Pad & Quill Contega, Octavo, Octavo Luxury, and Graduate Edition Cases for Third-Generation iPad

I've raved about Pad & Quill's KIDS IPAD AIR CASE before, but this time I think they've outdone themselves. With each iteration of their products comes refinement, and the products just keep getting better.

First, let's talk about the Octavo Luxury Case ($119.99). Rather than the bonded leather used in Pad & Quill's other cases, the Luxury Case features real soft-stitched leather in either black or mahogany brown. Like the other cases, the KIDS IPAD AIR CASE is held into the case securely in a beautifully-machined lacquered Baltic birch frame. There are a variety of interior bookbinding cloth colors to choose from.

Pad & Quill used to use those little sticky-backed pads in the corners a lá DODOcase, but now they use small rubber inserts that are more permanent, durable and attractive. They call this the Sure-Lock System; this makes sense, since the last name of the owners of Pad & Quill is Holmes (Get it? Sure-Lock Holmes? Wa-hahahaha!)

Other features of the Octavo Luxury Case include an elastic band to hold the cover closed in transit, magnets in the cover to turn your iPad on and off, and a folder in the inside cover for important papers. If you like the combination of laminated wood, real leather, and traditional bookbinding techniques, you're going to love the Octavo Luxury Case.

Next, the Octavo comes in a less-expensive ($69.99) version using bonded leather on the outside, but with the same Sure-Lock bumper system and magnetic on/off system. For wood and leather folio cases, the Octavo is probably the best bargain on the market.

For our next case from Pad & Quill, we'll go to something that is a bit more like the DODOcase -- the Graduate Edition Case for iPad ($59.99). Rather than using leather, the exterior of the Graduate Edition is beautifully finished in traditional book bindery cloth. The one I received for this review was covered in a delicious forest green cloth with a "espresso" interior; there are also for deep blue and burgundy exteriors. I'd like to point out to anyone considering a DODOcase that they'll be missing out on the new Sure-Lock bumper system and will have to pay an extra five bucks just to get a camera hole that the Pad & Quill cases already have.