Tool Review: Turbo Snake

The Turbo Snake is one of those "As Seen on TV" products that you always see advertised late at night.  It's basically a miniature version of a plumber's snake, designed to wriggle into a drain and grab all the hair, dirt, and other gunk that's clogging it up.  It was my wife's idea to get one, to save on all the Drano we'd been buying recently.  I wasn't sure it would work, but we bought it and I'm glad to say I was wrong.

The Turbo Snake is made up of a head of bristles on the end of a long semi-flexible length of plastic tube.  You force it down into a sink or tub drain, and all the junk clogged up in there catches on the bristles when you pull it out.  It works well, and can unclog a drain in a minute or two.

The Turbo Snake seems to be aimed at homeowners who pay for liquid drain cleaners every time their drain gets clogged because they don't have either the time or the tools to everything apart and clean out the clog.  If you've used the Zip-It before, you'll like Turbo Snake because it's more durable, more flexible, and easier to store.

The downside to the Turbo Snake is that it is very difficult to clean.  The hair and other debris gets so entangled in the bristles that you have to methodically pull it all out by hand in order to get it clean.  I tried soaking the head in warm water (with soap) to loosen the dirt up, but it didn't make a difference.

It's also hard to bend the Turbo Snake back into a circle to hang it on the hook.  It's flexible enough to be useful down a drain, but getting it back into a coil is like trying to bend a paperclip back into its original shape.

Still, the Turbo Snake is nice to have.  The head is so small, you can slide it down a bathroom sink drain without having to remove the stopper.  And it's bendable, so it can twist and turn with the direction of the pipe.

I bought my Turbo Snake kit for $10 in a store.  The kit comes with one snake for the sink, a larger snake for the tub, and a plastic hook with an adhesive back to hang them both on.

I give the Turbo Snake 4 out of 5 stars, and I would recommend it to any non-plumber homeowner.  If you already have a Zip-It, the Turbo Snake is still nice because it's more flexible and it's better at grabbing hair and other gunk.

Amazon.com lists the Turbo Snake kit for $7.67 right now, eligible for free shipping.

(Originally published in slightly different form on Helium.com, Feb 2010)

UPDATE: As of June 26th, 2014, the price has dropped a penny on Amazon, down to $7.66.  Savings!!