to be honest, I was a little underwhelmed as I expected bigger a difference then there actually is, given the points of issue raised by myself and others. However on closer inspection I started to notice little differences, tweaks is probably a better word. SnuG will have to confirm this but from what I could tell:

- v2 seems to have less elasticity then v1

- v2 seems to have a rougher inner surface then v1

I'm not a professional 'tester' so these are by my own rudimentary tests i.e. using the digits evolution provided me to stretch both v1 and v2, and also using same digits to run over the inside edges!

The one change I had expected was for more of a 'lip' on the underside around the circumference of the bumper. Honestly, I struggled to see much difference there. Perhaps in areas it looked to have more of a lip, but if that is by design or by inconsistency in the manufacture process, only SnuG can confirm. Whatever the case though, and no matter how subtle the design improvements are, they seem to have done some good from my first impressions. There definitely is more 'resistance' to accidentally being removed. The bumper most definitely 'clings' to the watch better then v1 does. It's tricky to simulate 'everyday' usage in the time I've spent with the new bumpers, I'll be sure to update this review when I've put some real everyday testing in.

With all that said, I feel there is still room for improvement, but without a doubt this v2 has been a step in the right direction. On the whole, I'm pleased that SnuG are listening and continuing to improve on the design. You can't ask for better then that from a business really.

A few words on the new designs I was sent then. The first is "Glow" (glow in the dark)

I'm usually pretty disappointed with glow in the dark products as they never seem to deliver in the way you imagined. As with all glow in the dark products, they have to be charged by light first. Straight out of the box, as expected, no glow. But a minute under a lamp and it was ready to go. It's not easy to capture this sort of thing in the dark but I can say that I took the photo in as good as 100% darkness. The result:

I was suitably impressed by the brightness. I wore it around the house for about an hour, in and out of lit rooms and the glow did remain to a degree but obviously faded when kept for duration in darker areas. Again, I need to spend some time with it out and about in the daylight and see how it fares. Tip: my 4 year old son had one of those invisible ink pens and UV key fob light. Using the UV light for a few seconds on the bumper supercharged it!

The second design is "Sparkle", and even without an image you can probably guess it's appearance! I'm assuming the silicone mix has glitter added to it for the effect.

It's different, and goes well with my "Planets" watch face, though I'll admit it's not my cup of tea! That said, I've seen this sort of thing in other products last few years so there is obviously some interest.

Lastly, we have "Patriot". For this one I put down my sandwich, threw away my cup of tea and loosened my upper lip!

Actually quite like this design. Aside from bearing the same colours as the American flag, it also kind of reminds me of tie-dye colouring back in the late 80's-early 90's!!

As with all the bumpers, they're well made and they fit well. The only exception was "Patriot" which seemed to not fit as well as the others along the top half of the watch face.

It's great that they're thinking about new designs and I hope to see more appear on their website in the future. I'm not sure what the possibilities are with silicone but the "Patriot" had me thinking of other possibilities with country flag colours. I'd also, if possible, like to see a transparent one.

http://imgur.com/a/KAYxb