mattlscc wrote:Not worth it in my opinion...

Depends on how often you drive by large bodies of water. Better safe than sorry .... unless you like being stuck in a car underwater?


And still waiting for the order as well.

These work great for motorcycles...just in case.

I have been wanting a punch tool for this purpose for years. Was just thinking yesterday what a great xmas gifts these would be. Lots of lakes around here BIG LAKES...LOL

I now have order confirmation, finally.

Haha, got all excited because the woot server was down for me for the longest time.... Thought for sure something super otterific would be up for grabs.

Not so much. <3 ya woot.

Order went through after 2 hours and many 503 errors. Yippie!

I just ordered mine--looks like everything is functioning smoothly now...

Ok, so someone was able to order?

Fine, put mine in... Processing for a few minutes now... hopefully it will eventually, because I'm off for the night....

[edit] While the original order window still "processing", the item showed up on the account and clicking it gets an order confirmation screen... SO looks like I'm in....

stevesds wrote:Lemme guess the scenario here:

Step1: Buy this in hopes of getting trapped in a car. Wait quietly for step2.

Step2: Accidentally crash your car in a nearby lake or ocean.

Step3: Waste time panicking wildly because you've never crashed into a body of water before.(hopefully)

Step4: Use the safety whistle to alert your family that there is an emergency (rendering them all deaf in the car around you)

Step5: Try to break the driver window with the punch, but you failed to put it close enough to pop it. Now you have to repack it and try again.

Step6: As the remaining air rushes out the hole you made, start cutting your own seatbelt open.

Step7: As you run out of oxygen, just give up and stare at the mesmerizing 5-lumen LED glow in your watery tomb.

Step8: Sleep with fishes.

Step9: Your next of kin will writes a bad review online.

I LOL'd so hard reading this.

Greshmahg wrote:It's easy to laugh at this or claim you'll never need one...and you might be right.

But I have a very close personal friend who was saved by one of these things - the brakes on his car corroded/went out and he ended up driving into Elliot Bay. He will be the first to espouse the virtues of this thing, and verify that it works.

I'm in for 1....or two, as it were. Personally, I don't want my last though to be 'damn, if only I had spent that 7 bucks'.

Or you could just maintain your car properly and not drive around obliviously with corroded brakes...

jasker wrote:Or you could just maintain your car properly and not drive around obliviously with corroded brakes...

That was one example. It could be any number of things. Run off the road, for example. Maybe involved in a ferry incident. I live in Seattle. As you can imagine, there's a -lot- of water up here. I mean really, it's basically buying a really cheap insurance policy for "just in case" something freaky happens. I'll spend more than 8 dollars on a good slice of pie.

I was curious how these things really worked, so I searched this thing on youtube. Pretty impressive demos there, like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7nHwqfluZc&NR=1

Nice tool.

Benchmade liked them enough to distribute them, they are probably good!

bitethat wrote:I'm wondering how this is any more productive than a steeltoe boot.

Er, it's not exactly easy to maneuver yourself in an upside down car to a position where you can use your steel toe boot to break the glass. Especially if you're injured and can't get out of your seat belt.

Also, I don't know about you but:
1) I don't often wear steel toe boots, especially when driving
2) Although fabulously sequined (from the Liberace Collection), my steel toe boots don't light up
3) Blowing on my steel toe boots won't bring help
4) I can't carry my steel toed boots with my keys
5) My steel toed boots won't cut a seat belt

LEM- wrote:Ok, so someone was able to order?

Fine, put mine in... Processing for a few minutes now... hopefully it will eventually, because I'm off for the night....

[edit] While the original order window still "processing", the item showed up on the account and clicking it gets an order confirmation screen... SO looks like I'm in....

same here. still had the processing screen, checked my account and it said i purchased it. checked my email, had the confirmation email. so i clicked the "click here to manually refresh the page" on the processing screen and it brought me to my account page. i clicked the order under the "what you've bought from woot" and got the "you're all set now" page saying my order is in. hope everything's cleared up for everyone now.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Depends on how often you drive by large bodies of water. Better safe than sorry .... unless you like being stuck in a car underwater?


And still waiting for the order as well.

Water is rarely the issue in NY City. Many road accidents cause the car to become so mangled that the doors won't open. Surprisingly, I've seen slightly mangled cars with the windows intact. Breaking the glass becomes the only way to get out. Something like this is crucial if the car is on fire or noxious fumes are entering the closed car, and the doors won't open.

jasker wrote:Or you could just maintain your car properly and not drive around obliviously with corroded brakes...

Yeah, but my anal-retentive maintenance won't prevent some drunk from plowing into me, causing a crash that prevents my doors from opening.

Better safe than sorry. Just bought 6 as stocking stuffers,

in for three. well, six. christmas is coming, after all.

this year, i'm giving the gift of i-love-you-and-don't-want-you-to-die-underwater-when-i-could-have-saved-you. happy holidays.

