Which Infomercial Products Make the Grade?

July 10, 2009 — -- "GMA" technology contributor Becky Worley tested a new crop of those tantalizing products you see in infomercials. She tried out four new products in her own home and graded them on how well they live up to their claims.

Find out which products made the grade and which just didn't live up to Worley's expectation below.

Slap Chop

Price: $19.95 plus shipping and handling

Grade: A-

What Worley said: The Slap Chop does a good job on firm vegetables like potatoes and carrots, but on leafy vegetables like lettuce or spinach, it cuts some leaves and bruises some others. With bananas, it predominantly mashed them up.

My biggest complaint is that the uniformity of chopping is a problem. I tried to chop carrots for my babies and some pieces were long while others were tiny. I had to go back and cut the big pieces with a knife so the kids didn't choke.

When I tried to dice an onion, it did a good job on the interior of the onion, but the outer layers stayed intact and just got scored.

The Slap Chop is great for mincing garlic and herbs. It cleans easily because the butterfly design opens up the device fully so you can rinse all the nooks and crannies.

Shuffles

Price: $14.99 plus shipping and handling

Grade: C

What Worley said: Shuffles picked up fine dust, but debris and pet hair merely was pushed around the room. The instructions say to sweep in advance of using the product, but I wanted to see the effect of dry shuffling.

Next, I slightly wet the Shuffles with my normal water and mopping solution. Again, they picked up fine dirt, but pushed all other objects around the room.

After I was done, I found hairballs and dust bunnies deposited around the floor. Mid-cleaning, I tried to wash the Shuffles cloths because they were so dirty, but I couldn't get them dry enough to go back to cleaning. They were so wet that they just left pools of water around the floor.

I had my kids make a huge mess with ketchup, jelly and flour, and when I donned a fresh pair of Shuffles to clean the disaster area, I was surprised that they did a good job picking up all the debris.

The cloth used for the pads is really absorbent. But after the initial wipe-up of the mess, I had to pull the cloths off the shoe-pad, wash them in the sink, wring them out with my hands, put them back on the shoe-pad and then go back over the area to get the stickiness off the floor. It was way too time consuming. A mop or a rag would have been faster, easier and cheaper.

What the company said: "Shuffles receive rave reviews when used as directed, not for sweeping, but for mopping with moderate cleaner," said Brilliance Ventures in a statement.

Ultimate Infomercial Challenge

Strap Perfect

Price: $19.99 plus shipping and handling

Grade: B-

What Worley said: If you want a simple device that pulls your bra straps together so they don't look tacky when you're wearing a tank top -- Strap Perfect does the job. The plastic clasp hooks on one strap, then the other, to pull the bra straps together in between your shoulder blades.

You need to loosen your bra straps before you put Strap Perfect on or it can make your bra straps too tight and uncomfortable. You also could use a safety pin for this task, but Strap Perfect is easier to use than a pin.

My beef with this infomercial is the claim that using Strap Perfect "improves your posture" and makes you look a cup size bigger. It makes your bra tighter if you don't loosen the straps, and it adds a little cleavage, but I didn't find that it made anyone look a full cup size larger or stand up any straighter.

It's a good simple product that hides your bra straps, but the over-promising on bust enhancement and posture improvement bugs me. Hence the B- .

What the company said: "Strap Perfect is the ultimate bra strap solution -- it's easy, comfortable, hides your bra straps and boosts your bust," said Ideavillage Products Corp. in a statement.

Bumpits

Price: $9.99 for a set of three plus shipping and handling

Grade: B

What Worley said: Bumpits have gained some popularity on the runways, on "Dancing With the Stars" and with some celebrities. I tried them and they do the job.

Instead of back combing and plastering tons of hairspray in your hair, you pull some hair forward into your face, place the Bumpits over the crown of your head and then tease the hair back over the Bumpit.

They come in various colors to match your hair and they have little teeth on the edges that help the arch stay in place. They come in multiple heights for more or less bump, and I found that they stayed in place pretty well, especially when I used them with pins or a pony tail holder.

But here's the problem: I don't like the look. The only person I've seen who looks good with this hairstyle is Sarah Palin.

Otherwise, to quote Porter Rawlings, "My friend's 8-year-old kid after he saw the Bumpits commercial: 'Bumpits make your head look big, and they're creepy.'"