The ZUS Smart Car Charger: never lose your car again and charge any USB device lightning-fast. Now, 10% off with free shipping (FANTASTIC Father's Day idea!)

DISCLOSURE:  Nonda provided me with a free ZUS car charger (value $30) for review, with no stipulations, meaning that if I didn't like the ZUS, I was free to do a negative review.  All of the opinions expressed in this review are my own and are not influenced in any way by the gift of the ZUS.

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If I had a dollar for every time I lost my car in a store parking lot, I'd be a very wealthy blogger.

When I go shopping, I like to get all my errands out of the way at once, and that means sometimes going to multiple stores in one day.  That also means parking in multiple lots and frankly, I do have senior moments and forget where I leave the car sometimes. Okay, often. Let's just say, I know the topography of our SuperTarget parking lot very well.

A company called Nonda asked me if I would review their ZUS smart car charger.  I had originally heard about ZUS from a great techie article I read about "must-have" innovative new car gadgets for this year and my curiosity was piqued.

Now if you've been reading Daily Cheapskate for a while, you know that I do virtually no product reviews. It's just not my focus; I'd much rather spend my time finding great deals. But when I heard what the ZUS actually did, I said to myself "I have GOT to try this thing."

I'm also not the kind of person who spends $30 on a phone charger for the car when there are lots of less expensive models out there that will do the job. So I was really curious as to what made ZUS worth the extra money.

So, I received my new ZUS smart charger, and downloaded the free ZUS smartphone app.  Then I plugged the charger into my car and synced it via Bluetooth with my phone (it took about 8 seconds to set up).  I was all ready to go.

Then my husband and I drove my car to the SuperTarget near our house (their lot is probably the size of several football fields), and he parked while I was inside shopping, so I didn't see where he parked.  When I came out of the SuperTarget, I activated the ZUS app on my smartphone and just followed the little ZUS arrow.

Voila, there's my car.  Hello car. All I could think was, this is awesome.  It was incredibly simple to set up and to use, and it worked very effectively, exactly as the testimonials about it promised it would.

I have used other parking trackers before, but the downside is that you have to remember to activate them right after you park.  ZUS automatically senses when you park and it activates itself. This is a GREAT feature; if you are the kind of person who forgets where you park, you are likely also the kind of person who will forget to activate your app when you park!  If you forget where you parked, the smart app locates your car and then guides you to it via directional GPS (or you can just follow a map, your choice). It could not be simpler and works like a charm.

When you do park, ZUS will ask you if you'd like to set a parking reminder, something which proved invaluable when I took ZUS with me to Brooklyn and used it with my rental car. When I go to NY for a family visit, I can usually count on at least one parking ticket; with ZUS, you set the parking timer on your app, and it goes off in advance of your meter running out, which is a wonderful life hack for New Yorkers (or anyone else who lives in a city with lots of metered parking).

But smart parking is really the secondary function of the ZUS (I just like it the best because I constantly forget where I parked).

As a charger, it is unbelievably fast.  It has two USB ports, so I can charge two devices at once.  A smart chip within the unit is capable of identifying most devices and providing the maximum rate of charge the device is capable of accepting, so it will charge your device lightning-fast.

And it does exactly that.  I have never seen my iPhone or my husband's Android charge as quickly as when it's hooked up to a ZUS.  The other thing that I noticed about the ZUS is that when my phone is completely dead, it only takes about a minute or two for ZUS to get it charged up enough so that it will at least turn on, even if it's only slightly charged. I never have to worry about needing to wait to use my phone's GPS and mapping functions if I forget to charge it.

ZUS is currently priced at $29.99 but when Daily Cheapskate readers click through this link and enter the promo code TQJ5SYUXRWT2 at checkout, that price will drop to $27.00 with free shipping.

Is ZUS worth the extra money over cheaper car chargers?  I'm going to have to give that an incontrovertible yes.


The ZUS:

• Utilizes low-energy Bluetooth 
• Navigates you right to your car with the easy-to-use app interface 
• Continues to work when it’s plugged into the socket, with or without the ignition on
• Provides durability with military grade titanium coating 
• Features top-quality lighting for visibility in dark environments
• Charges 2X normal charging speeds
• Doesn’t require any data plan
• Works in high temperatures with built-in cooling system

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