Why I Switched to NordVPN (And Why You Should Too)

I’ve been using NordVPN for a couple of months now, and it’s become part of our set-up on the road. With four of us living out of the caravan and jumping between free wifi at caravan parks, servos and libraries, having something that keeps our banking and passwords locked down on networks we don’t control matters more than it did back in a house with our own connection.

You’ve probably heard of Surfshark too. Turns out NordVPN and Surfshark are made by the same parent company, which explains why the two look so similar if you’ve ever compared them side by side.

NordVPN sits at the pricier end of the two, but not by much. For what we get out of it, the gap didn’t feel worth chasing a cheaper option over.

Here’s a breakdown of the features I actually use.

1. Global Reach, Speed, and SEO

One of the first things you notice on the dashboard is the map. I do most of my freelance writing and SEO work for clients based in the US, so being able to click a US server and see exactly what my computer looks like it’s browsing from over there is properly useful for the job.

When I’m doing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) work, I need to see exactly what people in the US are seeing on Google, not what shows up from an Australian IP address. Switching to a US server sorts that out in one click.

It’s also handy for streaming. Whether it’s Netflix or motocross racing, switching to a US server means we can get to shows that aren’t always available here, which comes in handy on a quiet night in the van.

NordVPN has over 7,000 servers worldwide, and you can pick one yourself or let it choose the fastest automatically. Unless the connection’s already struggling, which happens more than I’d like out on the road with patchy reception, it runs fast enough that you forget it’s switched on.

2. Threat Protection Pro

This is the security side of things. The Threat Protection Pro section lets you customise a few settings:

• Tracker Blocker: Stops companies like Facebook from tracking your activity across the web via pixels.
• Ad Blocker: Cleans up your browsing experience by removing intrusive ads.
• Vulnerability Detection: It flagged one vulnerable app on my laptop a while back and walked me through fixing it.

3. Meshnet: The Game Changer

This is a feature unique to NordVPN, and one I didn’t expect to use as much as I do.

It lets your devices act like they’re on the same local Wi-Fi network, even when they’re nowhere near each other, which comes in handy for moving files between my laptop and phone without relying on caravan park wifi that barely handles email some nights.

I don’t know exactly how they do it, but it works.

4. Dark Web Monitor

The Dark Web Monitor scans to see if your personal information has turned up somewhere it shouldn’t.

When I turned it on, it found three leaks tied to my personal and work email addresses, flagged where each one had shown up, and gave me a straightforward way to deal with each one. That’s the kind of thing that’s easy to ignore until you’re the one with a leaked password.

5. Password Protection

The password protection, called Password Locker, is the other part I use a lot.

I used to save all my passwords in Google. Moving them to NordVPN adds an extra layer of security, and since they’re already handling my antivirus and VPN, it makes sense to trust them with my credentials too.

I’ve moved my passwords into the locker and it handles the rest, which is one less account to keep separate from everything else NordVPN’s already doing.

The Verdict

Beyond the features above, the interface itself is straightforward, which matters when you’re checking it from a phone with one bar of signal. It’s virus protection and a VPN in one, and between working online, banking on caravan park wifi, and the odd bit of region-swapping for cheaper flights or streaming, it covers most of what we actually need while we’re on the road.

I’ve been using it for months now and it’s stayed part of our set-up, which is more than I can say for most software I try. If you’re weighing up a VPN for your own trip, it’s worth a look.