From a woman's view point

I frequently finding myself looking for gift ideas for my husband. Sometimes I see his eyes light up when a commercial for some new tool comes on the television. In the case of the Black & Decker Auto Wrench, it was me who thought it would be handy to have around. I don't often find myself reaching for a tool but occasionally I need a wrench for some odd reason.

I bought this wrench to put in my husbands Christmas stocking. It was really for me but I didn't see this as any different from when he bought me a fishing pole for my birthday.

It's packaging says that it will open as wide as 1 1/4 inches. It is 8 inches long and about 1 1/2 inches wide. My initial impression was that it looked pretty cool. It certainly was fun to play with. You push the button one way and it quickly opens to it's maximum width. You push the other button and it promptly closes. Everyone in the house took their turn playing with it.

Now for the practically of it. I haven't seen my husband use it once. He comes from the school of thought that you should use the right tool for job. He says that he doesn't like adjustable wrenches because it's too difficult to get them adjusted tight enough to keep from rounding bolt heads off.

This wrench is worse than any adjustable wrench in his tool box. When you close it on a bolt or nut it just doesn't get tight enough. You can try adjusting it a bit tighter manually but still, it's hard to get the right fit. Like I said, my husband doesn't use it. I've tried to use it a couple of times and found that the wrench just slipped on the bolt. It was really quite frustrating. I was a little let down because I really thought it would be handy tool.

Recently, I found myself reaching for a wrench and I thought I would give it another try. The tool hasn't been used for several months. When I pushed the button it opened fine but it wouldn't close. You have to manually adjust it closed and this is very awkward. It seems to get stuck when you are trying to adjust it with the screw type adjuster.

I think Black & Decker should be embarrassed to put their name on such a tool. This really makes me think twice about the quality of other Black & Decker tools.

In the future, when I find myself shopping for tools, I'll wonder if the Black & Decker Brand is a piece of junk.

I regret buying it.