Got burned spending $80 on a fancy wine opener that broke after 3 days

So I decided to treat myself to one of those expensive waiter's corkscrews last week. Paid $80 for some brand that claimed to be professional grade. Day one it worked great, felt smooth and classy behind the bar. Day two the screw started wobbling and the lever thing got stuck halfway through a bottle of red. By day three the handle just snapped off in my hand while I was trying to open a cheap Cabernet. Ended up having to fish broken metal pieces out the cork with pliers and the whole bottle got wasted. My old $8 opener from the grocery store is still sitting in my drawer after two years without a single problem. Anyone else ever waste money on something that was supposed to be an upgrade but just made your life worse?

3 comments

3 Comments

grant.nina19d ago

Man I used to be all about those fancy wine tools too but now I just grab the cheapest one at the store and call it a day. Nothing beats simple and reliable.

henry_martinez19d ago

Did you catch that article about how most cheap corkscrews actually work just as well as the expensive ones? They tested a bunch of them and the $5 one got the job done the same as the $50 one. I read that somewhere last week and it stuck with me. Makes you wonder how much money people waste on things that don't really matter. Simple tools do the same thing, just less flashy.

jessicaflores17d ago

Yeah I pretty much learned that the hard way. Bought a fancy waiter style corkscrew for like 40 bucks and the little worm broke after a month. Now I just use a simple two lever one from the grocery store that cost five bucks. Had it for two years now and it still works fine. The only thing I'd say is avoid the really plastic ones that feel like they'll snap. But other than that cheap is totally fine.