I’ve Hard Graft cases for my 13" Macbook Pro, iPhone and iPod. I love them. I love holding them. I love the reaction I get from people who see them for the first time. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve popped into an Apple Store to use wifi and had Apple employees come over to look at my Hard Graft (“Why don’t we sell these?”). The quality of everything they do, from the wrapping paper, the adorable personal notes they hide in pockets and the products themselves are everything I want and value. Raving fan? Unashamedly.

When I came back from Seattle, I bought Apple’s own, horrible, case to keep my iPad safe. This week, the €59.00 Hard Graft Heritage iPad Case I had ordered arrived. Joy.

Like everything I’ve bought from Hard Graft, this iPad case just feels right. It’s made of tough, soft felt. It has two elasticated bands, one to keep your iPad tucked away inside, the other to clutch the case tightly. Both feel safe and secure. The case has a leather pocket to hold your phone, earbuds or whatever else you need to keep close at hand. I would love that this pocket had a flap and closure to keep my things safe inside, but that’s a want, not a need. This case is nearly perfect. Nearly.

Last week I went on a business day trip carrying only my iPhone and iPad. I loaded up the iPad with music, plugged in my headphones and listened to country tunes all day without ever taking the iPad out of its Apple (did I mention it’s horrible?) case. But I can’t do that with my Hard Graft Heritage iPad Case. It won’t let me carry my iPad around with headphones plugged in and use it like a big iPod. This makes me sad.

My iPad has to partly stick out of the case if I want to plug in headphones. (below)

This isn’t ideal for either safety or security and for keeping curious eyes away from my iPad.

Hard Graft could fix this in a number of ways, either by cutting a corner off the case’s open-end or better still by making the felt loop hole on the folded/closed-end big enough to see the headphone jack (below). All this would mean is moving the stitching on the seam up the case by about a centimetre to make the hole longer. I could try to take care of this myself by taking a craft knife to a corner or opening a hole in the seam.

This case is so close to perfect, this tiny flaw makes me sad. Hard Graft, if you’re watching, please take a look at this so that others don’t have the same frustration.