I "Grand Theft Auto'd" my iPhone of the Ranger and it SURVIVED! #Pelican

GTGallop

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First Name
Greg
Joined
Mar 1, 2020
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Location
Anthem, AZ
Website
www.qrz.com
Vehicle(s)
2019 Ranger XLT 4X4 SOLD - Now 2023 TRD Offroad
Occupation
Program Manager
This weekend I met a guy to sell him some equipment. If you are familiar we met at the Talking Stick Resort in North Scottsdale, Arizona. And yes it is all barricaded closed.

Sometime during the transaction I nonchalantly deposited my iPhone Xr clad in a Pelican Protector Series case on top of my roof. ...........and forgot about it!

Transaction complete, we wave at each other and I take off. The phone stayed glued to the roof through the surface streets and parking lots in and around the Talking Stick Resort. I wasn't driving dainty, but I wasn't givin' 'er the business either. Just normal stop and go - pulling in and out traffic.

I catch an opening to get into the freeway (101 N) because there is no one out. Everyone is tucked away due to COVID-19. With a nice long straightaway ahead of me, and some inside knowledge that the police are only enforcing heinous speeding violations, I squeeze that skinny pedal like a hot girl at the prom. Typical Ranger, it hesitates for a second, turbo spools up, boost happens and BAM we are off! I'm flying up the entrance ramp to the free way at about 75MPH with every intention of waving at 85 on the way by.

We hit that little pavement transition where the feeder road on-ramp officially becomes freeway tarmack and there is a little bump. Not much but enough to let air get under the iPhone and un-suck it from the roof of the truck. It flops over on the roof of the cab with a loud BANG as the "Check pocket for iPhone Light" goes off in my brain. I look up in the mirror just in time to see the second flop dislodge the phone from the roof and send it back into the upper edge of the tailgate. POP!

Just like a foul ball the phone goes spinning off to the right and I lost sight of it in the asphalt. Hazards of black phones with black cases on black freeways.

We doubled back and found the phone - more out of morbid curiosity than any belief that there would be more than just a punchline to a funny anecdote on the road. To be honest, I expected tire tracks all over it.

Much to my surprise, my phone is there, naked in the freeway. In the melee my Pelican Protector Series iPhone case was missing. Somewhat disappointed I was only getting half of the punch line, I picked up the phone and to my amazement the screen was fine (Zagg Shield protected). I throw the phone in the truck and notice the dashboard indicates it is connected. I have the Ranger send a test text message to my daugher and it works. I made a test call and it works! I've monitored it now for a week and the battery seems to be holding fine.

Yeah there are some minor nicks and scratches on the corners of the phone body an the exposed aluminum shows well through the onyx black finish on the phone. Really cool battle scars from the time my phone was ejected from my truck roof at freeway speeds and survived SEVERAL intense impacts.

I never found the case and I understand if I do Pelican will replace it free under warranty. I don't care. Not going out in a freeway looking for it. I'll GLADLY give them another $39.

When I first bought the Pelican Case I thought it was over the top tacti-cool and totally unnessary over kill. Now I'm firmly in the camp of "if it's worth killin, it's worth OVER KILLIN."

Thanks for sticking with the story. I hope you never lose your phone like I did but if you do I hope you recover it JUST LIKE I DID!
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