Coral UV 2 - One UV Sanitizer for all your household items - Android - US apps and news

Coral UV 2 - One UV Sanitizer for all your household items - Android

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Coral UV 2 is a new all-purpose UV sanitizer currently on sale via Kickstarter. The COVID-19 pandemic is still raging and one good thing to come out of it is the importance of frequent hand washing. But what about all the things that we touch and interact with all the time? This is where the [...]

Coral UV 2 Design and Hardware Impressions

Coral UV2 AH HR HW1

Upon removing the Coral UV 2 from the generic box there are a few interesting things to note. First is the size of the unit, which is similar to a Japanese rice cooker. The second thing is the attention to detail in terms of the overall construction of the unit.

Coral UV2 AH HR HW2

The entire unit is white except the top which is a nice matte black surface. The top of the unit has a clear window to allow visibility and acts as a vent when using the drying cycle. In addition to this, the four buttons to control the unit are also in the top panel.

Coral UV2 AH HR HW3

On the front face is a circular button that pops the top of the unit open. To close it you just need to push it down. There is a Coral UV logo in the top left corner. The two sides are devoid of any markings or controls.

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And the back of the unit has a grille with a HEPA filter that allows the moisture to escape when the unit is used for drying along with sanitizing. There is a small button or filter lock that allows the release of the grille to replace the HEPA filter.

The inside chamber is fairly large – 10.5 in x 8.25 in x 7 in deep and should be able to accommodate some fairly decent size objects. Alternatively, you can sanitize quite a few small size items simultaneously in one cycle as well.

Coral UV2 AH HR HW5

Another small but important feature is the inclusive wire basket that rests on the top rail where you can put in smaller size items. These can be keys, face masks, sunglasses, or even your smartphone. The other larger objects can go underneath the wire basket in the main chamber.

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The bottom of the unit has really nice tacky C-shape bumpers to help stabilize the Coral UV 2. And in a customary fashion, the regulatory and unit information is on the bottom of the unit.

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Once the lid is open you can see the six UV-C lamps and also six sets of grille slits to allow for venting. The entire inside of the unit has a nice stainless steel finish. The chamber bottom has a ridge surface to allow propping up the item being sanitized and also to easily grip it for removal once the cycle is complete.

One thing to keep in mind is that since this is a fairly large size UV sanitizing device, it weighs about 8 pounds. So this is something to keep in mind if you decide to take it along on a road trip if you plan to sterilize items (feeding bottles, toys, etc.) for really young children.

In summary, this is a device that is built pretty well and uses good quality materials for construction. Along with the good build quality what impressed me is the amount of attention Coral paid to the little details. All of this hard work definitely paid off as the Coral UV 2 recently received the prestigious 2021 Red Dot Award.

Using the Coral UV 2 on a daily basis

One of the perks of being a reviewer for a tech website is that I get to keep trying out new gadgets. But then arises the issue of figuring out how to test the new gadgets in everyday life. Since there are no young children in the house this was going to be a bit tricky with this device. I am talking about testing the drying cycle which is quite long and predominantly for feeding bottles for young infants. This is confirmed by the user manual, which shows pictures of feeding bottles for this particular aspect of the Coral UV 2.

Coral UV2 AH HR Use1

Operating the unit is quite easy. Once the cable is plugged into the power outlet, pressing the power button allows the operation of the unit. There is a confirmatory audible chime along with flashing LEDs on the three function buttons. The power button LED stays solid.

The first button adjacent to the power button is Sanitize+Dry. Pressing this button results in a 10-minute sanitizing cycle with a drying cycle for a fixed amount of time. You can choose drying time in increments of 10 minutes starting with 30 minutes. So there are four possible cycles – 40, 50, 60, and 70 minutes total. Each of these 4 cycles has a 10 minute UV sanitizing time.

Coral UV2 AH HR Use2

Next is using the Sanitize only button for items that can’t be washed. You can choose from 10, 15, and 20-minute sanitizing cycles. The last option is the 24-hour storage cycle. This setting has a 50-minute sanitize+dry cycle followed by a 2-minute sanitize-only cycle every 2 hours for the next 24 hours. This is primarily to store and keep feeding bottles sanitized and ready to use.

You do need to keep pressing the desired function button until you see the cycle time flashing on the top control panel. Once the timer stops blinking the cycle will start for the specified duration. When the cycle is complete the control panel lights go off. So you need to press the power button to use the unit again.

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Just like any other sanitizer you need to ensure that parts are spaced apart well to allow UV light to penetrate or touch the entire surface of the object(s). Ideally, you want to drain excess water from the items for efficient drying. And you want the openings to be facing towards the top where the UV-C lamps are located. Last but not least for really big items, flip them and run the sanitizing cycle again for best results.

Coral UV 2 has 12 mW per LED light and these lamps can last up to 30,000 cycles. This means that you should be able to get quite a few years of use from the unit.