Beyond that, however, there’s not much to talk about. In fact, we’re troubled by the features that have been removed, such as eSATA and a front-mounted 120mm fan, especially when the newcomer currently costs $10 more than its predecessor. For $90, there’s no denying that the Scout 2 is a relatively affordable high-quality mid-tower chassis, but we’re not sure if it’s solid enough to take on the competition.
For the same price, you could also purchase the Antec Nine Hundred Two V3, Corsair Carbide Series 300R, Lian Li PC-A05FNB or Gigabyte GZ-G2 Plus, just to name a few. Despite our dislike of the Nine Hundred Two V3’s ghastly appearance, it’s rather well equipped compared to the Scout 2, featuring three times as many 120mm fans plus a massive 200mm fan, and it’s a similar story with the Gigabyte GZ-G2 Plus. The Carbide Series 300R also does better on the cooling front, including a 120mm and 140mm fan, though it is inferior when comparing storage support, featuring just four 3.5" drive bays. For $10 more, there are many other worthy candidates, such as the Corsair Carbide Series 400R, NZXT Phantom 410, Cooler Master HAF 922, BitFenix Ghost, Enermax Fulmo Advanced, Silverstone Precision PS06 and Lian Li PC-7B Plus II. We won’t go as far as saying the Scout 2 isn’t relevant, regardless of how saturated today’s market place is. However, it seems like the only way to justify buying one is because you really like its appearance and you’re willing to spend more than the $90 sticker price to outfit the enclosure with fans. Barring that, it’s tough to recommend the Scout 2 as it simply doesn’t offer as much as similarly priced cases. Cons: Loss of eSATA from the original design, weak stock cooling set up for a $90 enthusiast case.
