Reviews - Fractal Design Define XL R2

[Mr_Jon]

i'm qualified to throw my spanner in here, having just received a new r2 xl today.

the packaging is excellent. two big foamy supports at each end that wedge the case perfectly into a tough box. the box has had what appears to be a little mishap in transit, with an L-shaped cut on one side (like the type of rip that always happens when i snag my kecks on barbed wire). however, even if the three stooges delivered this, they'd have a hard time breaking it. the only way i could see this becoming damaged in transit is if someone booted it from the side (with enough force to split the tough box and travel far enough to hit the case, which is a few inches back), where there is no foam protection, or if it was dropped from a decent height...and it'd take a strong bugger indeed to lift it high enough for that to happen. it's pretty heavy and awkward to lift, and i managed to smack my elbow on the wall when carrying it up to the command centre, which is a testament to its said awkwardness.

the only area of concern i can see is on the front door of the case. it arrives with a film sheath to protect it. good idea, as that bit is shiny plastic, and it would rub up against the packing foam and become soiled without it. however, there are a couple of minor (but potentially nasty) scratches in this film. luckily it's only the film, and not the door. there's no way i can see how that could be associated with the courier...it's just not possible to do without penetrating the box and the packing foam, which is intact in that area. so these little scratches must have occurred pre-courier. whether they're from the manufacturer or re-seller, i don't know, but the mind boggles how someone would be so uncareful with such a fine looking piece of engineering.

[acemodder]

Well I know who I trust out of Fractal Design and OcUK, especially as Scan and basically everyone else have never had any problems.

Maybe they aint, maybe they have. How would you know. It's not like scan have a big dedicated forum with thousands of members to actually post this and say. The scan forum is new, and the percentage of customers signed up to it is tiny.

i'm qualified to throw my spanner in here, having just received a new r2 xl today.

the packaging is excellent. two big foamy supports at each end that wedge the case perfectly into a tough box. the box has had what appears to be a little mishap in transit, with an L-shaped cut on one side (like the type of rip that always happens when i snag my kecks on barbed wire). however, even if the three stooges delivered this, they'd have a hard time breaking it. the only way i could see this becoming damaged in transit is if someone booted it from the side (with enough force to split the tough box and travel far enough to hit the case, which is a few inches back), where there is no foam protection, or if it was dropped from a decent height...and it'd take a strong bugger indeed to lift it high enough for that to happen. it's pretty heavy and awkward to lift, and i managed to smack my elbow on the wall when carrying it up to the command centre, which is a testament to its said awkwardness.

the only area of concern i can see is on the front door of the case. it arrives with a film sheath to protect it. good idea, as that bit is shiny plastic, and it would rub up against the packing foam and become soiled without it. however, there are a couple of minor (but potentially nasty) scratches in this film. luckily it's only the film, and not the door. there's no way i can see how that could be associated with the courier...it's just not possible to do without penetrating the box and the packing foam, which is intact in that area. so these little scratches must have occurred pre-courier. whether they're from the manufacturer or re-seller, i don't know, but the mind boggles how someone would be so uncareful with such a fine looking piece of engineering.

And these are exactly the issues OcUK had, and as a result I (OcUK) decided to stop listing them. I just feel that Fractal's QC is lacking some final touches, if they fix the issues (or even acknowledge the problem) then I may consider bringing them back to OcUK. But just to bury their head in the sand is not productive.

[Mr_Jon]

i forgot to mention another bit of packaging that protects the case, a great big thick clear plastic bag that covers the case inside the foam supports and therefore prevents scratches.

And these are exactly the issues OcUK had, and as a result I (OcUK) decided to stop listing them. I just feel that Fractal's QC is lacking some final touches, if they fix the issues (or even acknowledge the problem) then I may consider bringing them back to OcUK. But just to bury their head in the sand is not productive.

aye. in my case (no pun), the scratches in the film couldn't have been done by the courier. although it was only the film that was marked, the potential for worse was there. after thinking about it, there a a few possibilities as to how they got there:

- the case was rubbed up against something before it was boxed...possibly clumsy handling
- the film was scratched before it was put on/as it was put on
- the film was ripped by fingernails/rings of the person who put it on (the film is slightly "rippled", not flat, which makes it easier to snag), as it is no doubt a bugger to put on right
- or it was done by the reseller, who'd no doubt taken it out of the box to marvel at it, and didn't treat it with enough care

i'd suggest to fractal that the quality of the front film could be increased, using either thicker film or perhaps adding a second or third sheet for extra protection. i doubt the sheets cost much, and i believe it would raise the attention to detail to match the rest of the product.

[pramienjager]

I think I have to call BS. I have built more than a few systems with many different cases from Cooler Master, Corsair, some cheap MSI, and some no names. I recently built using the Fractal Design R2 XL, it is perfect and immaculate, but because it is so clean and the lines are so perfect it would be easy to see even the smallest imperfections. Other cases have all kinds of "decoration" if you will curves and flairs and angles that hide dents and dings and scratches. This is just my take on the subject, also, it seems very unprofessional to post companies email exchanges in a public forum.

[narciso]

Well, I've received my Define R4 black and unfortunately I have issues with both my panels, bent corner, warped zones by the screw holes, scratch marks, etc, not very good Quality Control.
I've contacted them by using their form in their website, let's see if their customer support is better than their QC. I've contacted them 01/08/2013, still waiting for a response. I'm from Portugal by the way.

[acemodder]

Was the box pristine and un marked?

[Zeven]

Overclockers in the UK have stopped selling Fractal Design cases because of concerns over build quality, they were getting quite a few cases from the factory with scratches,dents,poorly fitting panels and combined with a rapidly deteriorating returns policy for both them and customers decided it was no longer worth it.

It's a shame because the R4 case is thing a of beauty, and would like one, but these sort of reports make me think twice about buying 'anything' from Fractal.

For one of the UK's largest online retailers to completely drop a product line, tells me there's no smoke without fire.

I just received my second Fractal Design Define XL R2 today from Ebuyer and am sad to say that this may still be the case. The first Fractal Design Define XL R2 I received was perfect, or would have been had the product box not ripped massively where the handle is as that explains all those scratches and minor dents at the top of the case. That could easily have been Yodel's fault, though. Nevertheless, the second Fractal Design Define XL R2 I received from Ebuyer had no large damage whatsoever concerning the product box, and yet when I opened it up, I discovered that the front panel had completely detached itself from the rest of the case as all the connectors had broken. How that happens when the product box shows no signs of extreme wear (like with the first Fractal Design Define XL R2 I ordered) is beyond me. I will send both back to Ebuyer and try my luck with Scan next. I have read some negative things about Yodel and since Scan does not use Yodel, hopefully things will turn out better.