Heckler Design @Rest for iPad

Heckler Design's $59 @Rest for iPad is a simple-but-versatile stand for your iPad that converts from a 30-degree to a 60-degree angle by moving two little rubbler brackets, which the company calls resting pegs. It can be used with your iPad in either portrait or landscape orientation, as well as with non-Apple tablets and e-readers. (Heckler Design claims it can even be used as a laptop stand, although I didn't test it as such.)

Made of steel with a powder-coat finish, the @Rest is large and solid—it's so heavy, at three pounds, that it practically doubles as a hand weight. It’s also fairly large at nearly 4 inches tall, 8.5 inches deep, and 6.3 inches wide—definitely not something you'd want to tote around. Despite its metal construction, it has no sharp edges that could scratch your precious tablet.

The @Rest is available in five designer colors: Slate, Sky White, Silver, and Bright Red, although you can also order custom colors. The stock colors are a bit on the muted side, but that's a good thing, as it prevents them from being garish. Two adhesive-foam resting pads and four adhesive feet can be permanently attached to the @Rest to protect both your iPad and your furniture.

The resting pegs on which your iPad sits slide into slots in the @Rest's body. Each peg has three grooves that fit these slots perfectly; which groove you use determines how much space there is between the @Rest and the peg's front lip. The shallowest setting works well for a bare iPad; the deepest setting, which gives you about 20mm of space, accommodates an iPad in a case. (The deeper settings also let you tilt a bare iPad back slightly.) To switch between the 30- and 60-degree setups, you simply move the pegs from one side of the @Rest to the other. (If you frequently switch between these angles and you'd like an extra set of pegs, Heckler Design sells them for $15.) Regardless of how you place the rubber resting pegs, it's always easy to access, charge, and move your iPad.

With everything in place, the @Rest is excellent for parking your iPad on a desk, living room side table, bedside table, or kitchen countertop, or even for using the iPad in a retail environment. And while the stand works great for video and photo viewing, it's also sturdy and solid enough that it works well for onscreen typing. You can also charge your iPad in either portrait or landscape orientation—there’s a convenient opening at the bottom-front of the stand specifically for connecting Apple's dock-connector cable when your iPad is in portrait mode.

The @Rest for iPad is a versatile, heavy-duty stand for the iPad and iPad 2. It's not designed to be portable, but as a desktop stand that's rugged enough for a commercial environment and decorative enough for your home, it can serve a multitude of purposes.

Note: The original @Rest we received did not allow insertion of the resting pegs. According to the vendor, this was because the power coat (paint) on the unit was too thick, and that current versions do not have this issue. The second unit we received worked properly and is the subject of this review.