Can you share some more details on this. (Batteries or battery life? Overall cost? Any drawbacks to a device like this?) And I know this last question is a bit technical, but do they make any claims as far what percentage of germs this can disinfect? I think something like this would be perfect for traveling.
Details are hard to come by because these wands are only as "effective" as the manner they are used. In past years, these UV-C wand companies got fined and sanctioned (also lawsuits) because of false advertising, for example claiming that a single "10-second swipe" would kill the majority of microbes on a given surface. That was never the case. I knew this because I have worked as a licensed health care worker in hospitals for many years and I know first hand that large hospitals have used ultraviolet sterilization for decades. In past decades, UV sterilization was mostly used on non-disposable equipment… like expensive surgical instruments, etc. In recent years, our local hospitals are now using "UV sterilization robots" that are programmed to bombard a "dirty" roon (e.g. infected with MRSA, CDIF or other drug-resistant microbes) with ultraviolet light, and a session would last for maybe 5-10 minutes (I'm guesstimating from what I have seen).
So back to these wands. A single 10-second pass will kill only a small percentage of microbes. But if you spend say a good minute swiping the surface of your iPhone, there is a very good chance you'd have nuked the vast majority of microbes. Will you get 100%? Probably not. But it's the same with those million-dollar sterilization robots that our hospitals use…. they were never expected to kill 100% of the germs, but very close to it, like say 99.4% or something like that.
And as for safety usage…. no ultraviolet-C device should ever be applied on human tissue, never point it directly on the eyes. It's probably as damaging as staring directly at the sun. It will fry your eyes. It can cause burns on the skin. And it will increase your risk for skin cancer faster than those tanning booths. This is common sense for anyone that knows anything about UVC exposure. Never ever have these wands lying around for children to grab.
Anyone that has ever used a UVC sterilization device (of any kind), including the robots I mentioned in our hospitals, you KNOW that it's the legit device when you smell the distinct smell of ozone in the air. You know that the device really did emit concentrated UVC. The ozone smell is a byproduct of UVC sessions. I smell it all the time after several passes on my iPhone, or my toothbrushes, etc. P.S. literature says that the amount of ozone produced is negligible per session.
Battery life? Like I said, the old Zadro model I own was from Amazon years ago, I paid a little less than $90 I recall. It's a rechargeable model, and it comes with an AC adapter/charger. Some of the newer cheap models are only battery operated (which I do not like). But those are probably ideal to travel with you on a trip to Cancun or Thailand if you want to disinfect certain parts of your timeshare resort room, etc.
I bought a brand new (identical) spare a year or so ago, since the original Zadro model is discontinued. And probably because States like California are making it harder to import/sell these…. because of safety concerns? You won't have a problem with regulations of these things in a place like China. But in regulation-heavy and lawsuit-loving USA, I'm surprised that personal UVC wands are not yet banned.
Below, picture of a UVC sterilization robot, a very similar bot is used in my hospital.
![Xenex_OR-Pulsing-2-638x1024.jpg]( "Xenex_OR-Pulsing-2-638x1024.jpg")
