£20 for a tin-opener? Are you mad!? (Culinare One Touch Automatic Can Opener)

Member Name: bigdoug

Product:	Culinare One Touch Automatic Can Opener
Date:	29/01/09 (315 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: For those of us with limited hand strength and mobility this is a boon

Disadvantages: You will always fight over who will get to open the next tin of beans

Originally an all-white affair available for the full retail price of £20 it has spawned a family of new offerings that feature soft-grip inserts for comfort in a choice of colours red, blue or lime as well as a rechargeable version for convenience that uses a charger rather the need to replace the pair of AA batteries, which are supplied with the opener, that power the other versions. The rechargeable version, available for the slightly-higher full retail price of £25, boasts that it is capable of opening a staggering 30 cans from a single charge.

Currently, (January 28th 2009) the battery-powered versions normally available for around £20 can be secured for the following prices £16.96 for the original white one; £10.85 for the one with red soft-grip inserts; £12.18 for the one with blue soft-grip inserts; £8.26 for the one with lime soft-grip inserts; and £25 for the rechargeable version. All available for purchase online, with free delivery in the UK, from Amazon.com.

Whether the Culinare One Touch Can Opener you choose is; rechargeable, battery-powered, with or without soft-grip inserts the operation is the same. The One Touch is capable of opening cans, with diameters between 67mm and 100mm, at a single touch.

What struck me about the tin opener as I unwrapped it, was its size. I don't know why I just didn't expect it to be quite so big. I doubted whether it would balance on the top of the can ok and to that end I found the first few times I used it, - I know I bought it for my mother, well I got my self one too! - I was supporting the opener until I was satisfied it had "bitten" securely onto the rim on the tin before letting it go to do its stuff unhindered. The opener overran the circumference and seemed to start well into a second lap of the now open lid of the can - bit I guess that's so it can open the largest circumference tins without the need off a laser-aided satellite navigation system to calculate exactly when to stop removing the top of the tin.

But joking aside there is a cut-away section on the underside of the opener that allows the opener to function only when the rim of the tin is proud enough of the end of the tin to sit in the cut-away like a fail-safe power kill switch. For this reason the opener lost power as I tried to open a large diameter Fray Bentos tinned Steak Pie but the rim was not proud enough to allow the opener to stay powered. So it was back to the manual tin opener for this baby. The culinare website does actually provide you with teXt to warn you that "With One Touch it may not be possible to open cans with heavy seams, rimless or odd shapes."

Once the cutting process was finished and the motor had stopped, the now lid of the tin is removed with the One Touch as it is held quite strongly by a magnet in the body of the opener. The first time I tried the lid seemed a little tricky to remove - especially as I was trying not to get any baked bean juice over my hands. But as with most things repetition and little practice got this down to a fine art without drama. So those of us with limited hand strength and mobility, or simply a fascination with motorised gadgets, this is a boon.

Summary: An inspired product that definitely delivers on both fun and functionality