Customer Reviews

Germ Guardian LW9 Mini UV-C Light Wand

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

 

 

I purchased this wand about a month ago and performed an impromptu experiment. I collected some bacterium (E. coli and staph) on an agar plate. Half of the plate was exposed to the UV light of the wand while the other half wasn't. The plate was left to incubate at room temperature for 72 hours. At the end of the 72 hours there were 2 different and distinct colonies growing on the side of the plate that WAS NOT exposed to the UV wand. On the side that WAS exposed to the UV, there was one very small, round pink/salmon colored colony. After running a few chemical tests, the pink colony turned out to be gram positive and appeared cocci shaped under the microscope. I figured (though I could be wrong) that the colony must have been from an air born bacteria that landed on the plate after the exposure to UV. I came to this conclusion because: 1. Though bacteria appeared cocci shaped (staph is cocci shaped as well) under the microscope, it's colony looked nothing like the staph colony on the other side of the plate. 2. E. Coli is gram negative (and rod shaped under the microscope) and the pink/salmon colored colony was gram positive.

SO, to make a long review short, this little contraption works. The only thing that is keeping me from giving it 5 stars are the poor directions that come with it. Like the other reviewer stated, the directions that are in the box don't match. 1.) You must press and hold the power button for 5 seconds 2.) the LED will start blinking 3.) Once LED starts blinking, press the power button again 4.) there will be a 2 to 10 second pause and then the UV light will come on. Once you get past the frustration of getting the thing to come on, you'll find the perfect little gadget to carry in your purse. Wave this magic wand over that dubious looking toilet seat, put down a seat cover, and you'll be good to go.

Purchased this and on arrival inserted 4 new AA batteries. Instuctions not clear on proper operation. You must press button and wait for blinking light (the "warm up"), then when light stops blinking, (i.e. remains lit) it is ready to use. Does not tell you that you must press button while blinking to operate wand. Had to go to website to clarify. It has been VERY inconsistent in operation in that sometimes it will turn on, sometimes not, even when you follow instuctions. This can be extremely frustrating. When working, appears to emit uv light. Although bulb is recessed, there is no lens over it, meaning if you drop it and bulb breaks, you have a hazardous mercury issue. Be careful. BTW, if you have issues, the Customer Service at Germ Guardian requires you to leave a message, which in my case they have never returned my call.

I've had it about a year and it works fine, of course one can't see germs being destroyed so that's always an act of faith. It's handy. Some people think it's confusing to start.
It has a safety feature to prevent inadvertent turning on in a drawer. One pushes the button until the light blinks, about 3-5 seconds, then let up and press again for 1/2 sec. and release. Now it's on.
It needs to be held with the light strip pointed down, at more than a 60 degree or so slant it turns off, must have a mercury switch or something. It comes back on when oriented correctly.
The instructions state a very long time, 20 seconds per area I think, which could make doing a toilet or something take very long. However, the science is the same for UV light regardless of unit generating it, so if one unit says 5 sec. and another says 30 seconds, well the second one must own Energerizer stock.

Papers that come with the UV lights make it sound hazardous but after all this time I've held things in my hand while shining them and never even got a tan.

I like to shine my compacts, lipsticks, mascara brushes and makeup brushes, etc. every 2-3 weeks because I tend to break out. When I do this I don't break out; cause and effect are hard to tell, but if it is killing the bacteria then it has to be good. What I can say is before getting this unit, sometimes if I didn't use a makeup for a few weeks, upon opening it there was a slight odor, now there isn't. I move this unit slowly over my whole makeup drawer. I also shine tops of water bottles I re-use, handles on exercise equipment, phone and remote buttons.

I purchased the light wand from Germ Guardian thinking that I would use it to disinfect table surfaces, keyboards & mouse, bedding, etc. The device is quite useful, to sanitize in a pinch; but it is a tedious process to use it. Its not like a magic wand that you can just wave to disinfect any surface; you need to ensure effectiveness by proper exposure to the UV-C light - which means holding the wand close to the surface and slowly moving it. How slow and how close depends on the surface too, with porous or contoured surfaces needing longer and closer exposures than smooth and non-porous surfaces. Doing this over small items like mouse or keyboard is practical, while trying for bedding will require auxiliary supported hands!

All in all, I would keep this in my travel kit and use it to sanitize my laptop once in a while and prefer to use a sanitizing wipe or plain old washing for everything else!

If the UV-C light is not working:
Press the 'on' button once and you should see a blinking light. While the light is blinking, you must press the 'on' button again to get the UV-C light to activate and stay on.

The Germ Guardian works as advertised. Great product. I recommend it to everyone. Good for skin irritations although it's not supposed to be used this way

Received the unit quickly but it would not power on, held button for a few minutes, swapped batteries all to no avail.
I wanted to exchange it but that wasn't an option when I returned it.

Bought this a while back and it works as expected but seems like it may not be that durable.. It tends to rattle a bit which I believe is due to the mercury cut-switch (or equiv) that shuts the light off if the wand is not in the proper position.