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Invisible SHIELD Screen Protector - Wow!


kenk

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I've had several Palm PDA's for many years now, since the original Palm Pilot, and every one has had some kind of goofy screen protector put on, but ...

 

I finally caved into to the suggestions on this forum and bought the Invisible SHIELD screen protector for my new Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx. I dreaded the thought of finding the first scratch on the display.

 

It is no understatement to say that I was absolutely dreading putting the screen protector on. I'd put it off for a week figuring it would be just like all the other screen protectors I'd used on my Palms. I'd have fingerprints and lint on the adhesive, bubbles, poor alignment, etc.

 

I finally got the courage to put the Invisible SHIELD on this morning. Wow!! That was really easy! No fingerprints. It was easy to take off to get the alignment just right. No lint. No bubbles - I mean NONE! The only reason I know its there is I can see the edge of the protector. I think that magic spray solution makes all the difference. While I suppose it could be just distilled water, but I'm sticking to the firm belief that it is some kind of miracle liquid.

 

Guys, I am just blown away by this product. Now I need to buy one of these for my current Palm, and my Nikon dSLR, and my little point-and-shoot camera, and my video camera, and ....

Edited by kenk
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Yeah, definitely. Welcome to the club. We have them on both our GPSrs, and I have one on my digital camera. I thought it would mess up the screen reslution and viewing angles, etc. And while there is very slight aberration at a few angles, it is hardly noticeable and well worth it for the peace of mind. If only I didn't have to custom order it for my older electronics, I'd be set.

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is this the stuff radio shack sells ?

 

NO. It's the best dadgum thing you can buy. I have it on my GPSr (it totally saved my first unit and that was a $600 unit) and I also have it on the face of my watch. If I get any other expensive electronic device with a screen I'll definitely buy one for that as well. It's the best insurance there is and not very expensive. Don't buy the cheap stuff - someday you may be extremely sorry you did.

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I bought the Invisible Shield kit for my Garmin Venture Cx about a month ago. I think it's great. It's perfectly clear and does not distort the screen at all. Seems tough as nails and it's very stuck to the screen. The only difference is that I get a little more reflection off the screen.

 

A friend picked up a screen protector called from bestskinsever.com and it appears to be the same thing but they sell it without the bottle of application solution and sqeeegee. It's a little cheaper.

 

I got curious what this stuff is so I did a little looking around. As far I can tell, it's a urethane film with an acrylic adhesive which is sold in rolls and pre-cut kits as a car paint protector (like an invisible car bra). It's called VentureShield. The adhesive solution seems to be water with little soap in it. You can buy it by the foot here:

 

http://www.stickercity.com/store/home.php?cat=2228

 

At $5.99 a square foot I'm kind of tempted to buy a foot and try it on some other devices. Just something interesting for those of you who are tinkerers and have an Exacto knife handy and have a sense of adventure.

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I also have to add my praises to this product. I ordered mine two weeks ago. Got the first one, and even though the packaging said it was for the 60CSx, it obviously wasn't. Called them up and then sent one out priority that I received 2 days later. A perfect fit! Easy to install, and hard to tell it's there!

 

So, kudos for a great product AND great customer service!

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I've posted this many times, I love this product and the company. A while back I got a Shield for my PSP, but after installing it I noticed some odd lines running over the screen, some flaw in the Shield itself. One email to the company and a free replacement was at my door a few days later.

 

Well worth the price, which I don't think is really that high.

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I got 60Csx about two weeks ago and already scrachted the screen. Obviously I should have put one of them screen protectors on as well. Kenk, care to share the link where you purchased yours? Better to have 1 scratch, than many I suppose.

Anyone know of a magical way to 'fill-in' a scratched screen to make it appear fixed? I think I saw something on discovery channel once, which explained it.

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Anyone know of a magical way to 'fill-in' a scratched screen to make it appear fixed? I think I saw something on discovery channel once, which explained it.

 

It is said that the invisible shield can make existing scratches appear less noticeable. So that may be your solution right there.

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Praise be to the InvisibleShield!!!!

 

While I attended MOGA 2007 last week, I was walking through the woods and twisted my knee and fell...right on my new 60CSx. <_<:ph34r:

 

However...it had the InvisibleShield on it. :D<_<

 

The fall left two big ol' scratches on the face of it...virtually all the scratched area is on the shield itself. I will still have some areas around the screen to remind me of the fall, however...

