Anyone Buy Anything Advertised On A TVInfommercial

I must admit I'm facinated by the gadgets sold on t.v. infommercials. The seemingly supercool, can't do without it once you've got it steam cleaners, ladders, bit sharpeners, space saving bags, juicers, etc.

I've actually only bought one infommercial purchase. And, to be honest, I never would have bought it if a co-worker hadn't bought it first, been happy with it, and bugged me everyday to get one!

I actually bought, and use, a Ronco Showtime Rotisserie Oven. I did some internet research before I took the plunge, and most people reviewing it agreed it was one of the few infommercial items that actually came close to performing as advertised. It actually does a pretty good job on chicken and ribs - tasty and pretty simple to cook. And a ton of fat really does drip off the meat into the pan.

Both my and my co-worker's ovens suffered from the plastic cracking completely off the oven where the glass door swivels down. The ovens are still quit usable, though.

Anybody buy any of these "miracle products" that actually lived up to its hype, or at least came close to it? Anybody buy anything that was a total waste of money that we should avoid?

Bruise

i have a showtime to lol yummy chicken and turkey from it.hey another cool infomercail thing is the goerge formans grill best burgers i have ever had came from it

My wife and I recently bought some magic scratch repair liquid sold on TV. The idea is you paint it on over scratches and it fills them in. Sounds like it MIGHT work, so we said, "what the hell?" We have a drawer full of old scratched sunglasses of various origin. I tried it exactly as the directions described on a couple pairs of glasses (some old Ray Bans and some gas station specials). I would have to say the results were actually worse! "Go from scratched to hazy and scratched in two easy steps!" Returned it and will be out $6 shipping or something. Lesson learned!

Re: Anyone Buy Anything Advertised On A TVInfommer

The only thing I recall buying directly from an infomercial is the "MetrInch" wrenches. I still have and use the wrenches, but I don't use them professionally, just for household use. They work as advertised, each wrench fits a metric and imperial size without stripping the bolt or nut. The quality is better than the bargian bin sockets and combination wrenches I had before I bought these, but not as good as the $135 price (over 10 years ago) could have bought at Sears. But I would not have gotten as many pieces with the money at Sears though.

I have bought items from other sources that I first saw on infomercials. The most notable one I remember is the grill that burns newspaper as fuel. It was basically a minature burn-barrel with a hinged flip-style grill that held food between the grill plates. I do still remember **** Butkis in this infomercial shot on a beach, although I bought mine from a catalog. It only fully cooked hamburgers if you very tightly packed about twice the sheets of newspaper that the directions called for. Of course this made the fire hotter and basically ruined the barrel part of the thing in about a half-dozen uses when over-stuffed. Pretty typical of low-end direct-marketed crap on most infomercials.

Re: Anyone Buy Anything Advertised On A TVInfommer

I've never bought any of this stuff out of fear that it might be cheap crap. I'll be watching to for people's experiences and to see if I should be more open about this. Thanks Bruise for starting this thread.

Paul

Re: Anyone Buy Anything Advertised On A TVInfommer

A friend of mine bought one of those airwalker things and apart from only taking up space, she now seems to be on every mailing list ever conceived. Once every couple of months or so she'll 'win the canadian sweepstakes,' she also gets "exclusive offers" etc /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smoker5.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twakfl.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Those knives that never need sharpening LOOK /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif impressive, but why do a decent set of kitchen knives cost acouple of hundred dollars, and they'll sell them for about $100, and they throw in another set, plus the kitchen sink /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif I bet they'd throw in the presenter if you asked /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Re: Anyone Buy Anything Advertised On A TVInfommer

I remember the first time I saw an infomercial for a Roto-zip spiral cutter. I remember thinking this was a great idea. I finally purchased one after about three years after I saw the commercial. I wanted to wait to see if this thing lived up to it's testimonial before I purchased one. I have to say, if you've never used one, your really missing out on a great tool. Since then many manufactures have come out with spiral saws.

Re: Anyone Buy Anything Advertised On A TVInfommer

Oh yeaaaaaaaaah!

MANY years ago, yours truly was reeled in like a trout (so to speak) when I purchased my one and only tee-vee "special" -- the (at that time) ever-popular Popeil's Pocket Fisherman! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif God, I was proud of that thing!

To make this short and to assist me in returning the memory of this ignominious incident back into my subconscious -- let's just say the Popeil's snapped in two and was last seen skimming across the water out of Sailboat Cove in tow by a four-plus pound bass. It now rests in five fathoms at the bottom of Puddingstone Lake -- a shrine to early "as seen on t.v." marketing!

