Customer Reviews

Metrokane Houdini Wine Preserver

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I bought this item as a resplacement for another that had lasted several years before succumbing to the demise to which all devices with cheesy plastic parts eventully succumb. Fortunately, the Swissair I replaced was for use both with wine (suck out the air) and bubbly (pump air into the chamber), and the busted bit was stuck in the wine position, which was fine for 99% of its service.

Like a dummy, I got the Metrokane and chucked the Swissair in one irreversable transaction.

The Metrokane is servicable. It does what it purports to do: It sucks the air out of the bottle. If that were the whole story, I would undoubtedly give this product a 5. Alas, the value of the vacuum is only as good as the staying power of the vaccum, and that requires that the stopper provide a robust seal. To put it simply: The seal seems to be the weak link in this system.

If I pump the bottle, and immediately let out the seal, I get a satisfying hiss, indicating a positive seal. If I pump the bottle and wait a day, the hiss is a little less satisfying, indicating a slow leak. One might expect the day-later hiss to be diminished for other reasons (whatever it is that goes on inside the open bottle), but in comparison to the swissair, the next-day hiss is too differnt from the immediate release.

I have found if I wet the stopper, that helps, and the resulting seal can last a few days with very slow loss.

So, I gave the product a 4 -- it works, but not as well as what it replaced, and I think that issue is with the stopper, not the pump.

I've had enough half-bottles of wine starting to turn vinegar only one day after I opened them. I've tried enough different kinds of stoppers trying to prevent it.

FINALLY -- THIS ONE WORKS!!!

I bought this because it came inexpensively with my Rabbit corkscrew (which is also wonderful) and figured it was worth trying. WOW was it ever! Just put the stopper on the bottle, put the little hand pump on the stopper and give it a couple of pumps, and the wine is good to keep!

On the top of each stopper is a small "vacuum relief valve" -- just touch that to the side to let air back in the bottle to equalize the pressure, and the stopper comes out easily.

It has worked well for a couple days at a time. I haven't tried it for longer.

This product worked fairly well. About 80% of the time the bottles held their vacuum. The other 20%, well... the tops made a good cork. Unfortunately, after only about 20 uses, the pump broke while I was using it. The pressure from the vacuum pulled the plunger away from the handle. Since this piece in internal, there's no way to fix it, so it's basically trash now.

So... 4 points for how well it worked, but minus two for breaking.

While in California wine country, we learned about the benefits of pumping the air out of a wine bottle so the wine doesn't oxidize while in storage, thus, it "keeps" longer.
The Metrokane Vacuum pumps works as advertised, and our wine is lasting much better. We only use it for red wine; the white is usually in the 'fridge.
It is a good product at a very reasonable price. The pump comes with two corks, so you can have two bottles of red wine opened at the same time.

I have had the "other" vacuum wine saver and it did the job so-so. Purchased this one as a stocking stuffer for a freind, and they raved about it so much that I got one for myself. It's great - especially the air release valve. Whow, no more wasted wine!!

I bought this to keep partial bottles of wine fresh for a couple of days (no bottle lasts me longer than that anyway). The pump seemed to pull a good vacuum and the stoppers held it for that period, emitting a satisfying hiss when I vented the bottle. Then it broke in the same unrepairable way other reviewers have experienced. Now it's junk.

I'm going to try the Vacu Vin.

These stoppers do not work in the larger 1.5 liter bottles of wine. They only hold a vacuum for a short time -- not until the following day. Another brand that I have does hold the vacuum in this size bottle -- probably because it goes over the lip rather that inside the lip of the bottle. I thought I'd pass this on to those who want to use the stoppers in both size wine bottles.

If, like me, you have a crazy job and just need a glass of wine (or two) at the end of the day, this is perfect. I drank a bottle of red wine over 5 days and it tasted the same on the last day as it did when I first opened it. I haven't tried using it for longer than 5 days, but if you keep a bottle for longer than 5 days, what is wrong with you?? Keep drinking!

In all seriousness this vacuum pump was the smartest $10 purchase I've made all year.

I got at least 20 good uses out of this wine saver until the pump broke as I was pumping the air out of a bottle. Disappointing, but it was good enough while it lasted that I will probably buy another (I still have the 2 corks that go with it, anyway). But heed this warning: stop pumping when you start to feel resistance. The pump clearly isn't built to take a lot of force.

We received the Rabbit version of this as a gift and it worked quite well for a few months. Then there was a great deal of resistance when pulling the plunger and no vacuum seal on the bottle. I found that the rubber 'o-ring' that maintains the vacuum in the pump had partially come off the plunger.
The pump is now junk, as there is no way to fix this problem.