Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsFrame helps but... adhesive missing on edges?
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2022
I've installed a bunch of these over the years for everyone in my family, I've gotten pretty good at it. I paid extra for these because I was curious about the frame.
The frame definitely helps you to position the glass exactly where it needs to be. The notches make it impossible to have it start sticking to the screen until it is aligned perfectly to drop through the frame.
Only issue with the frame is it seemed like I'd get the screen free of dust and I'd put the frame on and see dust and you'd have to remove the frame to get it off... and I seemed to cycle through that sequence a bit more than was ideal.
Even so, This was much, much easier than lining things up with tape only to have it shift slightly when you pull off the inside adhesive cover.
The squeegie was also a step up from using a credit card - any air bubbles came out pretty easily.
But... I can't remember the last time I applied a protector that didn't adhere all around the edges. (unless I mis-positioned it over the curve, which wasn't actually possible here.) With the first application, there were several gaps on the very edge. There were enough - and they were large enough, I had to try again with the second one.
That one came out better, but I still had about 1/4 inch white gap along one edge.
If it was dust, it is kinda odd it would be dust that *only* landed on the very extreme edge. For 2 different protectors.
So I'm inclined to say that the screens themselves came with slightly less than full adhesive coverage along the edges. *Maybe* in the case of the 2nd protector, the sticky bit landed on a notch and a little bit scraped off when it was shifted. (My fingers were nowhere near that spot.) I doubt that was what happened with the first, though, because the gaps were too many and too long, there is no way any notch, finger, etc came into contact with that much edge. (I did hold these carefully to avoid fingers touching sticky sections. You do have to handle the protector differently than the tape-in-place method, but subjectively this felt like it was easier to avoid the adhesive.)
It's too bad, because the frame and squeegie do justify the extra price for ease-of-application. But I didn't get a clean, tidy look initially and it will only get worse as bits of grime get trapped in that little gap.
I may end up ordering a different brand and use this kit when (not if) it needs to be replaced.