Cheap gadget mini-reviews

Cheap gadget mini-reviews

Written by Ken Sunday, 15 February 2009 17:52

Cheapgadget mini-reviews

Five ultra-cheap outdoor gadgets reviewed

It’s that time again – feeling broke but needing a gadget fix, I headed over to dealextreme.com for some ultra cheap toys. As usual lots of things went into the basket only to be removed on the grounds of expense, uselessness or on a whim. This time my attention was on outdoors and “survival” equipment, and I managed to get five different items delivered to my door for around £7.50.

 

Ultrafire bottle opener with screwdriver and spanners

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4642

$1.97 – about £1.37

 

Some people would dispute whether a beer bottle opener counts as survival equipment, but I’d like to suggest trying to survive a camping holiday without one! This particular example, as well as opening bottles, also features a cross-head screwdriver, and 5mm, 7mm and 8mm spanner slots. There is also a small hole suitable for attaching a keyring.

 

Probably the highest quality item in the bunch, the ‘Ultrafire’ bottle opener claims to be made of stainless steel, although the black coating makes it hard to tell. It’s manufactured to very high tolerances, and feels weighty and quality in the hand.

 

During extensive testing conditions (it’s a hard life, reviewing bottle openers!) around 30 bottles were opened, and the ultrafire proved to be almost as good as the larger Heineken museum freebie bottle opener which is the benchmark used by DinkyKitty for all comparisons. The ultrafire coped with a range of bottle top sizes (including chunky oversized Hoegaarden tops) and in about 75% of tries opened the bottle on the first attempt.

 

As a serious tool, the screwdriver and spanners probably won’t see much use, but if the bottle opener is laying around they might come in handy. As an interesting looking and functional bottle opener, the high-quality Ultrafire is recommended.  8/10

 

Water bottle carabiner clips

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.17803

$2.29 – about £1.59 for two

 

Apparently common in the US, I haven’t seen these water bottle clips  in Europe before. The basic idea is simple – a cheap metal carabiner is attached via a short webbing strap to a C-shaped metal clip that is designed to hold onto the neck of a normal plastic drinks bottle. It is then easy to attach the drinks bottle to backpacks, belts, bags and bandoliers.

 

These come in packs of two, and appear in various pot-luck anodised aluminium colours (mine were red and orange). Build quality is excellent – the carabiner is sturdy with a sprung gate, the webbing is well stitched and the bottle clip is easy to use but strong enough to hold even a heavy bottle (tested with up to 1 litre water bottles – I haven’t tried it with a 2 litre soft drinks bottle though!) The only downside is that the grip is so strong that removing a bottle from the clip is a two-handed job.

 

Highly recommended for the price, these are an excellent idea for anyone who hikes, cycles, kayaks or likes to carry plenty of water around with them. They would also make excellent small gifts, stocking fillers or rewards for active children. 9/10

Steel reusable match

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19144

$1.88 – about £1.30

 

Fire is one of the most important things to have in a survival situation, which is why I usually try to carry a cigarette lighter (it saves mucking around rubbing those sticks together!) The downside with normal butane lighters is that you have to keep your thumb on the button, in close proximity to the flame, while you try and light your fire, which usually results in singed digits.

 

The reusable match is a pretty simple idea – it’s basically a zippo lighter turned inside out. A container full of wadding which you soak in lighter fluid, a steel “match” wrapped with a wick which picks up the fluid from the wadding, and a flint strip down one side on which you strike it. The sparks from the steel/flint reaction ignite the fuel on the wick, and presto, you have a vigorous flame on the end of a short stick which can be used to light your fire.

 

Although it looks nice from a distance, build quality on this example is pretty poor – there’s a very cheaply moulded plastic container (complete with imperfections, rough edges etc) around which a thin sheet of shiny metal has been wrapped, leaving edges that while not actually sharp are still a little unpleasant. The keychain clip is cheap metal and doesn’t look trustworthy, and the rubber seal that stops the lighter fluid leaking out is slightly misshapen and probably doesn’t provide a perfect seal. All that being said, it certainly performs its job, creating an admirably big flame (usually on the second or third strike).

 

Despite is poor build quality, the product works as advertised, and since its about half the size of a zippo lighter (and a twentieth the price) it makes a worthy addition to a survival tin. Just remember to keep it topped up with lighter fluid!  6/10

 

Automatic knife maintenance and sharpener

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7176

$1.90 – around £1.32

 

I was looking for a credit-card sized carborundum knife sharpener that would be more portable than a full oilstone when I came across this strange looking beast on dealextreme. The design is a ring of abrasive oilstone material set between two round metal ends, with a v-shaped channel designed to press your knife blade against the stone. By rolling the sharpener back and forth with your knife in the groove, it should abrade the edge and thus sharpen the blade.

 

I was somewhat disappointed with the product when it arrived – build quality is pretty poor, with very cheap plastic ends glued AND screwed onto cheap metal. The oilstone material at least seems decent, but I was rather unsure about how the product would actually work. I first tried it out with a cheap multi-tool, rolling the blade backwards and forwards. There was an impressive grinding noise, and some evidence of dust and abrasion. However, the knife didn’t seem to be getting any sharper, and the edge of the blade was looking fairly scuffed. Since then, I haven’t dared try it on any decent knives, so the product is relatively unproven.

 

A disappointing purchase, this sharpener might be suitable for keeping an edge on cheap kitchen knives, but I am reluctant to risk it with any decent steel in case it does more harm than good! I’ll stick with the old fashioned oilstone for now.  2/10

 

 

Jet 1300c butane lighter

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1320

$2.78 – around £1.93

 

Two fire-related products in one article? Ok, I’ll admit I’m a pyromaniac! Not so much a lighter, more a small blowtorch, the Jet turbo-torch runs off normal cigarette lighter butane, and claims to be able to reach a flame temperature of 1300 degrees C – hot enough to melt a variety of metals (or brown your crème brulee nicely.) Given that it’s a long, strong jet of flame it should be pretty windproof as well.

 

Although this product arrived empty of fuel, it was very easy to fill up using a normal bottle of lighter gas (about £1 at my local supermarket) – the clear plastic fuel reservoir makes refilling simple and allows you to see how much you have left. The small plastic stand and dust cap on a chain seem rather pointless, and will surely go missing or fall off, but quality overall is good if rather plastic.

 

A simple thumb-button starts the flame (usually on the second try – the first just pushes enough gas through to the piezo-electric sparker) and there is a small switch that can be used to lock the lighter on once the flame is burning (maybe for hands free soldering/brazing, using the supplied stand?) One major problem is that the flame can take up to five seconds to go out – I managed to burn myself the first time round, assuming the torch was safe when it wasn’t!

 

For the price, this seems a high-quality bit of kit, although I can’t vouch for its long-term reliability. It might make an excellent addition to a small toolkit for those people who sometimes need a burst of heat to free stuck nuts, or as a kitchen accessory for those who have every other utensil already.  7/10