The truth about belt clips. . .

Thanks for taking a minute to read this. If consumers, and especially portable device manufacturers took the time to review these issues, we think several good things would result:

1. Our lives at THECLIP.COM would be easier.
2. Millions of portable devices would not be lost or damaged each year.
3. Millions of end users around-the-world would could avoid significant financial losses and personal aggravation resulting from the loss of PDA's, MP3 Players, GPS receivers, etc.

Why? We believe it all comes down to one of three things. These things include saving a few cents, negligence or simple indifference. Below are a few of the most popular beliefs we hear, followed by our thoughts.

Regarding cost:

"Better belt clips cost too much!"
Many case manufacturers believe that a sturdy belt clip is not important enough to warrant spending a few cents more to protect your valuable electronics. Today, the best product and case manufacturers recognize that putting out a product, or a case, with a cumbersome or easily broken belt clip results in increased aftersale returns and damage issues. It short, we believe it costs more to use a cheap, easily broken belt clip. Fortunately, there are many manufacturers who are concerned enough to care, and include high-strength belt clips on their cases. A great case is nice, unless it's lost, or it falls and breaks your electronics. Because of a cheap, easily broken belt clip. If case manufacturers would pay a small amount more, instead of focusing on the lowest bidder, this issue would go away.  Either way the retail markup on most cases would more than cover the cost of a better belt clip.

Negligence:

"People want a free clip with their 'free' phone."
We blame cellular carriers for this attitude. As long as cell phones are 'free' or sold below cost, this issue will be with us. Carriers want you to sign up for a one, or two year contract so they can bill you monthly. In order to do this, they subsidize the cost of the phone to make it cheaper for you, up front. Cellular users end up paying for the phone anyway in the long run, by staying with the carrier for the full term of the contract. Have you noticed overall airtime rates have not dropped much lately? Many of the newest cell phones include features like built-in cameras, music players, color screens, games and more. When a consumer is given a cell phone, that incorporates all this functionality, for 'free', most cannot understand why they should have to PAY anything for a belt clip. The result is that cellular dealers, or agents, often end up giving away a belt clip to make a deal with you. The dealer would rather give away a cheap clip, not a stronger, but slightly more expensive belt clip.

Ask anyone with a new PDA, loaded with SD cards, GPS modules, credit and contact information for hundreds of clients what their PDA is actually worth and you'll likely hear that the "value" is between $500 and $1,200 to them. Now, would you pay a bit more to help protect a $500 investment? We thought so. A better belt clip can help prevent a significant loss, it's just that simple.

Indifference:

"It doesn't matter to me which clip I/we use."
Some people do not think it is important to buy a better belt clip. Others cannot fathom that a difference in belt clip strength is noticeable. Often, these people find out it was very important, but not until after their device is lost and they have to pay full retail price to replace it. The bottom line? A strong belt clip does matter! What good is a cool PDA case if the belt clip breaks and your PDA, along with the case is lost or damaged?

Since we started this business in 1996, we have tried to make better products than the cheapo stuff we still see sold in retail stores and included in packaging with other items. Having said that,

Things you should know. . .

• Nothing is unbreakable.
  

• The Clip Company takes belt clips very seriously. We spend a great deal of time and money trying to improve our products. The results are seen in our current product lineup. Input from thousands of users over the past 11 years has helped us a great deal. We also use these products ourselves everyday, which gives us additional motivation to improve them.

• The CLIP Company uses our products and we have managed to destroy our own products with enough effort.

• When you attach a plastic device to the waist of a person weighing 100—300+ pounds and then snag it on a car door, desk drawer, seatbelt, armrest, etc., something must give. We hope we won't break your belt or anything else.

IMPORTANT: We do not make a loss prevention device. If your device is very important to you, make back-ups, get insurance and order the Ultra Clip™.

Pick the right clip for the job — 

Choosing the right clip can sometimes be confusing. Here are some tips to help you decide.

• As devices get smaller, lighter or more narrow, you can use a smaller clip. If you use an expensive device, no matter how small it is, use a stronger belt clip.
  

• Our products come in different strengths. For reasons listed above, we cannot make every product super strong.
  

