Customer Reviews

Metrokane Deluxe Rabbit with Foilcutter

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Rabbit is very adept at removing a cork from a bottle. It is not as good at removing the cork from the corkscrew. The handle is just a little too short, lacking enough leverage and requiring a strong force at an awkward angle for the final stroke. Worse, it is very easy to smash a finger at the moment the screw fully unwinds from the cork. This releases all resistance so the handle smashes into the main part. You will definitely learn to grasp near the end of the handle to avoid a mean pinch.

The corkscrew rotates as it plunges into the cork during the first stroke. While the screw is rotating all the force of the handle is pushing down on it. The bearing assembly (part of the screw) is just a couple of washers. Because of friction the screw doesn't want to turn, requiring a lot of force at the handle. The bearing is a weak point of the design in my opinion.

After a few months use the friction got worse and it became more and more difficult to use. It took so much force that eventually the screw bent. I had cut it out with a hacksaw.

I ordered a replacement screw and noticed the bearing was dry of any lubrication. Hmmmm. I added a few drops of motor oil. Now the Rabbit flys! It is SO much easier to use. If the cork is old (we like those old bottles) it is practically effortless to uncork the bottle and to uncork the Rabbit. An amazing difference. New, fresh wines with plastic seals are almost as easy to remove.

My suggestion is to put a few drops of a motor oil or machine oil on the bearings. Remove the cap, take out the screw ("worm" in Rabbit land), and get it totally slippery. If you don't have a quart of motor oil handy, use Vaseline or a mineral oil. Don't use a vegetable oil; it will only work for a while before it oxidizes and turns sticky.

Cheers.

The Rabbit is in a beautiful plastic case. Removing it the first time took me more than ten minutes. What a puzzle! I was about ready to use a hammer to smash the case to pieces. Turns out there are 2 wire-ties, accessible only from the bottom of the case, that must be removed. These ties are under the instruction booklet that fits in a slot in the bottom. I did remove and read the booklet the first thing. But the ties were so snugly woven into holes in the bottom that I thought they were an integral part of the case.

All things considered, the Metrokane Deluxe Rabbit is an excellent piece of machinery for getting a cork out. I would give it a higher rating except that it pinched my fingers more than a few times. The complete process takes four strokes: The Rabbit is attached, like a nutcracker, to the bottle rim. The first stroke, handle up and over the top, twirls and plunges the worm (corkscrew) into the cork. The next stroke, back and down, pulls the cork out. You un-grip the bottle and are done in a few seconds, as advertised.

So far, so good, and easy as pie. Now the cork must be released. You repeat the first stroke, which locks the cork in readiness for removal from the worm. The fourth step, like the second, is back and down and unwinds the worm from the cork. The action is exactly the reverse of the first step -- quite impressive. But this always takes the most effort for me. The problem is that the worm unwinds completely out of the cork before the handle has pivoted through most of its full arc. It is thus free to swing all the way closed with no resistance. This it does with alacrity -- smashed fingers! Take care.

All in all, I like it a lot. It is by far the fastest and easiest device to decork a bottle. But watch your fingers when decorking the Rabbit.

This genre of automatic corkscrew was introduced by Screwpull in the early 80s and is just the thing for hosts who like to open wine at the table but never quite mastered the technique of the sommelier. In point of fact, it is almost impossible to mess up a cork with this smooth instrument. The cork will come out cleanly, effortlessly and incredibly quickly on your first try. The big advantage of the Metrokane is price: the base model is roughly 1/3 the cost similar models from other manufacturers and this sleeker, chrome unit is about 1/2 what the others charge. Despite the bargain price, the functionality is the same and the look is perhaps a bit more sophisticated. It is definitely a purchase you'll appreciate every time you entertain and one your guests will enjoy as well.

From a design standpoint, this is a very good product. But the documentation is pathetic, and was clearly never tested with new / real users. There is no explanation of how it's supposed to work. That understanding is very helpful: with it, you'll never have trouble, and will marvel at the clever design. Let's get started.

Have a bottle of wine handy on which you've already used the supplied (and very good) little foil cutter to remove the foil over the cork.

