ZunZun: kill glare on your SatNav

As all SatNav users probably know: not one PND manufacturer has really succeeded in solving the on-screen glare problem. Sure, they have fitted the touch screens with a special anti-glare coating, but when direct sunlight shines on the display of the device, it's still annoyingly hard to read.

Some history...

From the very beginning of SatNav's, there have been companies who have tried to fix this problem. Most of these companies used the same method: they created some sort of visor that fitted over the device, which attempted to block the sun's rays. The only difference has been in the material the visor was made from. GlareStomper used fabric which needed to be trapped between the device and the (then) removable front bezel of the unit. A good try, but not all that great when it came to ease-of-installation: it required a lot of fiddling on the part of the user. The price was reasonable though.

Some time after the GlareStomper, a different company made a new attempt at creating the ultimate anti-glare solution: Drumma. Now, these were perfect products in our opinion: easy to install and durable. They only had one major downside: their price. Drumma visors did not come cheap, and this simple fact not only inhibited large sales, it also ended up killing the company since they could not break even from the high research and development costs.

ZunZun

So now there's a new company that is making an attempt: ZunZun. This Dutch company sent us a couple of review samples of their product. We have to admit: we were intrigued.

It looks like ZunZun has learned from the mistakes of their forerunners. Their product is not fiddly to install like the GlareStomper was, and it's also not very expensive. (less than 5 euro each, even less when bought in quantity) The main reason for this is probably because it's made from cardboard! Hang on? Cardboard? Indeed! At first this seemed a bit silly to us, but we soon found out that this particular material holds a lot of advantages.

For one, it's cheap to produce. Another advantage is that it's light. So it can be easily be sent to you by mail in an ordinary envelope, and the shipping costs should not be much more expensive than sending a Christmas card.

There's also a third reason, and this we find particularly smart from ZunZun: cardboard can easily be printed. This means these visors can be the ultimate company gift! Imagine: your company logo on all those ZunZun's behind people's windscreens. Oh, and did we mention the price is right also?

When you order a ZunZun, you will essentially be sent a piece of cardboard and one rubber band. In the cardboard, several grooves have been pressed. Depending on which device you want to use the ZunZun with, you'll need to fold different grooves. All the grooves have been numbered (well, lettered actually), and when looking at the ZunZun site, you can easily see which grooves you need to fold to match your SatNav model. Eg. for use with a TomTom x20 model, I need to fold grooves D,D,H_I and H_I. In practice, this is even easier than it sounds.

After the folding is done, you need to slide the visor onto your SatNav unit. The rubber band is then used to hold the visor into place. We have to be honest: this is a bit fiddly at first, but with a bit of practice it works just fine.

The test

Of course, we did test these new visors as well. This took a sunny day (hard to come by) and a dark night (a lot easier to find). Why a night? Well, as we have learned from the Drumma review, this kind of accessory is not only handy to block the sunshine, but also the prevents the display from reflecting in the windscreen at night.

We really didn't expect otherwise, but the ZunZun performed really well. Both during the day and at night. The visor did not have any impact on the quality of the satellite reception, but, given the nature of the material it's made of, we really didn't expect anything else. The sound output was also unaffected by this visor. We took the ZunZun out for an endurance test, but even the biggest pothole that my car's suspension could stand did not make the ZunZun move one tiny bit on the SatNav device. In other words: the ZunZun passed the test with flying colours!

Pricing and availability

The ZunZun visors are sold directly through the ZunZun online shop, where one visor sells for 4.99 euro (£ 3.99). Three visors will cost you 3.99 euro (£ 3.19) each and a dozen visors 2.99 euro (£ 2. 39) each. They get even cheaper with larger quantities. Shipping costs up to nine visors are 3.29 euro (£ 2.63), and up to 45 pieces 4.55 euro.

For a complete list of all the prices, check out the ZunZun shop website. This website is still largely under construction, but will reach its completed stage soon, ZunZun promised us!

Thanks to Johan of ZunZun for sending us the review samples!

The ZunZun visor receives a well-deserved 'thumbs-up' award. They have made a good mix of all the benefits of both the GlareStomper and Drumma units offered, and improved them. A ZunZun unit is so cheap, price really should not be an issue anymore. It's also very easy to make it fit your SatNav and if treated with care it'll last a long time. The fact that ZunZun also offers companies the option to customise the shade by putting advertising onto their own personalised ZunZun visors will probably also add to the sales.