WW-1 Wonder Winder Hand Crank Extension Cord Winder

I bought this over 3 years ago and it is still working perfectly! This is one of the best $30 purchases I ever made. I always dreaded having to use anything that needed a long extension cord (yard trimmer, blower) but this makes putting the cord away an easy job. If it ever breaks, I will buy another one.

May 2014 was when this was purchased. It has been used regularly since then. It works great. It has never jammed when releasing the cord or rewinding.

This device really does work like magic! After the VERY simple install, it winds up a 150ft extension cord quickly and easily and I can't imagine ever doing it the "old school way" again. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars were a few simple issues, but nothing that should keep you from immediately ordering one of these gems.My first issue was on assembly. The unit comes with some assembly required - simply put, you have to install the handle and the part they call the yoke. The handle winds the main pulley that reels in the cord. The yoke pushes the cord against the winder wheel to keep it in contact and promote enough friction to wind the cord. Well - the handle has a spindle or axle that goes thru the unit. On each side are two bushings that slip into two holes drilled into the body of the unit. On mine, one of the bushings was a tad too small, or the grommet that slips into it was a bit too big. So winding the unit felt too difficult. I had to use a fingernail file / emergy board (it was the best option for this) to reduce the size of the insert until it fit nicely. That and a little lithium grease and the unit operated smoothly. The design of this product is such that you can over tighten the small screw that holds it together, causing the winder to bind up. If the main pulley had a sleeve that prevented the sides of the main body from crushing against the pulley it would prevent this, but would also add complexity to the design.But the other issue is that you need TWO hands to wind up a cord, not one. You have to pull the yoke to maintain pressure against the winding wheel while you crank the handle with the other. While this again results in a simple and elegant design, it could be improved by a simple flip lever that uses a spring to put pressure on the yoke. Flip the lever the other way and the spring is disengaged. Now I will admit that different amounts of pressure are needed depending on what you are winding and so on. 3 different springs - light, medium, and firm would help a lot and might be cost effective. I plan to use a small spring or mini-bungee to simulate this as my simple cord for my leaf blower and other items will likely work just fine. You can do the same if you want/need one-handed operation.Last thought - the inlet of the unit is great, allowing for smooth inflow of any cord. I found that in my garage, the cord would drag along the garage door track. This was easily solved with a short 7 to 8 inch section of PVC pipe with some smooth edge fittings. The inlet of the main body of this unit is ALMOST identical to a 2 inch standard PVC pipe. Which means that a 2 inch PVC pipe coupling almost fits over it perfectly. But the inlet isn't quite round and the coupling has to be forced on. If the design were improved so that the inlet was the standard size as a 2 inch PVC pipe, it would make the unit easily expandable using off-the-shelf PVC parts, allowing you to reel in cord around simple corners and such. You couldn't add much length but it would add value and functionality to an already great product.Overall though, for the price paid you really can't go wrong. And a nice touch - they included two of the mounting brackets so you can put your cord in two convenient places. I assume you could buy more of these mounts too - making this reel pretty portable and more functional.

The product description says "Winds 100 feet of cord in 30 seconds". I don't think that is possible. Perhaps if the cord came straight from the store (never used) and was laid out perfectly straight in front of the crank for its entire length and the person doing the cranking was a strong armed athlete... But the cord that has been in use and acquired some kinks (as they all do) will take much longer. And if the cord was outside in the cold weather which makes the cord stiffer it would take significantly longer.I bought the winder for 100 feet electric cord I use to power a Toro power shovel. Last winter when I was just coming back from back surgery dealing with the cord was harder on my back then pushing the power shovel. I needed to find a better solution than winding it around my elbow. This crank is likely to take me 10 minutes to wind the cord into the net, but for me it is worth it because even though it is not as easy as advertised it is still easier on my back than winding it around my elbow. And once cord is in the net it is neater than the loose bundle that I create by coiling it around my arm.I am attaching several photos to the customer photos for this product (visible if you click on customer photos under the stock photo).The winder came in 8 parts (see photo 2) and a long sheet of instructions. It was fairly easy to assemble and install. I am not very handy yet it took me only about 15 minutes. The instructions for the assembly and operation were clear. The unit protrudes 11 inches from the wall, plus it is installed onto a mount which is 1.5 inches. So you need a total clearance of 12.5 inches. The width of the unit is 2.5 inches. Photo #1 shows the mounted winder.The mount has 4 mounting holes. The instructions are to attach the mount using the two horizontal holes. But the stud where I wanted to mount the winder was not wide enough to use both of those holes. So I mounted it using the top hole and one of the horizontal holes. So far this mount appears to have sufficient stability for the crank to work.The unit comes with two mounting bracket. I plan to put one mount outside but I have doubts that the winder will work on the cold stiff cord, given than it was difficult to coil a warm pliable cord. I suspect that after using the power shovel I will have to bring in the cord uncoiled, have it warm up, and then coil inside the house.Update: The winder worked ok. It did slip some and required a bit of guiding by hand so it was not fast, but easier on my back than winding the long cord without it.When you mount the bracket locate it at a height where the crank of the unit is at a comfortable level to crank it. When you coil the cord you will need both hands. As you crank with one hand, the other hand will be pushing on the lever that pushes the cord against the drive wheel. (Photo #3 shows where the cord goes between the level and the coiling wheel). If the cord does not stay in the center of the wheel, the wheel does not grab it and the cord does not coil (Photo #3 is taken from above and shows a good view of the cranking mechanism.)I am a bit disappointed that it took quite a bit of work to get 100 feet of the cord into the net. As you see in the photo#1 100 feet filled the net pretty much to the top, I am not sure how 150 feet cord would fit into the net. The mechanism that pushes the cord against the wheel seems to be the weakest point of the winder, as the cord often slips and needs to be readjusted. But overall it did work, so I am ranking it as 3 star "OK".Ali Julia review