[EVO 4G Accessories] JTNiggle:
So, I'd been looking for a decent hard case for a while, and just never found a deal on one that I liked enough to buy. Trolling around on eBay, I found this little guy, Monaco Case

It looked like too good a deal to be of real quality. But, I checked the item location, and s#!t, the guy's in my town, 10 min from home. So, I drove down to his store to check 'em out...

At the time, I wasn't able to find many up to date reviews for this case, so I'm hoping that this post will help at least one or two people make a decision on whether to purchase or not.

...turns out that they are actually pretty nice. The build quality is very good, the hinge feels solid and operates smoothly, the latch clasps easily and securely. It's not likely to be popping open at inopportune moments. I have since tested this, as the phone recently took a hard 5' fall onto a concrete warehouse floor, bounced a couple times, and came to rest, still closed, phone undamaged and case unscratched. The case is lined with a thin layer of neoprene, the phone fits in snuggly and will not be scratched by the aluminum shell. Overall I was pleasantly surprised by it, I ended up buying one for me and one for my buddy's Evo. Sorry about this grainy pic, taken with my girl's Hero. The others will be better, I promise.

The small shinny spots on the bottom of the case here are just reflections from the sunlight directly over head, not scratches, the cases finish quality is very good.

Access to the power and volume buttons is a little more difficult, but not a major problem. The kick stand still functions as intended, I use it plenty, and I feel that the camera is now well protected.

The case also comes with a little belt clip thingy that screws into the back of the case, cool idea... but, it was too cheesy for everyday use. I tossed it in the garbage when I got home. So, I set out to fab up a car mount to utilize the threaded bung on the back of the case. This is what I came up with. It's made from pieces of a cheesy adjustable car mount that I got at Radio Shack for $8 on clearance. I cut out the pieces I wanted, shaped, sanded and drilled until I was happy, then bolted it on.

Yeah, it adds a bit of bulk to an already bulky case, but that's not really an issue for me. I really need the protection this kind of case offers as I'm quite prone to damaging/destroying high end electronics. Thank god I have BB black tie protection as well, it's been well exploited ;). Also, there aren't really any off the shelf car mounts that will work with a hard case like this, so I had to come up with something.

I think it came out pretty nice, and it looks damn good in my truck. Using navigation is now worlds easier, plus I'm far less likely to run down a group of small children crossing the street whilst fumbling around, looking for my misplaced Evo.

The dash side of the mount is fairly adjustable via the ball & socket joint, it feels solid overall, and the phone slides on/off the mount easily without being sloppy. It's attached to the dash with a nice piece of double sided 3M tape that actually came with the original crappy car mount. It's quite strong and I don't feel like it will be failing anytime soon. And... a bonus for me, I ran the audio and charger cords straight into the dash, where they are hard wired into the truck, no more dangly cords for me. :D

Overall I'm really happy with how everything worked out. Even without the car mount, I feel like the aluminum case is a pretty good deal. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a solid protective case at a great price. I'm not sure exactly why these cases are so cheaply priced, but I think that they are well worth it.

I should mention that I'm in no way affiliated with the seller of these cases, and I have nothing to gain from the guy selling millions of them, although I'm sure he would love you for it. They are manufactured in China, which I'm sure has a lot to do with the price point. They're the exact same as the cases also being sold under the PDAir brand name. They can also be had in a shinny aluminum finish, for all the bling that some may require.