A case for everything, and everything in this case

I don’t consider myself a germaphobe. But I also never, ever want to put anything into the seat-back pocket in airplanes. Have you looked in one of those lately? Candy wrappers, pretzel crumbs, wadded-up napkins and tissues, sometimes worse. But when your carry-on is stowed overhead, you still want your entertainment devices within easy reach. On my last flight, the Cocoon Grid-It Wrap earned its wings by keeping my iPad, iPhone, stylus, earbuds, headphone splitter, gum, and ChapStick together, keeping ’em organized, and keeping them from touching anything in that nasty seat-back pocket.

The Wrap’s stretchy neoprene cover closes with Velcro, and its lining is soft. Your iPad, Kindle, or other tablet slides into its own pocket in the back, behind Cocoon’s Grid-It panel. The Grid-It is entirely covered with overlapping elastic straps with little rubber bumps woven into them. Slide your accessories underneath the straps, where the combination of the elastic and the rubber keeps ’em from moving around. And even if you add bulky things like the charging brick, iPad dock, or even a small paperback book, the cover stretches right over them. It’s pretty neat. Pun intended.

The Grid-It Wrap is a definite winner for traveling with your iPad, but it’s not perfect. The neoprene kept off-gassing a funky chemical smell, and for such a stylish design, it’s a shame it only comes in one color -- Cocoon calls it black, but ours is darkish gray with black trim. And at more than a pound, it’s certainly not the lightest iPad case out there, but it’s really functional, and it even works with your Smart Cover in place.

The bottom line. For $30, the Grid-It Wrap is a great deal, whether you’re protecting your gadgets from the ickiness of life on the road or just trying not to lose anything in your daily travels.