ZUS - The God of Phone Chargers

I have said it before on this blog, I get a lot of interesting emails. One of my latest was from a very nice gal asking me if I wanted to try out a new smart phone charger, or as they called it, a "smart car charger". Sure, why not? If you've seen one charger you've seen them all, right? That's what I thought, but I was wrong... very wrong. Let me explain.

Most in-car chargers that I have had were bulky and awkward. Some even had huge coiled cords on them like on an old fashion land line telephone. Remember those? Also, a lot of the chargers did not fit very well in the power port or cigarette lighter socket. They would move up and down or lose connection while you were driving. The best one to date was just a small, simple charger with a single USB connection. That's what I was using until I received the ZUS .

The ZUS is one slick charger. It is the only car charger to meet US Military Standard MIL-STD-810G High Temperature Standards which might explain why it kind of looks like a miniature SR-71 Blackbird. Pumping out a maximum 4.8 amps, this beast can charge your device at 2x the charging speed of normal car chargers. Both your kids have iPads? Plug them both into ZUS at the same time! Other features include lighted USB ports and smart device detection for optimum charging. I have saved what might be the best feature of ZUS for last - the Smart Car Locator. No, it doesn't find "Smart" cars, it locates your car! That's right, losing your car is now a thing of the past. Just open up the ZUS app on your phone and walk in the direction of the red arrow to find your ride. The app connects to the ZUS device through Bluetooth 4.0 so you need a device with Android 4.3 or newer to use it. The app is available in both the App Store and Google Play.

Because of the aforementioned fit problems that I had experienced with other chargers, I wanted to see how well the ZUS fit in various types of automobiles. Not every power port or cigarette lighter socket is in the same location so I needed to put this high tech charger to the test...

The packaging is almost as impressive as the charger! I'll save you some grief by letting you know to carefully cut one of the plastic tabs that go into the USB port and then gently pull the unit free from the other tabs.

Here is the ZUS in a 2014 GMC truck. Nice tight fit and it does not stick out too far.

Here is the ZUS in a 2014 Ford Mustang. Note how deep this power port is. ZUS fit perfectly! No worries about cord clearance because the USB ports are slightly angled.

Here is the ZUS in a 2012 Fiat 500. Nice tight fit and lots of clearance.

Finally, this wouldn't be Frank's Classic Car Blog without including a classic car! Here is the ZUS in a 1967 Oldsmobile.

In my opinion the ZUS is one of the best designed car chargers on the market, bar none. I'm hooked on it. Let me put it this way, if Chuck Norris needed a smart phone, he would have a ZUS! It's like the MacGyver of chargers, but that comparison is probably lost on anyone younger then 30. MacGyver was bad ass. Google it.