I still have the handle. It makes one hell of a paint-stirrer! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

Press Here for short bio on the godfather of "But Wait! There's More...!"

Re: Anyone Buy Anything Advertised On A TVInfommer

Like tiktok, I bought a Rotozip but I bought direct from them.

I bought the Flo-Bee hair cutting system that attaches to your vacuum and sucks your hair in and cuts it to a preset length. Yes, I know, who on earth would put that near their head??? I did and I have been cutting my own hair for years and saving loads of money and time with that crazy thing. I love it. And yes, everyone thinks I am crazy for using it. But my hair looks good, so who's really crazy?

I also bought some sort of snore-stopping mouth spray. This one is somewhat effective, but was way overpriced. I got reeled in on this one.

I never bought anything else from TV.

Only thing might be the Little Giant ladder, but it was more prompted by Marty's post on it, because I generally cast a skeptical eye on all infomercials. I usually only watch them to look for the 'gimme a break!' things where you get to roll your eyes.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

[ QUOTE ]
BruiseLee said:
Both my and my co-worker's ovens suffered from the plastic cracking completely off the oven where the glass door swivels down. The ovens are still quit usable, though.
Bruise

[/ QUOTE ]

Anyone know if Ronco will replace ovens that have the plastic door swivel area cracked? Ours has the same problem.

I also bought the newspaper fueled grill. It worked.
But you did have to overheat it with extra sheets of paper...

AND you got to continuously and frantically ball up and feed newspapers to the grill to keep it going until the food was cooked...which sorta defeated the leisurely appeal of having a barbecue in the first place.

There's always the "As Seen on TV" store, which actually gives you a chance to see some of this stuff first.

-spica

I purchased one of those tornado/whirlpool spinner
things for my v6 gasoline engine van...now before ya all laugh, these have been out on the market for over 25 years and were first advertised on early VWs for a 5 % HP increase...and on a 60 to 90HP engine a 5 % HP is a pretty good increase. now back then they were $25 bucks. I found it to work ok...it all depends on how crummy your flow pipe was from your air box to the butterfly plate.

i've been getting about an extra 1.5 mpg on the sennia van and its been over a year so its paid for itself....a lot of aftermarket stuff works it way to OEM...lots of the aftermarket 81~93 gti VW rabbit stuff became stock both in engine and chassis, thru the A1,2,3 and MK series, heck they were racing 190hp turbo 1.8 liter back in 81, now its avail with 100k warranty. rob

[ QUOTE ]
Lurker said:
I bought the Flo-Bee hair cutting system that attaches to your vacuum and sucks your hair in and cuts it to a preset length. Yes, I know, who on earth would put that near their head??? I did and I have been cutting my own hair for years and saving loads of money and time with that crazy thing. I love it. And yes, everyone thinks I am crazy for using it. But my hair looks good, so who's really crazy?

[/ QUOTE ]
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Hey, me too! In 1991 I bought one, found another at a garage sale for $2! I've been cutting my own hair, my two boys hair, and the wife uses it on the top of her hair/bangs...We've saved HUNDREDS of dollars by using it! I guess it depends on what style your hair is, as to how well it works - but it works for us!

Folks get that "weird" look on their face when I tell them I use it - they can't believe it! I think some are embarassed to say they use something called a "FlowBee" on their heads...oh well, it's their wallet! It actually has been one of the most cost saving items we ever purchased!

Did anybody fall for the pitch by the (ageless) **** Clark for the "Buddy-L" alkaline battery charger on TV back in 1993? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Fall for it? I bought three of them and haven't opened them. I'm still trying to sell them on this forum!!!

It maybe wasn't an infommerical but I think it was on TV. My dad and I (12 at the time) just moved to Brooklyn NY and we needed pots and pans to cook in. For 29.99 there was this amazing set advertised with like 6 pots and 2 pans. Non stick, wooden handles, looking like the best cookware in the world. So we ordered it and turned out that they were a cast iron 50s and 60s pots. Smallest one weigted like 5 lbs and I couldn't even hold a frying pan with one hand. Later on I was using it for target practice with my 22 and shots wouldn't even go thru.

Matt

I've also bought the Metrinch socket set from an infomercial. Let me tell you, I used this set everyday for over two years to restore a 74 VW Beetle, 20% of the bolts on that car were stripped and the set never skipped a beat. Best tool set I've ever bought. But don't try to use the socket wrench as a lug wrench, yeah, I broke it, alas the only thing that I broke.

Re: Anyone Buy Anything Advertised On A TVInfommer

The same actor that plays "Chef Tony" on the Miracle Blade 3 (or is it 5, or 7?) commercials also pitches vacuum cleaners - sometimes in back-to-back spots.