****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I read a lot of reviews for this product. I was a bit concerned, but I decided to take a chance because I like the design. Dexas has a good reputation overall, so I figured it was worth it. Seems that most plastic clipboards are not regarded well, in my search for one, and all of them have the same complaints about fit and function.Most work clip boards are aluminum. They hold up pretty well, tend to have sharper corners, and have worked just fine for a long time. They only come in certain styles, though, and I wanted something that opened on the side and had two compartments and room for a pen. I did not want a flexing hinge, I find they fail pretty fast.So this has a hinges, a couple elastic straps to hold things down, and a pair of separate hinged latches on the sides. I would not call this heavy duty or industrial. If you need that, plastic is probably not your solution. I just needed something to write on and hold all my papers for work. All the heavy stuff happens outside, this is for inside, and just to organize paperwork.The front panel has a decent latch to hold paper on. I haven't had any problems yet, but it's still pretty new, and I only use a few pieces of paper there. Should be plenty sufficient. The surface does flex if you push on it with your finger. It's plastic and doesn't have reinforcement behind it, so it's going to flex, whether it's thick or thin. There is a little reinforcement in the corners, which I appreciate, since I would imagine that would be the breaking point.Since there isn't a bunch of criss-crossing supports behind the main panel, that does leave a good amount of room behind it. Probably enough for some paperback novels. It held all my work documents easily, probably close to 60 standard pages with stapes, with room to spare. Latch wasn't hard to use, held it together pretty good, didn't unlatch randomly. Some of these are too tight and hard to open, not the case with this one. Curious to see how long it lasts. The elastic band is on the inside of this compartment opposite the main panel. Another latch is on the second panel, giving you two total spaces to store things. It's the same as the front latch.The last storage area is the same except that there is clip/latch to hold paper, so it's mainly a storage area, though it does have the elastic band there as well. The side latch is oriented in the opposite direction as the first latch, which works nicely.Overall, I'd say this is a pretty good storage clip board. Seems to be designed well, fitment was pretty good. I did not have the warping and misalignment issues others have noted. I wouldn't trust this for any heavy duty work, but for someone that is just walking around handling paperwork, it should be fine. I have plenty of uses for something in this format, so I'll enjoy it while it lasts.
