Rain-X Original Glass Treatment (3.5 oz) customer reviews:
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Love this stuff 
Its a great product it coats when it rains when you just put it on you dont even need to use the wipers but it does take some work to make sure its not smeared looking. Clean your glass good with windex first then apply and polish off. I dont really buy any of those as seen on TV items but this is the first one that really works well also if you side windows squeak this will help with that as well since is a slippery it will help with weather stripping. Remember this works best when over about 40mph... and you will have to keep reapplying a few times a year
Fantastic!
You don't even need windshield wipers with this, and given the fact that the Arizona sun usually ruins them before needed, this is a very good thing!
Great in some situations, dangerously bad in others 
In heavy rain at highway speeds, Rain-X is amazing. Water blows off the windshield faster than the wipers can remove it. In light rain, or at slower speeds, there is little advantage to Rain-X.
Where Rain-X becomes a serious danger is in misty, foggy conditions or if there is dew on the glass. Under these situations, there appears to be too little water to form large enough beads for the wipers to remove, resulting in a heavy haze that will NOT be removed by your wipers(or quickly reforms). Driving into the low morning sun/oncoming headlights etc. with that type of haze results in inpenatrable glare that makes safe driving impossible. I have experienced this effect in different cars and using various forms of Rain-X (the above liquid and the premixed washer fluid.) Because of this very dangerous side effect, I cannot recommend Rain-X if you live in an area where dew or misty conditions occur.
Does The Job
I gave this little bottle a try after hearing some reviews and commercials about it for several years. Application was easy: thoroughly clean the windshield, apply the stuff with a cloth in circular motions, let it dry for a few minutes, and wipe off. Had two rain storms since, and each time the water beaded up nicely on the windshield. Below 35 mph, the droplets will stay in place. The wipers have an easy time though - no streaks even if your blades are a little worn. Visibility is improved by seeing large water droplets instead of a sheet of rain pouring down the windshield. At about 35 and above the water slicks right off to the edges. I still would use the wipers in heavy rain though. I haven't had a chance to try it in cold/snow/fog weather conditions (it's summer), so I don't know how that would affect it. Side note: I applied it on my wife's older car (with more knicks and scratches in the glass), and she didn't notice much improvement. Could be the type/condition of the windshield, or maybe she just expected more out of it.
Either way, for the three bucks it cost at the local store, I'd say it's worth it. The product is good, it does what it claims, and the price reflects the small, but nice benefit it provides.
Good, not perfect.
What is good about this stuff?
- As others have pointed out, it makes glass hydrophobic, meaning it causes water to bead up. That means that water, and the dirt that comes with it, is easier to push off the glass with wipers, keeping the glass cleaner. Also, it is easier to see through wet glass when the water is beaded up, so you might not need to use the wipers as much. Also, if you are travelling at high enough speed (typically highway speed), the wind will blow water off the glass, so again, you might not need to use the wipers. (Interestingly, the more your windshield is "raked" or slanted, the higher speed you need.)
- It makes glass easier to clean. Dust and even snow and ice sweep off pretty easily. Dried bugs come off more easily.
- It lasts pretty long for what it is. There are other products, like waxes, that do something similar for auto paint, but wax wears off fairly quickly. If you tried to use something like wax on windshield glass, the wipers would rub the wax off quickly. RainX bonds very tightly to the glass, in a very, very thin coating, making it hard to wear off. Depending on how much you use your wipers, you can go quite a while without having to reapply it.
- It isn't all that expensive.
What is bad about it?
- It seems to use alcohol as a solvent (and not the good kind of alcohol either), so the fumes can make you dizzy, especially when you are doing a large area of glass.
- (The real problem) It works great when it is newly applied, but when it begins to wear off, it is worse than nothing. When the wipers begin to wear through the RainX coating, you get thin streaks where the water is sticking to the glass. It actually looks worse than if you had never used RainX at all. So if you start using it, you sort of have to commit to reapplying it once in a while, forever.
So I am a bit reluctant to start using it on a windshield. I would use it on all the other glass on a car though, because that glass isn't rubbed by a wiper, so the RainX treatment might last a very long time. I would use it especially on the external side view mirrors, because snow seems to build up on those pretty easily, and it is important to be able to see with them. I would also use it on headlight covers, provided they are glass (do NOT use RainX on plastic.) The RainX would help keep dust and dirt from building up on the headlights, so they would shine more brightly.
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