Take the unit in your hand and look at the movable parts. The overhead lever that swings outward / downward and then is reversed / brought back over the top - moves the spiral corkscrew up and down. To see this, operate the overhead lever with one hand while holding the clamping "side handles" with the other. When you move the overhead handle the corkscrew rotates.

Why is the corkscrew turning? Because it's forced to do that as it goes through a "guide" (the metal collar with gray plastic center). The gray plastic piece has an internal spiral track that forces the corkscrew to rotate as it passes through.

Here's the critical point: as long as the guide mechanism is locked in place and can't move up or down, the guide forces the corkscrew to rotate when going through.

What if this guide were locked in place on the `down-stroke,' but could move vertically on the `up-stroke'? Then the guide would force the corkscrew to rotate on the way down (so the corkscrew would penetrate the cork), but the guide would stay attached to (and _not_ rotate) the corkscrew on the way up - thus pulling the cork.

When the unit is operated correctly this is exactly what happens. But how?

Look more closely: Before using the Rabbit's `side-handles' to hold the wine bottle neck, the guide is locked in place by two protruding spring-loaded latches and can't move vertically. Try it: it won't budge. (You can actually see these small latches projecting over the top of the guide and keeping it from moving - by looking in the area above and to the far rear of the guide, near the smooth rod.)

On the other hand, when the clamping handles are squeezed onto the neck of a bottle, these latches above the guide _retract_, releasing their hold on the guide so it can move upward.

Do this now: Take your bottle of wine and, with the overhead lever rotated to its fully outward / downward position, place the guide directly over the cork and grip the neck of the bottle _firmly_ with the clamping side handles.

Look at the latches described above: they have retracted, and no longer restrain the guide from moving upward. This has no effect during the down-stroke / cork penetration phase, since the guide is already as low as it can go. Because the guide can't move, it forces the corkscrew to rotate when you operate the overhead lever - thus penetrating the cork. Perform this down-stroke.

Now watch what happens when the overhead lever is pulled back to withdraw the cork (while you at the same time continue to grip the bottle neck firmly with the side levers). Because the guide can now move vertically with the corkscrew, it imposes no rotation on the corkscrew. The corkscrew stays inside the cork as the overhead lever is moved outward / downward, and the cork is extracted. Do it. You now have the cork out of the bottle, suspended above the bottle neck, and are still gripping the side handles around the bottle neck.

Release your hold on the side handles and move the Rabbit away from the bottle. The cork is still attached to the corkscrew. Re-grip the side handles with one hand and once again operate the overhead lever, bringing it all the way back to its fully closed position again (as if you were on the original down-stroke into the cork).

As you get to the very end of the stroke, you will feel resistance and will hear a click: the latches have snapped back into place over the top of the guide, locking it in place. The guide is once again `captured' - and cannot move vertically. The cork is still attached to the corkscrew.

Finally, move the overhead lever back yet again to its fully open position (as if pulling the cork from the bottle). This time the latches _don't_ retract (because you're not using the side handles to grip the bottle neck) - so the latches again keep the guide from moving, and this forces the corkscrew to rotate `in reverse' as it passes upward through the guide. The corkscrew backs out of the cork and the cork drops off. It takes all of a few seconds once you get the hang of it.

Understanding the operating principles should help. None of this is well explained (or, indeed, explained at all) in the almost non-existent documentation.

Steve Ferris

I purchased the "Rabbit" for my husband this Christmas. We used to uncork wine with a typical "waiter corkscrew". We are not waiters, and would inevitably spill wine, break corks, and feel like idiots. It took a few bottles of practice to feel like a pro using the Metrokane rabbit. It's really a cool system. I've watched my husband open a bottle of wine in 10 seconds flat. My advice? Be patient. Learn the machine, and after a few tries, you'll be uncorking effortlessly!

From a design standpoint, this is a very good product. But the documentation is pathetic, and was clearly never tested with new / real users. There is no explanation of how it's supposed to work. That understanding is very helpful: with it, you'll never have trouble, and will marvel at the clever design. Let's get started.

Have a bottle of wine handy on which you've already used the supplied (and very good) little foil cutter to remove the foil over the cork.

