If you don’t buy a case for your iPhone, you’re crazy. I like you, but chu’re crazy. iPhones are too damn expensive and too important to your daily routine to be left to the mercy of your clumsiness. Seriously, if you own an iPhone, how often are you on that thing? Between phone calls, texts, web surfing, music, photos, social checks, it’s gotta add up to at least an hour or two of your day. And you want to jeopardize all that by trusting yourself not drop the thing? Don’t do it, bro.

Considering one of those cheap plastic sleeves or snazzy plastic cases? Besides giving you a false sense of security, the cheap plastic protectors make it near impossible for you to fish your phone out of your pocket. Especially if you wear the skinny jeans, which is a different problem altogether.

But back to the phone protection issue. Why invest $10 worth of protection on something that likely cost you hundreds. If you’ve invested in your smartphone, you need to invest in its protection.

Enter the Element Vapor Pro Elite iPhone case. At $179.99, it’s expensive on purpose. It’s not a sleeve that you slip on or a piece of plastic that snaps halfway onto your phone. It’s built like the hull of an airplane. It’s comes with a nickel plated perimeter frame that requires some actual assembly. The Vapor Pro Elite doesn’t just cover your iPhone, it gives it a T-1000 exoskeleton. And a damn sexy one, too. Cause let’s face it, at the end of the day, whatever you purchase to protect your iPhone needs to actually look good.

And this case has style for days. It comes with an easy-to-affix, rich dark leather backing and a posh touch of Ziricote certified wood. It’s all very swanky and modern without going overboard. It even comes with a foam protected zipper case if you need even extra protection.

The package includes those plastic screen covers that are nearly impossible to apply. I don’t think those are terribly essential. There’s also an extra leather add-on for the front ear piece section, but I say you leave that off.

Bottom line, the Element Vapor Pro Elite looks fantastic, feels good in your hand and is easily pocket accessible. It balances the sleek surface area of the aluminum with plenty of grip opportunities on the sides, leather backing and wooden accent.

Best of all though, it works. Less than a week after I got this thing, my fiancée was riding shotgun and checking out directions on my phone. When we arrived at our destination, she opened the door and jumped out of the car, forgetting that my phone was resting on her lap. My phone – shiny new case and all – got some serious air before it crashed down on the curb. Game over, I thought.

I went to pick it up and the only thing I noticed was a slight scratch on the top right corner. Maybe it got less air than I thought. Maybe it was the perfect landing. Or maybe this expensive-on-purpose case did just what it was supposed to do. If you’re spending hundreds on a phone and you want to cover klutziness with style and strength, it’s worth paying for a primo case like this.