[Google Pixel 2 XL Accessories] johnlgalt:
I went with Seidio this time around on my Pixel 2 XL (Just black). I originally bought https://www.seidioonline.com/product/google-pixel-2-xl-optik/ and used a Seidio promotion they had running at the time to get https://www.seidioonline.com/product/seidio-magnetic-car-vent-mount/ for free.

I like the clear case, it slips on easily enough, and provides a good amount of coverage and protection. Since my N6 3 years ago I had been keeping my phones in my front pants pocket, and this case does not do a lot of cloth grabbing, contrary to what you would expect given the feel of the case.

However, the reason I settled for the optik was that, at the time, the case I wanted, https://www.seidioonline.com/product/google-pixel-2-xl-surface/ was out of stock (black).

Last week I revisited Seidio and saw that they not only had the surface back in stock, but the previous promotion of getting https://www.seidioonline.com/product/google-pixel-2-xl-surface-holster/ for $10 was still applicable, so I ordered that set.

I received them last Friday, and proceeded to snap pictures of everything and test it out.

Protection:

It feels great. The phone gets a little hefty with the case on, but you're well protected around the edges and the back. The case is broken down at https://www.seidioonline.com/product/google-pixel-2-xl-surface/#features with feature listings. The TPU goes on easily, and then you slide the top part of the shell on, slide the bottom part up and it snaps close together (it may take a little bit of force to get both pieces shunt together).

The metal kickstand is actually a hinged 2-piece all metal kickstand, which I am very appreciative of.

The bad news is that, once on, it is VERY hard to get off phone. The hard shell fits very, very snugly on the TPU that with the phone inside, it is nearly impossible to slide off. For folks who never remove the case, not a problem, but for folks like me, who swap cases for aesthetics, or who periodically remove the case to clean their device, this is going to be a BIG problem. It took me fighting with the phone for almost 10 minutes before I could get the top hard shell piece off the phone. When I tested it with one of the magnetic plates inside (see below), it bumped the time to almost 15 minutes!

I have put the phone back in the optik case as I ponder how to make the surfacec case easier to remove. I'm considering some sort of light lubricant on the inner edges of the hard shell and outer edges of the TPU. Not sure if this would be a good idea or not (a very light coating, not so it is dripping out of the case, mind you). What do you guys think?

RE: Magnetic mount:

I have not mounted the magnetic plates yet, only tested by placing the plates in the cases behind the phone to see if the magnet is strong enough to support the phone in the case - and, yes, it will easily support the phone. The magnetic mount actually comes with 2 plates to put in the case, a small round one about the same size as the magnet, and a larger rounded rectangular one. To test, I slipped each piece into each case with the phone in the case (but didn't remove the 3M double-sided tape backing) to see if the magnet would support the phone without any issues - no problems whatsoever, even with the phone in the surface case, both plates allowed the magnet to firmly attract the plates, making the phone very stable, even with violent shaking to try to dislodge the phone.

The larger plate can be used with the surface case, just barely fitting inside the top half of the hard shell (between the fingerprint reader cutout and where I consider to be a safe threshold of the joint). The smaller round one is easily placed in the top hard shell, with better clearance for both joint threshold as well as fingerprint reader cutout. The raised metal kickstand is in the way for positioning the plates in the lower piece of the hard shell, making the bottom piece unsuitable for mounting either magnetic plate.

Either plate can be used in the optik case as well, it all depends upon which one you want - for me, the aesthetics of the smaller, round piece is better, but I'm probably going to be forced to using hte larger piece in the optik case because of spatial constraints in the other case.

That's all I can think of - again, though, what do you guys think about a thin coating of some sort of lube inside the hard shell to make removal easier? And if any of you think it is OK / a good idea, what lube would you suggest?