Customer Reviews

Germ Guardian LW18 UV-C Light Wand

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The first one we bought wasn't working correctly. We returned it and Amazon fed-exed another one. Thank you Amazon! Germ Guardian wasn't helpful at all. I called their help center to check if we were using it right and the return policy, and never got a call back, which was very odd. They don't have live people answering the phone, you just leave a message.

We got this for the mattress because we think there may be some mold in there. My boyfriend still has his cough, but that's probably because it's cold. So I can't say if it's effective or not.

If you are going to buy this, make sure you can buy it from a place that is very easy to exchange and return, seeing as our first one didn't work.

I am very impressed with the effectiveness of the Germ Guardian 18" wand. I didn't give it 5 stars because it is a little back breaking to use if you are sanitizing a low area.

When I took it to a hotel on vacation, I used it in the shower and could smell it killing the who knows what that was there. My pet toys, beds, personal hygiene items, computer, cell phones, remote controllers, cutting boards, countertops and many more surfaces are sanitized without the use of chemicals, YAH! I can now use pretty smelling surface cleaners and use the wand to get the down and dirty.

When I use the wand over areas that always harvest smells (basement drains) I can smell the burn of the elimination of germs.

I'm unsure what the other reviewers are so upset about, the wand does exactly what it was intended to do, kill germs. This technology is not new - just not advertised as much as money making cleaning products. I have a personal unit that uses uv-c light to sanitize water - had over 5 years.

The cord is convenient if using in the kitchen or bathroom, it's not very long so I do't use it much. Rechargeable batteries (4AA) get about 2 hours before needing to be changed. The battery cover was difficult to remove - use a Metric 3.0. The cover that supports the uv light uses a different sized screwdriver. No accidental removal of the wrong cover.

The built-in safety feature turns the light off if you tilt the wand too much. Exposure to skin and eyes is a no-no.

Of course, I purchased mine from Costco.com so no worries about malfunctioning unit or return policy.

Now with the outbreak of Swiine Flu, I use it even more!

1. Feels cheaper than it looks. Don't let the shiny gray color in the picture fool you, it's plastic and not metal. I had bigger expectations because I already had the big brother to this wand, the beautiful stainless steel uv-c room sanitizer. If the wand was a nice white plastic, I would not care, but making it the gray color makes it look and feel like a cheap knock-off.
2. The wand can only be used 'face down'. I understand this is a safety feature, but I wish I had known about this before I bought it. I was going to wave the wand over part of a wall that I cleaned some mold off of, but positioning this wand so that the light faces anywhere but down turns the light off.
3. It's kind of big. It's such a lightweight unit, I dont' know why they didn't make the body tighter.

The wand has good points to it (check out the other reviews), but I personally was disappointed with what I paid for it. NOTE: Prices on these things have dropped a lot since I bought mine, and they seem to be getting more in line with what I think I should have paid for it.

This is a really huge wand! It works very well for sanitizing larger spaces like a mattress or along a wall. You can smell the difference immediately. Shoes no longer have that stinky shoe smell, fabrics smell like they were out in the sun. I use it with the room light dimmed so I can see where the uvc light is shining. I also use it only with the adapter and an extension cord.
Now I have to also get a smaller one for sanitizing smaller things as the big one is too big to fit inside the kitchen sink to sanitize it and it is too wasteful to use it to sanitize small things like the TV remote, one or two eating utensils, or a single plate. No wand I know of has a replaceable light, unfortunately. When the light burns out, you are expected to throw the whole unit away.

It doesn't work. When I pressed the customer support on it, their wording changed from a definitive "eliminates 99% of..." to "It is beneficial..." and "it will not not immediately remove" followed with "You must first eliminate the mold/mildew (by proper washing), and the lamp will prevent it from spreading or returning." Thank God I bought it from a place with a liberal return policy!!
Please read my comment to the first review for a fuller story.

The holding time is really boring... I suggest a attachment of a 2 inch holder from the wand to the object, so we could just place it there 2 inches away without holding it!!

I can tell this lamp really works because you can smell a tiny bit of "burn" after you scan it on carpet, but it won't heat up anything so I dont think it'll actually set something on fire. It's really light weight so I didn't have a problem on scanning stuff with it on a extended period of time. You can always just leave it facing down and let it "burn the bacteria" and move it say once every 10 seconds, doesn't really have to hold on to it. And the auto shout off system is when u are really trying to make the UV light facing to u, It'll still work as long as u move less then 90 degree. So UV lighting the wall was no problem too (although it's impossible to do the ceiling...oh well)

4/5stars

This was supposed to be a gift for my mother-in-law, but the first one came with a broken UV bulb, and we had to send it back. Amazon quickly replaced it, sending out the second one before we even shipped the first back. The new one lasted about 3 weeks and then the charger stopped working. Overall it's been very frustrating, and not a good gift or personal item to buy.

This works very well. I don't use it very often as you must hold the light on the place you wish to sanitize for a while and it takes some time. However, it works. Not everything can be sanitized with bleach or steam and it is nice to have this third option.

Germ Guardian LW18 UV-C Light WandThe package the wand was received in did not have a return address on it and the wand package had been opened and did not contain any instruction for use. Now the wand is beeping and I've not idea why. Also it looked used and I thought I"d ordered a new product.

I purchased this with good intentions that I would use it but only have twice good price and works well