 

The scratches aren't coming out...so...am I eligible to get it replaced?

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The scratches aren't coming out...so...am I eligible to get it replaced?

 

Copied straight from the website Shieldzone.com:

 

Lifetime Replacement Guarantee

 

The invisibleSHIELD purchase includes a lifetime replacement guarantee. We want you to feel safe and secure when investing in your digital life, and are confident that the invisibleSHIELD is the strongest and most durable protection you will find. Purchasing an invisibleSHIELD will protect your investment for the life of your device.

 

The lifetime replacement guarantee is simply what it says. If your invisibleSHIELD ever becomes scratched, torn or damaged in any way while protecting your device, we will replace the invisibleSHIELD for free, for life.

 

Hopefully you registered it, but even if not, I think they will work it out for you.

Edited by redcoyote12
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Another fan of the invisibleShields here! They haven't saved me from any damage yet, but they have given me piece of mind! And I have never seen a negative review.

 

I have them on my Palm Tungsten e2, my Garmin 60csx and my wife's iPod Nano.

 

I also purchased them as gifts for my Dad's 60cx, and my brother-in-law's iPod Nano.

 

I just received a Garmin Nuvi 360 yesterday for the car. I need to check and see if there is a shield for it too.

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Another fan of the invisibleShields here! They haven't saved me from any damage yet, but they have given me piece of mind! And I have never seen a negative review.

 

I have them on my Palm Tungsten e2, my Garmin 60csx and my wife's iPod Nano.

 

I also purchased them as gifts for my Dad's 60cx, and my brother-in-law's iPod Nano.

 

I just received a Garmin Nuvi 360 yesterday for the car. I need to check and see if there is a shield for it too.

I would say go for it. It hasn't save mine yet but for my brother in law it did. He would have had a deep scratch across the screen but the shield saved it. I buy it for almost every electronic now.

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Just wanted to praise ShieldZone again in case anybody is looking to buy!

 

I sent my Garmin 60csx into Garmin for repair and just received a replacement unit back last night. Of course that means I don't have the invisibleSHIELD on the new unit.

 

I emailed ShieldZone and explained the situation. They said that if I fax them the paperwork showing the unit was replaced, they would send me a replacement invisibleSHIELD for $2.95 (the cost of shipping and handling).

 

I couldn't be happier with their customer service! Rivals that of Garmin!

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OK, here is a bizarre, but true story related to the Invisi-Shield on my GPS:

 

Wekend before last my wife and daughter were heading off to a kiddie birthday party, and my wife hates to find new addresses. So, I grab my Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx, enter the address, setup the route and hand it to my daughter telling her to just follow its directions.

 

Hours pass, my wife and daughter come home with the GPS, and I put it safely in its case.

 

A few days later, while watching "Fox Friends in the Morning" before work I pull out the GPS to play with it a bit and am horified to find that there is a big 3/8" scratch across the screen. I can actually see where the protector's plastic has been scraped and wrinkled. Whew, good thing I put on the Inisible Shield!!

 

Later that day I tell my wife what I found - she says she didn't think anything had happened to the GPS though she did recall it almost sliding off the dashboard but my daughter catching it. I figured that must have been when it got scratched. Regardless I put in an order for a new Invisi-Shield - plus one for my Palm too - just to make things right.

 

Maybe two days later I pull the GPS out again to enter some waypoints for the next weekend's backpacking trip, and after a while of using it I realize that the scratch isn't so noticable after all. Huh. As a matter of fact, I can't see it at all. I pull out a flashlight and shine it at the screen from all sorts of angles and low and behold I can't find a scratch or scar at all - nothing. It is a clean as the day I put the protector on.

 

Here is the really bizarre part ... honestly, all I can think of is that I just dreamed that the screen got scratched. Sigh. I think I need a vacation.

 

Ken

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They have a minimum order, in dollars, but I was unable to figure out what it is. You can't order one foot, though - I tried, and it wasn't enough for the minimum. I wasn't interested enough to keep adding square feet until I found out how much was required.

