The 2010’s have seen a rapid integration of personal electronics in automobiles. From usb ports in Scions to full fablet installations in high end luxury vehicles, including the Tesla Model S. Electric vehicles will afford a large array of opportunities for this type of integration. Someday, we will probably be able to “text” our car to come pick us up- or better yet, pick up our children from soccer practice if you prescribe to minimalist, barely there parenting.
The ZUS smart car finder & car charger is an intriguing, evolution on your typical usb cigarette lighter adapter. The enterprising young company raised enough money on Indiegogo to start shipping out real, really there units.
The ZUS has a few interesting features:
• ElegantShineTM lighting ie a blinky light when it’s plugged in.
• Military Grade Quality. I must admit, this thing does feel more solid and durable than your typical car adaptor. It’s also blacked out and tactical too. None of that baby beige or mother of pearl nonsense.
• 2x charging so you can charge your iPads, iPhones, and military drones twice as fast.
• Smart Car Locator. This seems to be the major feature of the device. More on that later.
• Designed in Germany. Germans are sophisticated, engineering geniuses right?
• Smart Device Detection. I don’t know what this means
So obviously, about the Smart Car Locator, you are going to need to download the app for that at your Apple App Store or Google Play. I did, and it implored me to join the Nonda Fans club. I generally don’t make friends with my phone adapters but I had to in order to use the GPS location feature.
Once you have downloaded and signed into the application, the adapter pairs with your phone pretty seamlessly. We first tried to use the GPS with an LG G Phone in an open parking lot somewhere in the rural outskirts of Seoul, Korea. The phone had a lot of trouble utilizing the compass feature of the application and pretty much led us in circles. Secondly, we paired an iPhone 5s with the charger, and it really worked as advertised. The compass worked and helped us navigate back to the car from 60 meters away. Another handy feature was the map, you can see where your car is parked relative to your position via Google maps, and I thought that feature was really handy for people who are directionally challenged.
The ZUS smart car charger only paired with one of our phones at a time, which leads us to believe that is the case for all phones. This might make it limited for family use. But overall, this is a pretty nicely built dual usb adapter with an added GPS feature you may or may not use often.
Pros:
-simple, elegant packaging
-sturdy design with subtle LED
-dual USB ports angled for easy passenger and driver
-simple and easy to use GPS app
Cons:
-Bluetooth pairs one phone at a time
-GPS worked with 1 out of 2 of our phones