Helping Hand tool reviews

Drain Cleaners:
- Helping Hand 10000 Zip-It

Tape Measures:
- Helping Hand 20600 12' Tape Measure

Tool Review: Helping Hand 10000 Zip-It

The Zip-It is one of those simple products that when you come across it, you kick yourself for not having invented it first. It's a handy little tool that makes use of a remarkably simple idea. The Zip-It is great at unclogging sink drains, and it only costs a couple of bucks.

Made of a thin strip of sturdy plastic about two feet long, the Zip-It has barbs that run down both sides. When it's inserted into a pipe or hose and pulled slowly back out, the barbs will snag whatever is causing the clog (hair, dirt, plastic army men, etc.) and drag it out. It has a finger hole on one end for an easy, comfortable grip.

I bought a Zip-It from Home Depot when I was looking for something to unclog the hose leading from my dishwasher to the garbage disposal. I'd never heard of the Zip-It before -- I just happened to see it sitting on the shelf, and it looked like it might do the trick. It was only two or three bucks, so I didn't have much to lose (and nothing else I'd tried so far had worked.)

When I pushed the Zip-It into my dishwasher hose and retracted it, it came back covered with a bunch of black gunk. I was surprised how well it worked. My only problem was that it wasn't long enough to clean the entire length of hose. I shaved off some of the plastic around the finger hole to make it thinner so I could insert it farther, but it still wasn't able to reach the end of the hose. I finally duct-taped a thin screwdriver to the handle and was able to make it reach that way.

Offering Zip-Its in several different lengths would be a nice improvement, but as for the tool itself, there's really nothing to be improved upon. It's flexible enough to bend when following the curve of a hose, and at the same time tough enough that it won't break easily.

One advantage of the Zip-It being so cheap is that it can be disposable. Once you've stuck it down a few clogged pipes, it starts to get that dirty water stink. If the smell gets too strong (mine's not quite there yet) you can just throw it away and buy a new one.

The Zip-It is a great tool for homeowners. It's simple and easy to use, and it can prevent a costly service call from your plumber.  I give it a strong 4 out of 5 stars for its combination of simplicity and effectiveness.

The Zip-It is available from Home Depot, Lowe's, Sears, and several other stores.  It may be branded as Helping Hand, or Cobra Products, or some other brand, but it's all the same tool.  Amazon lists the Helping Hand version for $8.73 and the Cobra Products version for $4.77 -- both of which are over-priced -- but the Helping Hand website currently has the Zip-It for $2.49.  Home Depot recently offered a deal where you could get a two-pack of Zip-Its for about a buck fifty.

(Originally published on Helium.com, July 2009 -- review has been updated)

Home Essentials 5' Drain Cleaner Brush

When you get a clog in a drain or a pipe, you can often clean it out yourself without having to call a plumber.  There are various inexpensive tools you can use to clean a drain or pipe, including the Zip-It and Turbo Snake.  Another tool is the Home Essentials 5' drain cleaner brush.  (It was branded as "Home Essentials" when I bought it, but it might be labeled as another brand now -- should still be the same brush though.)  While it's longer than the other two, it may or may not be better suited for the particular job you need.

The Home Essentials brush, model #83190, is a long bendable plastic tube, with a brush on one end and a handle on the other.  It looks like it would be a great drain cleaner, but it's not as flexible as it seems.  It wouldn't bend enough to make a shallow U-turn in a rubber pipe joint, nor would it navigate a 90 degree turn in PVC pipe.  However, when used in straight PVC pipe it worked great, knocking out a couple of clogs.

The brush itself is made up of sturdy bristles that can probably knock loose just about any clog it comes in contact with.  But when you get the brush, because of the way it's packaged, the bristles may be flattened.  You'll have to force them back into place, which may or may not be possible.  On my brush, I was able to reset the bristles enough to be effective, though not all the bristles would pop back into place.  By reading some of the reviews on Amazon, it seems that this is a common problem with this model brush.

The bristles, when they are sticking out like they are supposed to, are a good size for cleaning out a 1" pipe.  For a thicker pipe, the brush may or may not work, and for a smaller pipe, the brush should still work as long as you can force the brush through the pipe.  The five foot length of the brush seems adequate for most residential jobs, as long as you can force the brush through any turns in the pipe or hose.  This brush gets 2.5 out of 5 stars -- an average tool that can be helpful in some situations, but the way it's packaged negates its usefulness a little bit.

The Home Essentials drain cleaner brush is not very expensive, so it may be worth buying it if you have a stubborn clog that other drain cleaners won't clear.  It was about $8 when I bought it online a few years ago, but right now Amazon.com has it for just $0.99, plus $4.49 shipping.

(Originally posted on Helium.com, Sept 2011 -- has been updated since then)

Miscellaneous / Unbranded Tool Reviews

Caulking Kits:
- ProCaulk Caulking Kit

Drain Cleaners:
- Home Essentials 5' Drain Cleaner Brush
- Turbo Snake

Multi Tools:
- A1ST Mini Multifunctional Pocket EDC Tool
- Jeep H07 Multi Tool
- Sequoia 10-in-1 Multi Tool

Pick-Up Tools:
- WorkShop 87602 Telescoping Magnetic Pick-Up Tool

Screwdrivers:
- DCI Travel Tools Keychain

Tool Kits / Tool Sets:
- FineAuto Products 31 Piece Roadside Emergency Kit

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!!