One of the first questions any new iPad owner asks themselves when considering accessorizing is “Should I buy a screen protector or not?” Of course you want your iPad to have all the protection it deserves… but a screen protector also has some drawbacks. We already featured Dynaflo’s Hard-Shield product as one of the coolest things we saw at MacWorld this year. They had an alluring sales pitch- a spray on nano coating that molecularly bonds to the glass and protects your phone or tablet against scratches better than a traditional plastic screen protector! We were sold, and just had to give it a try. Did it live up to the hype? Learn more inside.

Screen protectors are the black sheep of the accessory world. We all love to hate them, but secretly we all want one. A screen protector usuually changes the texture of the touch surface and makes it more sticky when sliding your finger around, it adds thickness to the tablet which interferes with some cases, it can change the clarity of the screen, and they are notoriously hard to put on. Thankfully, Dynaflo’s Hard-Shield nano coating spray just may be to solution to this particular dilemma! (Note: Hard-Shield is also known as Liquid-Armor. They are both the same thing and sold by the same company, just labeled differently for some reason…)

What You Get

This may look like another one of those garbage “spray this repackaged windex on your screen to clean it” type of accessories, but let us assure you it is not. This is a high tech solution that utilizes nano technology to spray a coating of nano-particles onto your iPad or iPhone which molecularly bond to the glass that both protect and shine your device for up to six months.

In the package you get the bottle of this magical solution, and two premium quality double-sided microfiber cloths, and that’s it. However, that’s all you need!

How To Apply Hard-Shield

Application is drop dead simple:

• Step 1: Turn your device off
• Step 2: Clean your screen thoroughly with the dark side of the provided micro-fiber cloth
• Step 3: Spray the Hard-Shield/Liquid-Armor solution once or twice onto the light side of the micro-fiber cloth
• Step 4: Rub it onto the screen of your iPad or iPhone in long, smooth, unidirectional strokes. Make sure you always rub it on in one direction, not in circles, and not in different directions.

And that’s it. Let the iPad sit untouched for at least 10 minutes (longer is better) and you are done. During this time the nano coating bonds with the glass on the screen and allegedly forms an impenetrable shield of impenetrability which will deflect everything from dust and grime to scratches and arrows fired from skeleton archers. (one of those may or may not be true…)

We did find that the solution left long visible streaks on the screen after we applied it. These streaks buffed out after the allotted 10 minutes of time with the provided micro-fiber cloth and the folks at Dynaflo told us that the buffing actually enhances the nano-coating’s ability to adhere to the screen.

You just have to reapply the solution ever 4-6 months and you are good. Also, the included bottle has enough special sauce in it to last you for years and years of applications.

Does It Work As Advertised?

Tough call. Maybe. I don’t know… At MacWorld we saw one of the representatives take a screwdriver to the screen of his phone and it didn’t leave a mark. However, we’re not brave enough to repeat that particular test on our own devices. Since the Hard-Shield spray is still a very new product, there’s not a lot of tests that have been performed on it, and we will be eagerly watching the youtubes for any demonstrations of the scratch resistant benefits of said product. For now, we are giving this a 3 star review for now until we see further proof of it’s scratch resistant qualities, if it does indeed provide all the protection it promises, we will upgrade it to 5 stars.

But for $25, it’s certainly worth taking a look at and applying to your own iDevice of choice! It’s certainly not going to hurt, and it could potentially solve the age old screen protector dilemma once-and-for-all!

Check out the Dynaflo Hard-Shield Nano Coating Spray for $24.99