Sunday, April 10, 2016

Zus smart car charger/ car locator - my for-real review

I have my first truly smart smartphone. You early-adopters blazed a trail for your great-grandma and me; it was a quantum leap I was finally ready to make. It's so smart it makes all those tough decisions. Do I want to know each time someone comments on my Facebook post? Uh, what do you think I should do, Phone?

The very up upside to this has been Zus, a cool device Nonda.co sent me to play with. I told their lovely representative that I would, in fact, play with it and tell you all what I thought of it. I was clear with her that I would give you my truthful opinion, once my smartphone learning curve went asymptotic.*

*Coming ever-closer to being as smart as the phone, but never quite reaching it.


If it's not apparent, Zus is a 12-volt car charger with two USB ports. Nonda claims that Zus charges two devices twice as fast as a standard car charger. 

I let my phone get to 75% power, then compared charge times with an AC (wall) charger to the same conditions with Zus: charge times were comparable (about an hour). [Remember, the end of a charge takes longer than the beginning. It's like stuffing laundry into a sack. The first pairs of jeans go in easily, but by the time you're cramming underwear into a nearly-full bag, you're sweating.]

So, charge times were a thumbs-up, but what about this car locator application? Could I, a novice to the 21st century, navigate finding the app, installing it, opening it, and actually using it?

Yes! Easy-peasy. The only glitch was user error, when I first installed the wrong app, instead of the one called (ready?) "Zus."


Should you get one?

If you don't use a smartphone, probably not. It's still a fast charger, and I like that about it. You decide what fast mobile charging is worth to you.

If you never leave your car, probably not. 

If you enjoy the Mall of America, or just routinely lose your silver Prius in a crowd, probably so. When you turn off your engine it sets itself, so if you can remember to take your phone with you you're covered.

Zus doesn't care whether it gets power while you're parked. It will still guide you home.

So, truthfully? I'd buy it, if these folks hadn't already sent me one.

I didn't get any money from using or reviewing Zus, but I did get one free unit. I told you honestly what I think of it. If you follow one of my several, excessively-linked paths to Nonda.co, you'll get $5 off your purchase, and I'll take myself out to McDonald's. If enough of you choose to buy one, I could pack on five pounds before Memorial Day.




4 comments:

our awesome travels said...

No smart for for me yet, still a dump phone looks like a good item though.
Thanks for the review.

Jodee Gravel said...

Very cool. Our Cherokee looks like about a million others out there - so maybe :-)

The Good Luck Duck said...

You're welcome, OAT! I hear you about the phone - it took a while.

Yep, silver Prius here.

Allen Wade said...

A smart car user only understands the importance of charger. We used to take the help of charging stations to run our vehicles in perfect condition; therefore we need smart chargers plugs or USB ports. I found this article very informative and while go through the review of this product I could say that hybrid car users should follow some of the points from here and understand the importance of keeping smart car chargers.
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