Customer Reviews

True Fabrications Rocket Air Pump Wine Opener

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

 

 

I was carefull not to call this Rocket Air Pump wine opener a "corkscrew," since it uses a needle to penetrate the cork and not a spiral screw.

This type of device has been around for many years, and I have used similar products before. The previous other brands of similar needle design all broke fairly quickly. As I have only used this Rocket model a few months, I cannot yet comment as to durability.

The product liability lawyers have "improved" the design as now the sharp needle is encased in a retractible hard plastic sleeve which protects the user from injury. The sleeve slides up around the pump handle as the needle penetrates the cork.

The needle penetrates corks fairly easily and just a few pumps up and down with the handle slowly eases the cork out of the bottle. For older wines with more fragile corks it does a much better job of removing the cork without either breaking it leaving pieces in the bottle than a conventional corkscrew.

There is a significant buildup of pressure in using the pump and one must be careful not to have the cork "pop" to vigorously.

The Rocket needle pump is definitely easier and more fun to use than a corkscrew. I would be careful keeping it away from children. The safety shield is probably a good thing, but children are very clever when it comes to possible misuse of sharp objects.

Firstly I would never buy this product for opening younger bottles of wine. Many other openers are better and the air pump will spill wine if you pump in too much air, which is easy to do. If you think it is cool or you don't mind being very delicate with adding just the right amount of air, it will open younger bottles. For me it was not as easy as a screw pull. Having said that, I bought it because I was looking for something to help with older corks that could have issues related to either being deteriorated or 'stuck' in the bottle due to dryness. This product is a qualified success in those cases. What I find is that usually it will loosen an old cork making it much easier to remove the cork with a regular wine opening device like a decent cork screw. So buy it for help in opening older bottles with tough corks. For this situation it works better than any other product I have tried. Don't buy it to open the under 10 year old bottle.

on 12/30/10, another retailer, QVC, contacted everyone who bought this device (under the Skybar label) to tell them to stop using it. There have been reports of bottles shattering under the pressure used to expel the corks.

Person I bought it for said it did not work on a large wine bottle but did on a small one.

My dad asked me to find a wine bottle opener like this for opening old wines. I was little skeptical but I bought it for him. After using it though, I was presently surprised.

If you actually use it for a fairly recent bottle of wine, the cork doesn't stick to the bottle as much and it will just come right out after few pumps. It's actually cool seeing the cork magically pop itself out. Amazing.

But for older wines, you will need to pump a quite bit more. Since you have to pump perpendicular to the handle, it gets tiring pretty fast. That's my only negative comment about this product.

I'd suppose if the cork is really stuck to the bottle, then perhaps it could shatter the bottle if you pump like 1000 times, but I'd think that you will give up way before then and try for a regular cork screw...

I honestly was a bit skeptical when i purchased it but it works. The only time it doesn't work for me is when the cork is too thick, then it becomes useless but the only bottles with thick corks, is from "San Antonio Winery" which is local to my house. Other than those, it works and works well.

This wine opener opens with ease and leaves your cork intact, for those of you who like to use corks to make crafty items. Don't let the inexpensive price fool you it is easy to use and has a plastic shield over the needle, if you are worried about injuring yourself....BUY ONE TODAY!

No complain with the seller - good and fast. The Pump is awesome!!! If you want to open your bottle of wine with easy, this is for you. Will buy more.

I bought this primarily because of its reasonable price, but it wasn't even worth the price I paid. The pump gasket broke after about 5 uses, and was useless after that so I just threw it away. I recommend the Legacy Opener instead.