 

Two square feet is enough to meet the minimum. :laughing:

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I was out caching last weekend and cleverly managed to drive off with my 76CSx sitting on the hood of my truck. I left the cache site and made a right turn and noticed my unit as it flew off the hood and went bouncing and tumbling across the road, through the gravel on the side of the road, and off into the weeds. GAH!!! I stopped and recovered the unit, expecting the worst. Hmmmmmmm........ it still works! The case is a bit scratched, gouged, etc. but the unit works and the screen (with the InvisibleSHIELD on it) is fine. Judging from the marks on the case the screen should have been horribly scratched. Once again I'm sooooooooooo very glad I purchased this product.

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They have a minimum order, in dollars, but I was unable to figure out what it is. You can't order one foot, though - I tried, and it wasn't enough for the minimum. I wasn't interested enough to keep adding square feet until I found out how much was required.

 

Two square feet is enough to meet the minimum. :lol:

 

Did you order any?

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Lifetime Replacement Guarantee

 

The invisibleSHIELD purchase includes a lifetime replacement guarantee. We want you to feel safe and secure when investing in your digital life, and are confident that the invisibleSHIELD is the strongest and most durable protection you will find. Purchasing an invisibleSHIELD will protect your investment for the life of your device.

 

The lifetime replacement guarantee is simply what it says. If your invisibleSHIELD ever becomes scratched, torn or damaged in any way while protecting your device, we will replace the invisibleSHIELD for free, for life.

 

Hopefully you registered it, but even if not, I think they will work it out for you.

 

If you order from them by calling (or from their website), you are automatically registered (the purchase order number is your registration number). Had to get a replacement for mine and called them today and that is what they told me.

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I bought the Invisible Shield kit for my Garmin Venture Cx about a month ago. I think it's great. It's perfectly clear and does not distort the screen at all. Seems tough as nails and it's very stuck to the screen. The only difference is that I get a little more reflection off the screen.

 

A friend picked up a screen protector called from bestskinsever.com and it appears to be the same thing but they sell it without the bottle of application solution and sqeeegee. It's a little cheaper.

 

I got curious what this stuff is so I did a little looking around. As far I can tell, it's a urethane film with an acrylic adhesive which is sold in rolls and pre-cut kits as a car paint protector (like an invisible car bra). It's called VentureShield. The adhesive solution seems to be water with little soap in it. You can buy it by the foot here:

 

http://www.stickercity.com/store/home.php?cat=2228

 

At $5.99 a square foot I'm kind of tempted to buy a foot and try it on some other devices. Just something interesting for those of you who are tinkerers and have an Exacto knife handy and have a sense of adventure.

 

Thanks a lot for the research. I ordered 2 square feet of the VentureShield (for $10 plus shipping) and put it on my 60CSx last night. It looks great. I have enough of the stuff left to put on my two pda's, my camera, and any other device with a screen that I may buy in the forseeable future!

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Thanks a lot for the research. I ordered 2 square feet of the VentureShield (for $10 plus shipping) and put it on my 60CSx last night. It looks great. I have enough of the stuff left to put on my two pda's, my camera, and any other device with a screen that I may buy in the forseeable future!

 

It seems to me that it would be a bit tricky to get the shield cut to fit your screen. I take it that that part will depend on your personal skills with scissors or similar.

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Thanks a lot for the research. I ordered 2 square feet of the VentureShield (for $10 plus shipping) and put it on my 60CSx last night. It looks great. I have enough of the stuff left to put on my two pda's, my camera, and any other device with a screen that I may buy in the forseeable future!

 

It seems to me that it would be a bit tricky to get the shield cut to fit your screen. I take it that that part will depend on your personal skills with scissors or similar.

 

The pda's will be easy since the screens are rectangular, I'll just take the material down to staples and use the paper cutter so the edges will be very straight.

 

The 60csx was trickier since it has the curvy bits at the bottom. I cut a rectangular piece to cover the screen, put it on, used a ball point pen to trace around the edge of the screen, took it off, cut it to size, used alcohol to remove the ink marks from the edge and put it back on. I ended up getting some fibers stuck to the adhesive side somewhere in the process of taking it off and putting it back on, so I did a second one using the first one as a template which worked out well. If I was to do it again I would get an overhead transparency or tracing paper or something to get the shape and use it as a template.

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I just bought an InvisibleShield for a Vista HCx after reading threads like this one full of rave reviews, and I'm pretty disappointed with it. Applying it was easy-- no bubbles and very quick compared to other protectors I've used, and it's nearly invisible when using the backlight-- but it makes using the device with the backlight off almost impossible.

