Today we’re looking at an interesting suite of products from the American company Nonda designed to enhance your driving experience. Nonda’s goal is to give drivers the benefits of useful technologies that integrate easily into your lifestyle through your smartphone. One of the taglines that sums up Nonda’s ethos nicely is ‘Today’s technology for yesterday’s car’. So if your car is a little on the ‘vintage’ side, fear not! Nonda is ready to bring you some serious upgrades.
ZUS Wireless Backup Camera
The marquee Nonda product is the ZUS (pronounced like ‘Zeus’) Wireless Backup Camera. This is a 170 degree wide angle camera that is super easy to install with no wiring or drilling required. It then connects to your smartphone via bluetooth and allows you to easily see where you’re going as you reverse. The ZUS Backup Camera comes with rechargeable batteries, and each charge lasts up to two months, because it only activates when it’s connected to your phone. And when the unit is running low on battery, you’ll get an alert right there on the app (which is available for IOS and Android). It also works at night, thanks to two high-powered infrared lights.
I get the opportunity to drive a lot of different cars in my day-to-day life, and I’ve become a huge fan of backup cameras in the last few years, to the point that I’m now paranoid about driving without one! I think the tipping point came in Italy a few years back when we rented out a big old van to drive the extended family around. Up to that point I was always a bit wary of backup cameras, simply because I trusted my own eyes more. Well when you have a vehicle of a certain size you have no choice but to rely on the backup camera. Pretty quickly I got the hang of it and realised just how useful this feature was. Then one afternoon I reversed in a hurry, forgot to check the screen and hit someone’s garden wall! Lesson learned, and as I say nowadays ‘always watch the TV!’.
ZUS Smart Tire Safety Monitor
With the ZUS Smart Tire Safety Monitor you can not only prevent nasty surprises, but also save money and lower your fuel costs. This system comes with four German sensors that screw onto the air valves on your tires and gauge pressure and temperature in each tire. They communicate with a hub device that plugs into the USB port on your dashboard which sends alerts to the Zus App on your smartphone as issues arise. For example, it can detect a slow puncture, tell you which tire is leaking, and even tell you the rate at which pressure is being lost. If you’re planning a road trip, this could be a lifesaver. The system is so easy to install that you can easily add it to a rental car when you’re out of town or overseas. There’s nothing like finding yourself roadside with a flat in a remote location where you don’t speak the language!
ZUS Smart Car Charger
What if your car is an older model or a classic car that doesn’t have a USB port to plug in the hub for the tire safety monitor? Not a problem—Nondo has you covered, as long as you have a cigarette lighter. [Do they even put cigarette lighters in new cars these days?]. With the ZUS Smart Car Charger you get a charger that allows you to charge or power two devices simultaneously. It also charges twice as fast as the average car charger. But that’s not all the Smart Charger does—not by a long shot. It also acts as a monitor for your car battery’s health and helps you locate your car when you can’t remember where you parked it (this has happened to you—don’t deny it!). It logs your mileage and allows you to categorize your trips so you can easily track your business travel.
Great design and build quality
Nonda is very hot on creating not just useful gadgets, but well-designed and durable gadgets, and the Smart Charger is a great example of that. For example, have you ever struggled to plug a USB cord in because you were holding the end upside down? Well the ports on the Smart Charger are reversible, meaning you can plug your cord in any old way. And soft glow LEDs inside the ports make it easy to see them in the dark. The charger is made from premium German Bayer polycarbonate and is sturdy enough to meet U.S. military standards. And talk about attention to detail – the contacts at the plug-in point are coated with Titanium to enhance conductivity!
ZUS Smart Vehicle Health Monitor
Next up is the ZUS Smart Vehicle Health Monitor, which promises to give you all the information you need when your car requires some TLC. How does it do that? Well it does what your mechanic would do and connects to your car’s OBD port. (OBD stands for On-Board Diagnostics). The unit then sends diagnostic info to the app on your smartphone and lets you know how everything’s running under the hood, as well as analyzing historical data to predict upcoming issues. It decodes engine errors and sends alerts to your phone, and it gives you real-time driving feedback to help you drive more efficiently and lower your fuel costs. It can even log your business mileage, which is a huge benefit for those who have to drive for work.
I’m really impressed with all of the Nonda products I’ve mentioned so far, but I feel like this final one was made for me!
The iHere 3.0 Key Finder
Do you ever have trouble finding your keys? I feel like I spend half my life searching for mine. Usually they’re in the pocket of the last jacket I wore, but that doesn’t stop me pulling the cushions off the couch a few times a week, just for good measure. Well, thanks to the iHere 3.0 Key Finder, all that time spent searching for keys need no longer be wasted. Just attach the fob to your key ring, download the iHere 3 App, and say goodbye to lost keys! The iHere works within a 75 foot radius and emits an 85dB sound when activated from your phone. You can also use the iHere to find your phone—and if there’s one thing I spend more time doing than looking for my keys, it’s looking for my phone! There’s a button right there on the fob, and when you press it ,your phone will ring, even if it’s on silent. I love that it’s a two way system—this is a deal-maker for me. I cannot wait to get my hands on the iHere 3.0. It recharges via a micro USB cable, and a single charge lasts for up to 45 days.
All in all, I have to say I’m really impressed with the ZUS suite of products from Nonda. They have great features, are well-designed and made, and are reasonably priced too. I’m excited to see what Nonda comes up with in the future!
