Hot holiday gadget? You'll never guess

One of the best-selling gadgets this holiday season is, in many ways, something a lot closer to the Iron Age than the Digital Age.

(Credit: Black & Decker)

Black & Decker's battery-powered adjustable wrench was a quick sellout at Home Depot's 2,127 stores, according to Advertising Age. The item became so popular that it even saw a bit of price gouging on eBay, running up to $58 on some auctions from the $18 price listed on Lowe's online stores, which also ran out of the product. Not exactly PS3 prices, but not bad for a wrench either.

The product's success won't be enough to save Black & Decker from an 8 percent quarterly sales decline. But at least it won't throw--you guessed it--a wrench in its plans for the New Year. Many apologies.

[krosspen]

it's gotta be lame

come on, can't twirl your fingers to move the jaw....and use the sensitivity of your touch to adjust perfectly? I don't have one of these wrenches, but bet it is crude and in-effective.

[treet007]

Ever replaced the toilet innards upside down?

If you ever had to replace the inside parts of a toilet or any other parts in a real cramped space, then you can appreciate a wrench like this. My wife and I had to do all three toilets due to their age, and trying to tighten the bolts with a wrench that keeps slipping is a royal pain the kesster.

Now, being that said, I do not believe a lot of the customers who bought this gadget would ever replace a toilet, so they would never use this gadget to the fullest extent possible... :-)

--GIF

[sgtpokey]

re:it's gotta be lame

No offense to the original poster, but anyone who uses a wrench for general handiwork will really appreciate this wrench. The biggest problem with adjustable wrenches (and they even say this in the one commercial I saw for this) is that they are adjustable. This means for most tasks they tend to slip and 'unadjust' as you apply pressure and rotate it around.

The 'must-have' feature is not that it saves you effort to adjut the wrench, the feature is that it stays at that size all the time so you don't have to keep refiddling with the sizing.

People are not running to Home Depot in a 'Must have Wii' phenomenon, they are actually buying it because it actually solves an annoying problem that people just used to deal with without ever realizing that it could be made better...

I know I'm loving it! (yeah sad)

[jhsyang99]

Wow...shortsighted

Few reasons why its not lame:
1. If you ever used a wrench in a hard to reach spot, good luck trying to getting your other hand to adjust while you're holding the wrench with the other. You can of course keep removing the wrench- adjust and see if you get it right- but its far easier with the button.
2. The wrench stays in the measured position- unlike manual ones- so it doesn't lose its "bite" after a few turns.
3. My dad is partially paralyzed so having this is a blessing for him too as you only need one hand to use it.

Lastly- I can't believe that people that don't have a product think they can review it- or if you've never used it- to bash it. Oh yeah- you can try the wrench before you buy it- the packaging lets you test the mechanism so take a trip and test it before you make lame statements.

[Aduana]

An invention searching for a use

The perfect gift for "The Guy Who Has Everything".. get him a tool that he didn't even imagine he COULD want!

[micker377]

Battery powered wrench

I looked closely at this at the store. I seems that to put pressure to turn wrench, you would have to put your hand right on the switch!