Take the unit in your hand and look at the movable parts. The overhead lever that swings outward / downward and then is reversed / brought back over the top - moves the spiral corkscrew up and down. To see this, operate the overhead lever with one hand while holding the clamping "side handles" with the other. When you move the overhead handle the corkscrew rotates.

Why is the corkscrew turning? Because it's forced to do that as it goes through a "guide" (the metal collar with gray plastic center). The gray plastic piece has an internal spiral track that forces the corkscrew to rotate as it passes through.

Here's the critical point: as long as the guide mechanism is locked in place and can't move up or down, the guide forces the corkscrew to rotate when going through.

What if this guide were locked in place on the `down-stroke,' but could move vertically on the `up-stroke'? Then the guide would force the corkscrew to rotate on the way down (so the corkscrew would penetrate the cork), but the guide would stay attached to (and _not_ rotate) the corkscrew on the way up - thus pulling the cork.

When the unit is operated correctly this is exactly what happens. But how?

Look more closely: Before using the Rabbit's `side-handles' to hold the wine bottle neck, the guide is locked in place by two protruding spring-loaded latches and can't move vertically. Try it: it won't budge. (You can actually see these small latches projecting over the top of the guide and keeping it from moving - by looking in the area above and to the far rear of the guide, near the smooth rod.)

On the other hand, when the clamping handles are squeezed onto the neck of a bottle, these latches above the guide _retract_, releasing their hold on the guide so it can move upward.

Do this now: Take your bottle of wine and, with the overhead lever rotated to its fully outward / downward position, place the guide directly over the cork and grip the neck of the bottle _firmly_ with the clamping side handles.

Look at the latches described above: they have retracted, and no longer restrain the guide from moving upward. This has no effect during the down-stroke / cork penetration phase, since the guide is already as low as it can go. Because the guide can't move, it forces the corkscrew to rotate when you operate the overhead lever - thus penetrating the cork. Perform this down-stroke.

Now watch what happens when the overhead lever is pulled back to withdraw the cork (while you at the same time continue to grip the bottle neck firmly with the side levers). Because the guide can now move vertically with the corkscrew, it imposes no rotation on the corkscrew. The corkscrew stays inside the cork as the overhead lever is moved outward / downward, and the cork is extracted. Do it. You now have the cork out of the bottle, suspended above the bottle neck, and are still gripping the side handles around the bottle neck.

Release your hold on the side handles and move the Rabbit away from the bottle. The cork is still attached to the corkscrew. Re-grip the side handles with one hand and once again operate the overhead lever, bringing it all the way back to its fully closed position again (as if you were on the original down-stroke into the cork).

As you get to the very end of the stroke, you will feel resistance and will hear a click: the latches have snapped back into place over the top of the guide, locking it in place. The guide is once again `captured' - and cannot move vertically. The cork is still attached to the corkscrew.

Finally, move the overhead lever back yet again to its fully open position (as if pulling the cork from the bottle). This time the latches _don't_ retract (because you're not using the side handles to grip the bottle neck) - so the latches again keep the guide from moving, and this forces the corkscrew to rotate `in reverse' as it passes upward through the guide. The corkscrew backs out of the cork and the cork drops off. It takes all of a few seconds once you get the hang of it.

Understanding the operating principles should help. None of this is well explained (or, indeed, explained at all) in the almost non-existent documentation.

Steve Ferris

We purchased this item. It began to self-destruct in no time. The "eye" fell out; the "chrome" coating peeled; the innards rusted and the gear movement became erratic. We commented to Amazon[.com] but they said they would only cover it up to two months but that Metrokane would do so for 2 years. The product was returned to them asking for a refund. That was months,letters and multiple emails ago. They essentially ignored us. BUY THE SCREWPULL by Le Creuset. They are a little more but work beautifully - and last forever. Addendum: The company finally did forward a new product after their months of ignoring us ( we actually asked for a refund ). Rest assured - it will stay in the box and be used as a gift. We won't be using it.

I'm very satisfied with this opener. It functions just as the instructions tell to operate. Well made and a solid tool.

This is a good product. Do no purchase anything like this that is made out of plastic. They are no good. This is all metal. Very good product

The foil cutter is inconsistent which is not a surprise since the actual cutters are plastic. Half the time the cork extractor takes 2 or 3 plunges to extract the cork.