A Gadget Gearhead Tale of Caution!

Now that all your gifts are wrapped and under the tree, I'm going to ask for some feedback on products from a company I'm currently mesmerized with. Let me tell you my story. Every morning I have this little routine of playing FreeCell on my phone along with another solitaire game and finally a challenging word game. A few years ago if you'd asked me, I would say I'd never be that guy. Nose buried in my mobile device with the rest of the world turned off. Well, I'm still a tad critical of folks who just can't let go of their phone, but I'm a little more understanding now. In the midst of all those ads for other games that promise to be completely free of ads, I started noticing over this past year these ads for gadgets that I thought were the coolest. One of them was for this hand-held wireless blower. The ad first shows someone clearing leaves off an entire patio in about three seconds flat. Then we see it quickly drying a just-washed car and next we see you can reverse the airflow to have enough sucking power to crush a 5-gallon water bottle. Amazing! Another ad showed a way-cool set of folding electrician's pliers. My goodness, the things you can do with them. I've done a fair amount of homeowner wiring over the years and this set just looks incredible. It strips wires of various gauges, it cuts, crimps and merges wires, tightens screws, it acts just like a pair of pliers and it even has a voltage meter! The little 30-second video shows these pliers doing so many things, I think I'd need to download the video and try to memorize all the incredible tasks they can take care of. Next up I saw an ad for this vacuum sealer for foods. The handheld device sucks all the air out of food storage bags so you can vacuum seal just about anything. That seems useful, right? Vacuum sealed leftovers would surely last longer in the fridge. Then I saw a really neat contour gauge that looks like a flattened Slinky which allows you to outline the most complex corners and indentations. Great for woodworking! The one thing I noticed in common with all these products was the name, Sakerplus, so I looked online to see what I could find out about it. Some of these gadgets were so amazing in the ads, I wanted to find out more. Well, there was a lot to be found online about Saker, Sakerplus and SakerPlus. My first question was whether or not the company was legitimate. Yes, indeed, it's an outfit based in Hong Kong. The search results also shared that though they are not part of the same company, Sakerplus is a lot like Temu. They are both super cheap online retailers that use a ton of targeted advertising. Oh, the scathing reviews I read! Both Facebook and the Better Business Bureau sites were loaded with reviews and at least 75% of them were negative; some incredibly negative. More than one person said they wish they could give a lower score than 1 but the software wouldn't let them. The only review site that had a more balanced amount of positive and negative reviews was from one I'd never heard of: Trustpilot. So, of course I looked up to see if Trustpilot was a legitimate entity and they are. The complaints were all over the place. Many, many said their item simply never arrived and they got absolutely no response via email or phone. There was a bunch that complained about the time it took to receive the item and just as many complained about quality. Several yelled in all caps, "DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY!" But, darn it, I'm a gadget guy and some of these gadgets are so tempting! I found a workaround, though. I looked up Sakerplus on Amazon and they carry lots of their items. There's even an Amazon-hosted Sakerplus store. So, if I wait 'til after the holidays, I might try some of the cool tools I think I can't live without. Going through Amazon, I know I can always return items. One more temptation I'm definitely going to avoid is this amazing robotic puppy called Nicco. Not a Sakerplus offering but along the same lines. This puppy looks and behaves just like the real thing. It's not possible! And it's only $39.99! Well, I looked Nicco up online and every single review said it was a scam. Probably created by AI. The toy you actually receive looks like a sad Frankenstein created creature that does virtually nothing. Nicco, go home!