
On the best sleeves, the exterior doesn’t feel too rough or scratchy, but it still has enough grip to prevent it from slipping out of your hand.

If a sleeve used a magnetic clasp, the magnet should be strong enough not to open unless you actually pull it open with your hands. If a sleeve has a zipper, it shouldn’t easily get stuck or caught-we gave extra points to sleeves that used the industry-standard YKK zipper.

We wouldn’t toss a Gauntlet-clad laptop into a lake, but some light rain and snow should be no danger to a computer encased in one of these. The inside was only a bit damp, and only near the hinge, and the Gauntlet 3.0 let in less water than any other water-resistant case we tested, aside from the original Gauntlet.
We filled the Gauntlet 3.0 with paper towels and then sprayed it with a kitchen-sink sprayer for 30 seconds to test its water resistance, and we found that only a little water soaked through the hinge. The Gauntlet 3.0’s stiff sides offer about as much protection as you can get in a sleeve, and its water-resistant zipper helps keep liquids out. Why it’s great: The Thule Gauntlet 3.0 has a rigid clamshell design that zips along three of its four edges and can withstand more abuse than a padding-only design.
