Product Review: Rain-X Latitude Wipers

Are they as good as the commercials claim?

Rain-X Latitude Wipers

Adam Wright

There is nothing better than seeing an innovation in a product you thought had no more innovations in it. The windshield wiper is something that probably hasn't seen a real innovation since the 80s Double Wiper, remember those? But Rain-X has developed a wiper that throws away the traditional wiper design of multi-points of pressure by introducing an innovative design that employs an even pressure across the whole wiper. They do this by creating a curved wiper. No windshield is perfectly curved or flat, so when applied to a windshield, this curved wiper conforms to the shape of the glass evenly... But does it work?

Real-World Testing

The design is innovative; the theory of even pressure is impressive; and they look cool. However, unlike many cool items you add to your car that don't have to work, windshield wipers really have to function. So whether the Rain-X Latitude Wipers work better than traditional wipers is the real question.

The answer is yes and no. Yes, the wiping quality is very impressive, and they work super well in snow and ice because they don't have the usual framework of traditional wipers that ice can make rigid. But the Rain-X wipers do have one drawback: the pressure seems to recede at the ends of the wiper. You get a super nice wipe, but its over a smaller area than a traditional wiper. The backstroke of the wipe leaves a line of moisture, making a smaller dry area.

So, yes the Rain-X Latitude Wipers work better than traditional wipers, but they fail to meet up to the complete hype of the design. We expect that Rain-X will continue improving them, so in a few years, this design and others like it will probably replace traditional wipers.​