My wife picked up the BookArmor High Impact Travel Case for me for my birthday. I'm flying to Atlanta next week and I was looking for something more durable than the neoprene case I'm currently using.

It was $38 from Amazon.

The first thing I noticed was it weighs a ton. Well, 1 pound to be exact. It's basically constructed of two metal plates, a heavy duty zipper and some durable canvas to tie it all together. It reminds me of the cases a lot of people carry their Bible to church in every Sunday, only heavy.

It comes with an alcohol pad and two "Snap-lock" strips that you stick to the back of the nook (or Kindle.) The warning on the instructions states "do not allow regular velcro to come in contact with the snap-lock strips. Regular velcro is impossible to remove from the snap-lock strips." Considering how strong the snap-lock strips tried to grab my bed's comforter, I'm not surprised.

Due to the curve in the back of the nook, I found it difficult to initially snap it down onto the cover after the strips were applied. I really felt to get the leverage I needed I should push in the middle of the screen, which obviously is not an option. Once it starts to snap in though, it's easy to complete.

I also found that it's pretty easy to snap it back out of the cover - my expansion memory card died last night and I had to take the back off to replace it. Getting it out of the case was a lot easier than I thought, despite how well the snap-lock strips hold it in place.

The front cover easily flips all the way around to fold back on itself, making it easy to hold and read while still in the case.

I'm not sure most people would want this case for every day use simply because of the weight. The case also extends out about 3/4 of an inch on all sides around the nook, so it's considerably larger when in the case. Most of that edge though is the flexible canvas that makes up the zip edge, but the metal plates do extend out beyond the edges of the nook, protecting from even a corner drop.

All in all, if you travel much I think this is the ideal case. I have no doubt you'd be hard pressed to damage your nook with it closed up in one of these. It would still be susceptible to squeeze damage (like stepping on it) because the edges are canvas, but you would certainly be protected from even the worst drop or impact.

Initially I was concerned that the case squeezed too tightly on the nook, but after just a day it stretched out enough that it's a snug fit without keeping any pressure on the nook.

The snap-lock strips are permanently attached to the back of the nook, so if you ever decided you didn't want to use the case any more, you might want to get a new back cover for your nook, or one day you might permanently attach your nook to the velcro on your winter jacket. They are easy to swap out, so it's not a problem.

And yes, that's a rooted nook with many cool extra applications installed. :-)

KTrek over on NookBoards.com asked about the inside cover. Here's a picture of the inside cover which you can see is foam clad. The back is more of a semi-soft molded plastic. The edges of the case around the zipper are pretty sturdy. With these things in mind, it might be possible you'd be happy with not attaching the nook down with the snap-lock strips and just zip it up in the case for travel.