Depending on the gear you’re looking to purchase, there’s often a rating posted on the packaging in terms of an IPX rating. Very often the question gets thrown around to describe just what IPX-4 or IPX-7 means.

Well, starting with the description of it, an IP rating stands for Ingress Protection, sometimes referred to as International Protection as well. In easy terms, it’s a rating that states how protected the gear is against water or dust getting into the casing of the gear, or how resistant it is to impacts. Generally speaking, the higher the number equals better protection.

Water IPX Standards:

• IPX-0 offers absolutely no protection against water destroying the device
• IPX-1 offers protection from dripping water from above the device for at least 10 minutes
• IPX-2 offers protection from dripping water when the device is rotated 15° any direction from vertical for at least 10 minutes
• IPX-3 offers protection from a spray of water in any direction when the device is rotated up to 60° any direction from vertical for at least 5 minutes
• IPX-4 offers protection from a splash of water in any direction for at least 5 minutes
• IPX-5 offers protection from a 6.3mm spray of water (12.5 liters per minute) in any direction for at least 3 minutes
• IPX-6 offers protection from a 12.5mm spray of water (100 liters per minute) in any direction for at least 3 minutes
• IPX-7 offers protection from complete water submersion up to 1 meter deep for at least 30 minutes
• IPX-8 offers protection defined by the manufacturer, meaning that it’s better than IPX-7 in whatever way the manufacturer states (normally stated immediately following the IPX-8 label, stating that the device was tested at “x” meters for “x” minutes)

When it comes to dust standards:

• IPX-0 offers no protection from an outside object entering the device
• IPX-1 offers protection from objects 50mm or larger from entering the casing
• IPX-2 offers protection from objects 12.5mm or larger from entering the casing
• IPX-3 offers protection from objects 2.5mm or larger from entering the casing
• IPX-4 offers protection from objects 1mm or larger from entering the casing
• IPX-5 offers dust protection from dust that would be able to interfere with the normal operation of the device
• IPX-6 offers a completely dust free protection for the device