If you own a PSP by now you are painfully aware that the screen is super sensitive and scratches every time you sneeze, or you are about to come to the realization that you are going to scratch up the surface of your PSP any day. Either way, the PSP’s screen is made out of fragile stuff. I have done nothing but the kids’ gloves thing with my system, but it still has a stray mark or two. Sony should either improve the screen to make it more scratch resistant or supply these stupid little screen covers (clear plastic overlay type of thing) that I have been hunting high and low (A-Ha reference for those keeping score at home) for the last few weeks.
I am not sure why, but these plastic covers are almost impossible to find. Either demand is extremely high or the accessory companies did not anticipate demand so they only produced the covers in limited quantities. I am going to assume that demand is high because PSP owners left and right are scratching up their pretty little screens. I have looked for the overlays at all the usual suspects (online and retail stores), but everyone has been sold out. I finally found the Pelican Screen Guard at the Panama City, FL Wal-Mart. The store had 75 or more of these things, all retailing for under $9.
What do you get for $9? Not one, but two screen guards! Hooray! I am not sure why two are included, but I suppose two screen protectors are better than one. The screen supposedly guards against surface scratches, and provides glare protection. As I mentioned in my previous post, I could not see squat when playing my PSP on the beach, and the Pelican Screen Guard’s built in glare protection did not help the cause.
I think the Screen Guard plastic is made out of that plastic stuff that sticks to windows (think of oil change windshield stickers or parking stickers that go on the inside of your windshield), and is easily applied to the surface of the screen. You start by pealing away the back cover, carefully line up with the PSP’s screen, and gently apply; pretty straightforward stuff. My Screen Guard went on very easily, and once I pushed a few air bubbles to the side of the screen, I was good to go.
I was going to write, “But wait! There is more!” but that made this entry feel sort of cheap, so I am going to restrain myself from getting too crazy with this write-up. Moving along … a “bonus” system polish cloth (just an eyeglasses cleaning cloth) is also included. So for $9 you get two Screen Guards (in case the first one gets scratched?) a polish cloth, and the entire package is backed by Pelican’s 3-year product warranty. Seems like a good deal to me, and I can only imagine all the scratches that have been prevented by Pelican’s new PSP Screen Guard. My PSP is protected at last!
