Open It! - WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Now that the holidays are upon us many of us will be having to open a lot of packages over the coming weeks. Some of those packages will include zip ties and twist ties that are sometimes nearly impossible to open without some form of tool. Now there's a product that claims to take all the wrap rage out of opening anything. It's called the 'Open It' and this week I 'Try It Before You Buy It'.

You may remember the 'Package Shark' that I tested a few months back that's suppose to help you open those 'clam packages' without forcing your patience into overload. I found that it worked pretty well. But now there's a gadget marketed for you ladies called the 'Open It'.  It's made by the Zibra Company and was designed in collaboration with female consumers from around the country. It's one of three products in the 'Open It' series of products and it's suppose to take the 'wrap rage' out of opening all kinds of products...even battery compartments and bottles!

Ironically, the 'Open It' package isn't easy to open at all! So I had to resort to the old fashioned way and use scissors to open it.

Once I had the package open, I decided to test the product's claim that it cuts through zip ties and twist ties like butter. Many manufacturers use those now to hold toys and other items tightly in their packaging. I went to the workshop in the station's basement where I found Al Ruffra, our maintenance manager. He supplied me with a variety of zip ties and a long extension cord to bind together. After zip tieing the cord together, I grabbed the 'Open It' shears and went to work. It cut right through the ties with ease, as long as there's enough room between the item and tie to squeeze the 'Open It' shears in!

Zip ties aren't the only obstacles the 'Open It' claims to help you overcome. Have you ever come across an electronic device that has a battery compartment with tiny screws you need to remove before opening? The 'Open It' is suppose to help you there too. It actually has a tiny screwdriver included in one of the handles that you can use to open such compartments. I tested the screwdriver on an old wireless microphone battery pack, and it took out the screws with ease!

The shears work well when it comes to opening boxes, zip ties and clam shell packages. The accessory razor blade also is handy to help open CD and DVD packages.

We purchased the product at a local Bed, Bath & Beyond store for $9.99 and overall, I think the 'Open It works well when it comes to getting into hard to open packages.

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