Ro's Recz

Since germs have become such a hot topic in the past year with COVID-19, sales for items such as hand sanitizer, Clorox, and other cleaners have gone up. However, another item that has become popular as well is UV disinfectant products.

The most common UV products I see nowadays are small wands, but from the research that I have done it doesn’t seem like these are super effective (or they have not proven to be effective at least). PCMag is a pretty reputable website for most of the latest tech, and they did a recent article about UV sanitizers (which ones to buy and which ones to not buy).

One thing I found interesting from the article is that for UV sanitizers to work, you need a special type of UV-C LED, and these typically cost around $15. Also, one of these is not enough, which means any product that costs $20 and under is likely ineffective. The only brand that PCMag felt comfortable recommending was PhoneSoap. PhoneSoap is a brand that has been around for a while, and they have done clinical tests to see the effectiveness of its products. While they have not done any tests on whether their products kill the COVID germs, it has been found to kill similar types of viruses. You can read PhoneSoap’s full test results here.

PhoneSoap has different models of UV sanitizers, depending on what your specific needs are. There are more powerful sanitizers, which can kill germs quicker; however, there are also more portable sanitizers that also do a great job, but just take a big longer. Prices for most of PhoneSoap’s products range from $80-200, so they are definitely not cheap; however, they are running some sales on their site right now (and they are really good if you buy multiple PhoneSoap’s). If you are worried about germs and want to try and have the best type of protection you can, I would definitely recommend checking out PhoneSoap (you can use it for your phone, watch, earphones, etc.)!

PhoneSoap Recommendation Rating: 4

This post has now been updated to reflect a new ratings system that I have implemented, which is scored as follows:

1: Something worth checking out if you have time

2: Something that is a hit for some people, but not a must for everyone

3: Something worth prioritizing if interested

4: Something worth making time to check out

5: An absolute home run, worth going out of your way for