Three things that work as advertised.

I get tired of feeling cynical about commercial products, but they just won't give me a break. Or, they break. Here are three exceptions that I'm feeling pretty good about right now:

Fujitsu ScanSnap


Light, portable, and extremely intuitive. You can process your image any way you want it, right on the spot. Send it to iPhoto? You got it. Email it? Done. Several pages of a document? No problem, tell it when you're finished and it'll make it one file. I processed thousands of paper photos to digitize them, and I would have done it in half, maybe one-third the time with this puppy. Bus-power gives it extra ♥♥♥.

[Disclaimer: Annie bought this, and I just now choked up a little when I saw the price. Still, if you want a quick, small and convenient way to deal with paperwork on the road, I stick by my recommendation.]



Canon Pixma iP100 mobile printer

It's billed as a travel photo printer, but does a bang-up job on regular print jobs, too.  I have to print several times a week, and lugging our old HP up and down from the overhead storage was oppressive.  Losing my grip and dropping it on a cat was never popular.  It's light (made to be portable), but does the job well.  Not bus-powered, unfortunately, but I can't have everything.  Doesn't scan, but see above.




Mini countertop spin dryer


This is small, but effective.  I got this after I led you through a madcap laundry day in the Duck, and I like it a lot.  It isn't a dryer, as the description reminds you, but clothes come about halfway between just out of the conventional washer and completely dry, after two minutes of spinning.  Downside:  it doesn't hold a lot at once.  A pair of jeans, or three shirts.  But, if you like to do your laundry as you go, or you don't dirty a lot of clothes, this "downside" turns into an advantage, because its compact size makes it easy to hoist up onto the counter for a quick wring.

Another "downside" for me is that it isn't manual, so a little electricity is required.  It uses a nominal 0.75A, so if you ran it for an hour you'd use about 0.75Ah, or (for the gridlocked) 0.08 kwh.  Each 2 minute spin would use 0.003kwh.  If you pay 13¢ per kwh, like we do here, that would cost you 0.04¢/wring-a-ding (someone check my math).

If you get one, do read the instructions.  Especially the part about removing the shipping brace on the bottom.  If I hadn't seen a video it wouldn't have occurred to me to flip it over and take that thing off.

I haven't given up on getting a hand-wringer.  I emailed my man, Grant, at Get Prepared Stuff, because he offered me a used mangle at a good price, and I wanted to take him up on it.  Tragically, I never heard back from him, so I think our brief affair is over.  Some other woman is fondling the mangle that should have been mine.

Using a duck with a wringer.

You may think you're done, done, DONE with the washing subject and good riddance!  You may want to avert your eyes for a minute.  Better plug your ears, too, just in case.



Remember Grant, the Get Prepared Stuff guy whom I may be getting a little crush on?  He wrote more about the wringer, AND he's giving Good Luck Duck readers a coupon.







Grant sent me this link illustrating wringers on RV bumpers and other examples of Aussie ingenuity.  He also says about the Best Hand Wringer:

Not to back track from what I said in my last reply but if it came across like the wringer was of no value without a firm location to attach it to, I need to clarify that the wringer still works and will get considerable amounts of water out of clothing, it just won't be the best it could be and I don't have any real data other than to say it does pretty good.

 In explaining the items I have available for purchase I try to set expectation so you know what you are getting.  However, I've been known to talk people out of a good purchase simply because I've erred on over explaining the minuses while not explaining that the pluses could still out weigh the weaknesses. 

 A wringer even attached to a rather insecure bucket or tub will get enough water out of clothing to shave hours and even days off of air drying your laundry. That in and of itself could be worth it's use.  My hope is that people simply understand that it's a different process to wring clothing compared to an electric washer's spin cycle and the results can be much different depending on the clothes or material being run through it, how the wringer is located, how tightly you run the rollers and how much effort you want to put into turning the handle.  There are good reasons why wringers were gladly replaced by a washers spin cycle but I've not found a manual hand powered option that works any better than a wringer.

  My marketing as you've seen is still a lot to be desired but I'll attempt to at least help your readers somewhat and offer a $10 discount if they purchase a wringer and rapid washer together.  They will need to use Google checkout and type in: thegoodluckduck where it asks for a coupon.  They would need to purchase the items from the getpreparedstuff.com site. 

 I'll keep the coupon active for as long as possible but if the internet coupon sites pick it up I may need to turn it off.

 All the best,  

-grant

So, there you go.  He is also offering me a returned one in good shape for a decent discount - what should I do??

Something good may have fallen into place over the past week.  I mean GOOD.  It's not a done deal yet, but it's pretty close.   I should go ahead and tell you, because I'm not superstitious, but that might jinx it.  Better wait.