 

I don't know if it's the adhesive, or some sort of polarizing property of the plastic, but it's very difficult to read the display with only sunlight now that the shield is applied. It almost looks like the bottom of a lake when sunlight shines through the ripples in the water-- lots of patches of glare and shadow.

 

I have a similar shield for my cell phone that does not have this problem, but they don't make one sized to fit the unit, and it's not an easy square shape to cut. Anybody know of any alternatives? I really don't want to waste battery life with the backlight, but I don't want the screen scratched either.

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Just wanted to praise ShieldZone again in case anybody is looking to buy!

 

I sent my Garmin 60csx into Garmin for repair and just received a replacement unit back last night. Of course that means I don't have the invisibleSHIELD on the new unit.

 

I emailed ShieldZone and explained the situation. They said that if I fax them the paperwork showing the unit was replaced, they would send me a replacement invisibleSHIELD for $2.95 (the cost of shipping and handling).

 

I couldn't be happier with their customer service! Rivals that of Garmin!

I had the exact same thing happen to me. Returned a 60Cx to Garmin for repair; received a replacement unit. Called ShieldZone, they told me to mail in proof that the 60Cx was replaced, Upon their receipt of the required proof of repair they send me a replacement invisibleshield, with free shipping.

 

Good operation.

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I don't know if it's the adhesive, or some sort of polarizing property of the plastic, but it's very difficult to read the display with only sunlight now that the shield is applied. It almost looks like the bottom of a lake when sunlight shines through the ripples in the water-- lots of patches of glare and shadow.

 

I have a similar shield for my cell phone that does not have this problem, but they don't make one sized to fit the unit, and it's not an easy square shape to cut. Anybody know of any alternatives? I really don't want to waste battery life with the backlight, but I don't want the screen scratched either.

Has everyone here the same opinion, or is it (for me a Vista HCX) still usable without backlight. How much does the backlight consume? I think this would stop me from using a screen protector.

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I got 60Csx about two weeks ago and already scrachted the screen. Obviously I should have put one of them screen protectors on as well. Kenk, care to share the link where you purchased yours? Better to have 1 scratch, than many I suppose.

Anyone know of a magical way to 'fill-in' a scratched screen to make it appear fixed? I think I saw something on discovery channel once, which explained it.

If the scratch isn't too deep you could try Meguiar's PlastX I have used it on my gps and a watch. It worked pretty good.

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Has everyone here the same opinion, or is it (for me a Vista HCX) still usable without backlight. How much does the backlight consume? I think this would stop me from using a screen protector.

The issue of whether the backlight needs to be used seems to be a very subjective one. I don't find the protector to be a problem at all with visibility of the unit in daylight.

 

But the decision between a scratched screen and higher battery usage is an easy one. You spend a minute changing batteries over, but a unit's lifetime regretting getting it scratched.

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The only problem I have with my Invisible Shield is that the screen sticks to the inside of the window of the neoprene protector case I use. This can be quite a pain because not only does it make it difficult to get it out when I'm changing the batteries, but it also makes reading the screen difficult without the backlight.

Edited by Fuchsiamagic
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I just bought an InvisibleShield for a Vista HCx after reading threads like this one full of rave reviews, and I'm pretty disappointed with it. Applying it was easy-- no bubbles and very quick compared to other protectors I've used, and it's nearly invisible when using the backlight-- but it makes using the device with the backlight off almost impossible.

 

I don't know if it's the adhesive, or some sort of polarizing property of the plastic, but it's very difficult to read the display with only sunlight now that the shield is applied. It almost looks like the bottom of a lake when sunlight shines through the ripples in the water-- lots of patches of glare and shadow.

I have a similar shield for my cell phone that does not have this problem, but they don't make one sized to fit the unit, and it's not an easy square shape to cut. Anybody know of any alternatives? I really don't want to waste battery life with the backlight, but I don't want the screen scratched either.

 

I've used it on a 76CS (2 of them actually) and a 76CSx and had zero difficulty reading the screen without the backlight. Sounds like yours wasn't installed properly. That's the only thing I can think of that would cause the weird problems described. Either that or there's something specific to the unit you are using.

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Does anyone know how thick the invisible shield actuall is?

Mine is stuck onto my iPod nano (have one on order for my Vista HCx) so I can't actually measure it with my calipers but I'm guessing the thickness is approx 2-3 sheets of standard printer paper or .008" - .011".

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