Final Thoughts & Conclusion
Open frame type cases have betting ever more popular and Cougar’s Blazer Essence makes’s it easy to see why. The modding-friendly design makes it easy to go your own path and get a little out-of-the-box when you need. You can take the entire case apart with minimal tools down to the individual pieces that compose it. This is handy for those who like to paint or otherwise mod their case without spending hours and hours masking things off. I personally do powder-coating, so being able to throw individual pieces in the spray booth and then the oven is really nice.
We don’t really need to comment on cooling, the case is almost entirely open so natural convection takes care of this without the need for tons of fans, but those in dusty environments may need to spend a little more time cleaning it than a traditional box case with directed (and likely filtered) airflow. The paint job and glass seem to be pretty resistant to smudges and fingerprints, so it’s fairly easy to keep looking good. The 4mm thick tempered glass strikes a nice balance between being solid, and not being so heavy that you can’t move the case around with it installed.
All in all, we’re pretty impressed, and it’s hard to find anything to fault the Blazer Essence with. The signature orange bottom pieces are great looking but may clash with some builds. We think, to appeal to a wider audience, Cougar might have gone with a more neutral color scheme, perhaps with a gunmetal grey to stick with current market trends? The roughly $170 street price makes a compelling choice for many either way.
Great Job Cougar!
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