are the speck hard case for the macbook pro safe?

Safe from what? I have one on my MBP and it does protect it from scratches.

I've been using Speck cases on all my Mac notebooks going back to late 2006. I recently gave away my original Core Duo Macbook which was about three years old. It was in a Speck case the whole time. I took it out just so I could pack the MacBook up nice and neat in it's box. It looked brand new when I took the Speck cover off.

I pretty much just use my notebooks at home. If you travel a lot with yours (especially in backpacks, etc...)... Speck recommends that you periodically remove the covers and wipe them down. This is just to make sure that is any gritty particles work their way under the cover, they don't end up scratching your MacBook. I have never had a problem with this... but I have seen a comment here and there from people who have.

Buy Speck hardshell and you won't be disappointed!! I love my green one. It really protects from scratches and the odd minor bump...not like it is armor!

It does add weight but I don't mind at all.

yes the speck case is a nice case, but i found that after time it did collect dust and particles at the bottom, so I did have to take it off periodically to clean. If you don't clean frequently enough some of the particles can cause some small scratches. Be careful with taking on and off- it did tweak a little something on the Pro (on the back side) that I used to use it with. For some reason I have not been inclined to use the speck case with my new pro . . .

Well even Speck recommends taking the case off about once a month and cleaning inside of it and your MBP. Do that and you should not have any issues. I use iKlear to clean my MBP 15....It is awesome stuff.