TouCan offers a one-touch approach to opening cans

Are you crazy about kitchen gadgets? If so, you’ve come to the right place. In this week’s Fab or Flub? column, I’m going into the kitchen to try out the TouCan One Touch Can Opener ($10, Wal-Mart).

Marketed to individuals with arthritis or joint pain, the battery-powered kitchen tool claims to eliminate hand-strain by opening cans of all shapes and sizes with just the push of a button.

In addition to its can-opening powers, the dishwasher-safe TouCan is also designed to open tightly-sealed jars and bottle caps.

First impression

Powered by four AA batteries, the TouCan One Touch Can Opener is a dual-ended product that includes a can opener on one end and a bottle and jar opener on the other. The can opener portion of the product features a blade that clamps down on the lid from the outside and a magnet to help keep lids from falling in.

On the other side, there is a metal clamp that can be used to pry caps off bottles and lids off jars. To test out the TouCan, I used three sizes of food cans (small, medium and large), as well as a beer bottle and two pickle jars.

Fab or flub?

Fab-ish. Despite a string of middling reviews on Amazon, the TouCan One Touch Can Opener defied the odds and turned in a performance that didn’t leave me regretting my purchase. A wonderful alternative to hand-held can openers, the hands-free tool opened multiple cans (in various shapes and sizes) with ease.

While traditional can openers clamp down on the lid from the inside, the TouCan takes a different approach and clamps down on the outside. The result is a removed lid that has smooth, rounded (not razor-sharp) edges and can be reused to cover the can, if needed.

Anyone who has ever opened a can only to see the lid fall right back in will be thrilled to know that the TouCan’s magnet eliminates this issue.

While the can-opener part is by far the selling point of the TouCan, the product does have a few other uses worth reviewing. The TouCan was designed to also open tightly-sealed jars and bottle caps.

Unfortunately, it only seemed to be able to remove bottle caps (I struggled to get it to open the two pickle jars I used for my test).

With that said, I’m still impressed with the success I had with the product and would highly recommend it to readers who suffer from chronic hand pain or anyone looking for an alternative to hand-held can openers.

This story was originally published September 16, 2016 at 2:26 PM with the headline "TouCan offers a one-touch approach to opening cans."