• The Ultra Clip™ is 2.5" (6.3 cm) long and 1" (2.57 cm) wide will withstand tremendous pressure and pulling forces in any direction. This clip is engineered for security and to help prevent popouts. This is our strongest swivel belt clip. See our test results (HTML) (Excel Spreadsheet)
  

• The 764 Clip™ is 2.5" (6.3 cm) long and 1" (2.57 cm) wide will withstand tremendous pressure and pulling forces in any direction. This clip is engineered for security and high-strength. This is as strong as our Ultra Clip. See our test results (HTML) (Excel Spreadsheet)

• The standard Swivel Clip™ is about 1" (2.57 cm) wide and 2" long (5.5 cm), yet is still small enough to be hidden. A significant amount of upward force will allow the Swivel Clip™ to pop out, or pop up, before something worse happens. 

• The Swivel Mount™ is very handy. They can make the device more visible so you can (hopefully) keep your eyes on the road. We've also seen the Swivel Mount™ used on computer monitors, desks and laptops to keep the phone accessible as well as improving signal strength.
  

• The Vent Mount is perfect for travelers or anyone with a GPS unit. The Vent Mount will work with any belt clip, leather case, sunglasses, etc.
  

• The Travel Mount is ideal for travelers using rental cars since it merely clips onto the slats of a car or truck air vent. The Travel Mount works with either vertical or horizontal slats. It is very easy to install or remove. The Travel Mount can also be clipped onto a neck strap for added convenience.

• Our Original Clip™ has a relatively large adhesive surface and will support over 10 lbs of weight. The fact that it doesn't swivel makes it ideal for remote controls, radios and other items that need to stay put.

• The Mount was designed to work with the Original Clip™ as a hang-up solution. These versatile mounts have been used to hold sunglasses, provide a strap tie-down point, and of course to hold a leather case with a traditional non-swivel belt clip.

• Buy spare tabs! They can be used for PDA's, cameras, tools, remote controls, almost anything. We sell many types of tabs for our products. Great for use on tools, scanners, radios, portable CD players, MP3 players, tape measures or any handheld device.
  

Durability — 

We want the strongest clips we can build for a reasonable price. This natural set of conflicting standards has led us to believe the following:

• We believe in attaching most tabs with adhesive. Why? Because we use 3M Brand VHB™ (Very High Bonding) double-sided, foam based adhesive tape which works extremely well when applied correctly. This adhesive was designed to work with all smooth plastics and alloys. It holds like crazy, yet it's completely removable with a little effort. This adhesive will not fail suddenly on a clean surface. 

Points of failure — 

• We try and avoid permanent attachments because we want our products to fail before yours do. Gluing or screwing a tab into a phone, camera or PDA could destroy the item with enough strain. None of our products involve glue. We would rather have our removable adhesive tape fail, than to rip the back off your device when push-comes-to-shove. Again, our adhesive is completely removable, pry it up slowly to remove it. Never attempt to "snap off" our adhesive quickly as damage will likely occur. 

How do we attach tabs on our phones and PDA's? Like this. . .

1. Clean the surface of the phone and the tab with rubbing alcohol and wipe it dry. Finger oil will definitely prevent proper adhesion. Don't assume it's clean if you don't see dirt.

2. Peel off one side of the adhesive paper on the pad. Both sides are exactly the same.
3. Stick the pad on the tab and press firmly. If you use the round tabs, you can now bend the tab wings slightly to conform to the shape of your phone. The tabs can also be cut off entirely.
4. Peel off the remaining paper cover on the adhesive pad. Don't touch it against anything at this point but the object it's supposed to go on. Adhesive that has been applied once loses 30% of it's adhesive strength once it's removed.
5. Carefully line up the tab on your phone, PDA, etc. and press firmly all around the edges with your fingertips.

6. Lay a big thick phone book over your phone, PDA, etc., and let it sit for 8-12 hours. (24 hours is better)  WHY? A compressed adhesive pad has less "flexibility" than an uncompressed pad.
   
   

Custom case applications, large orders, packaging and special tabs — 

Our products are used by numerous wireless manufacturers, police departments, the military, hospitals, construction workers and many other industries around the world. If you have special manufacturing or packaging needs or large orders, Contact us for details.

We make specialty belt clips and case tabs for many specialized applications and manufacturers worldwide. Most are not shown here, but we'll gladly provide specs and discuss your OEM needs. One of our tabs, the case tab, has a large (1.5" X 1") wide base with tapered edges and a longer shaft for fabric clearance. This allows sewing it between two pieces of fabric or leather for case applications. (Bulk orders only please.) Contact us for details.

Need a product with no blister packaging? We can do it, just let us know.

Want your logo on our products? Can do. Minimum quantities for a reasonable cost is about 10,000 pieces. Contact us for details.

Would you like custom printed blister packaging? We do it. Again, minimum quantities for a reasonable cost is about 10,000 pieces. Contact us for details.