I wanted to do a quick comparison of 2 cases that I've tried out. I've been hoping to use the display key as my daily key but obviously it's quite large and not able to be put on a key ring so I needed a solution to see if it was viable given the size.
First I purchased a "cheap" leather case from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The picture made it look good but once I received it I found that, while it fit the key ok, the leather surrounding the screen area wasn't very tight so didn't fit all that well. Also, the edging was the worst part, it was obviously just the back and front leather pinched together at the edges and stitched, which made it protrude quite a bit and made the key feel overall a lot bigger. I wasn't all that happy with it so went looking for an alternative.
I didn't want the official BMW one as that doesn't have a key loop, and the Montblanc one, which I really did want, well, I wasn't going to pay £200 for a case.
I came across this though on eBay.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182695289...&sojTags=bu=bu
I've not seen it advertised anywhere else but it was sold from a proper BMW franchise dealer and has a proper BMW part number. I gave this part number to the dealer I usually use for parts and they confirmed it exists, but they didn't have a date for it coming in and in fact the said the product was "on hold". So I was confused as to why this dealer had 10+ of them in stock, and if in fact they were genuine. I contacted them and they said it was so I decided to take a chance.
I'm very happy with this, it fits much better, the edges of the screen fit better, although it's still loose leather so it will never be tight like a silicon case for example. Overall though, it fits well and allows me to add it to my keys. It doesn't add much bulk and the joins at the edge and further round the key, so it means the bit that stuck out on the cheap case are no where near as noticeable on this case, they don't protrude past the key itself.
Here is a comparison pic before I returned the Amazon one:
I'm very surprised that BMW aren't advertising this more, and surprised that this dealer has them at all. But I would recommend it.
The only case I think that would be better would be a fitted silicone case. If anyone has seen a good one, let me know.
Thanks