If you are a germaphobe, you probably wipe down your cell phone many times a day with some sort of sanitizing wipe. If you aren’t doing that, your cell phone or MP3 player is probably covered with lots of wonderful, potentially infectious germs. Having 3 kids in school, germs are pervasive on all types of surfaces around our house. When any of our children are sick, my wife diligently wipes down door handles and other publicly touched surfaces. (If you aren’t disinfecting your home, you might want to take a look at this post that I did when the Swine Flu was top of mind.) I’m guessing though that most of you who have cell phones or other compact gadgets don’t disinfect those devices on a regular basis because it is a bit of a pain in the butt.

Well there is now a quick and easy solution for you called the Violight UV Cell Phone Sanitizer. The concept is pretty simple, Ultra Violet lights at the right frequency will kill bacteria and germs. So, Violight, who has been doing disinfection solutions for toothbrushes, razors and other items, realized that there is a HUGE market for this type of cell phone or gadget solution, especially since cell phones and MP3 players are touched numerous times a day, often by different people. The UV Cell Phone Sanitizer take about 5 minutes to disinfect your device (assuming it fits into the enclosed compartment). Just drop it in and using UV lights, your cell phone is blasted and “cleaned”.

According to their website, the Violight UV Cell Phone Sanitizer will clean 99% of the germs and bacteria present on the surface of your gadget. And since the device uses light, it can get into the tiny grooves and crevasses present on tiny keyboards or places where a simple wipe-down might miss. Also, since it doesn’t use liquid, there is no risk to your device from having anti-bacterial gel or liquid creep into your phone.

To operate it, you simply need to first install 3 AA batteries (there is no power cord which means that it is easily portable). Then you remove the cover and place your device inside. There is a pressure-sensitive button that you must make sure that your device is pushing down on in order to make it work. But it won’t start sanitizing until the cover is placed back on top. Once you place the cover back on, 2 UV bulbs start “cleaning” your device for about 5 minutes. Outside of the UV Cell Phone Sanitizer a techy-looking blue light goes on to let you know that the germs are being irradiated and hopefully killed off.

When the process is complete, the blue light turns off and you simply remove your germ-free gadget from inside. But you can do more than just put cell phones in there. Like I said, you can put in MP3 players, cell phone headsets, Bluetooth headsets and anything that is small enough to fit. There is also a basket that is included for smaller items like headsets or earbuds. Just put the item in the basket and zap away!

My wife and I have been regularly using the Violight UV Cell Phone Sanitizer and as far as we know, it is doing a good job. However, there is no real way of testing to see if it actually works. Unless you have a CSI lab at your disposal or access to a means to grow bacteria cultures after swabbing your phone, you pretty much have to just agree (and hope) that it works. I have faith that Violight isn’t doing anything “shady” here, especially since they have a long history of providing similar solutions as I mentioned.

The Violight UV Cell Phone Sanitizer is fairly compact, and will work with devices that measure 3″ x 0.75″ x 5″ or less. It weighs less than a pound and measures 5″ x 3.8″ x 7.8″. It retails for $49 but you can pick it up on Amazon currently for $48.97. I would, however, like to see the price point on this to be a bit lower so that more people can use it. Perhaps a $30-$40 price point would be more attainable by people. However,  I think it is the PERFECT gift for those people who have everything, and those who have small, hand-held devices…so basically almost everyone! I would say that any store that sells cell phones should regularly disinfect the display models using the Violight.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the next product that Violight comes out with using their technology is for remote controls, another item that gets a lot of public holding and usage. And, after reading this article about the HUGE number of germs present on iPads that are on display, Violight should make an extra-large version to handle iPads, netbooks, keyboards and computers (note, they do have a wand that you could use for larger devices).  All in all, great concept, easy usage and reasonable price point for keeping you a bit healthier (hopefully)!

Disclosure Text : I have a material connection because I received a gift or sample of a product for consideration in preparing to write this content. I was/am not expected to return this item or gift after my review period. More information can be found in my About page as well as here.

HighTechDad Rating

This is a new feature to my reviews that I’m experimenting with and I will write more about it later. It is designed to help you get a quick feel for a product using a standardized rating system. This may evolve over time.

EASY TO GEEK FACTOR – is the device easy to get up and running

FAMILY FRIENDLY – does the device fit well into family environments

RECOMMENDABILITY– would I recommend it to others (more means “yes”)

PRICE POINT – does the price reflect the product function

OVERALL – my general rating

HTD says: In my opinion, every office and household should have one of these Violight UV Cell Phone Sanitizers! I need a couple!

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