Hey maybe someone can help me out, this is the second item I've bought on here in the past couple weeks and i still can't find the order tracking on the web page. Anybody got some useful hints?

GregGeiger wrote:if the window breaker went off in your pants pocket, will it hurt?

Depends on how well endowed you are and what type of underwear you're wearing. I personally prefer metal mesh so I'm safe. Padded Kevlar™ is also good, and it looks impressive from the outside.

crauen wrote:Hey maybe someone can help me out, this is the second item I've bought on here in the past couple weeks and i still can't find the order tracking on the web page. Anybody got some useful hints?

Order updates aren;t immediate. It'll probably take up to 24 hours to see the order reflected in your account. You can find tracking inf under your account.

Click here and look on the left for a list of your Woots. Then click on the Woot in question and tracking info should be displayed.

Also Woot should have sent you an email with tracking info for Fedex and/or USPS.

stomas wrote:Nice tool.

Thank you. Now stop staring at me while I dress...

Hi, As a professional car-jacker the most annoying thing you can come across at work is:

1)The ingnorant mark who refuses to roll down their window.

Followed closely by:

2)The fool that can't be tossed out of the driver's seat easily enough as they have a seatbelt on.

I'm in for 3 sets. Thankyou Woot.

bitethat wrote:I'm wondering how this is any more productive than a steeltoe boot.

In order to break the glass, you need to have all the energy concentrated on a small point. With a boot, the energy is distrbuted to far apart and it won't break the glass. Keep in mind, this is for use INSIDE the car, not from the outside. It would be rather difficult to get your leg/foot up from the gas/brake pedal up past the steering weel to get to window. It would probably be even more difficult to manuever yourself around inside the car to get a good "wind-up" to kick the window.

D

LEM- wrote:Two things to consider if I was to have it on my keychain:

Also, if this spring-loaded thing designed to smash glass goes off in your pants pocket, could it cause severe man-damage?

REGARDING SALES TAX ON WOOT and AMAZON

LEM- wrote:Welcome to the world of Amazon! Woot is now a part of Amazon, and so it charges tax to all states, where Amazon charges tax... and that means that you and me (in NY) are out of luck!

A bit of better news is that TAXSUCKS coupon code seems to work for all those states as well, but it only works for orders that are $40 and more....

And TAXSUCKS is limited to $5. Basically, it's a s/h refund to offset the tax we pay. I believe the lower limit is $40.01, which annoys me because all my post-Amazon Woots have been less -- including this one.

As a fellow NYer,I'm ashamed to point out that our state is to blame for the Amazon/Woot tax policy. It was a 2003 NY tax law that forced Amazon to start collecting taxesm even if they have no physical presence here. Amazon filed a lawsuit against NYS, which is pending. Most experts believe that it will reach the Supreme Court. Until this is resolved, Amazon/Woot wisely decided to comply. I say that because Amazon won't then be forced to pay (or collect) zillions in back sales tax in case they lose the suit.

Many Wooters have already heard my rants about this but I'll repeat this bit of info. Amazon is partly arguing that it should not be forced to play tax collector for NY because they have no physical presence there. This is crucial because the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the company in a related case, Quill Corp v North Dakota. It ruled that ND cannot force Quill to pay taxes just because they have clients in ND. The decision hinged on the fact that Quill had no physical presence in the state. Unfortunately, Amazon v NY is a bit different. NY is not arguing that Amazon must pay taxes but rather that Amazon must collect sales taxes from their NY customers, to hand over to NY.

I dispute NY's case for several reasons, mostly because NY should have no jurisdiction over out-of-state Amazon's accounting practices. Why should Amazon be compelled to be NY's tax collector without any compensation, and to their detriment (because the higher apparent prices will lower sales)? This is matter between NY and its residents, and out-of-state entities like Amazon should not be penalized.

I don't know about others but the added tax has certainly made me less likely to buy from Amazon. And I've almost completely stopped buying from Buy.com for the same reason. The prices are simply less competitive. Where is my money going? A lot of it is now going to Hong Kong via eBay. Sorry NY, but your stupid policy is going to backfire with Internet savvy shoppers. We'll always find an alternative whether it be eBay, Craig's list or elsewhere. In fact, friends and co-workers in NJ have been my personal shoppers... and my Woots may be going there.

For Paronoid Americans right?

radi0j0hn wrote:Also, if this spring-loaded thing designed to smash glass goes off in your pants pocket, could it cause severe man-damage?

Only if you're inhumanly endowed and/or very excited, with very binding underwear that forces the relevant bits against your body.

More seriously, the tip seems to be very very short, probably less than the thickness of the glass The point (no pun intended) is not to puncture the glass but to shock the glass into breaking. In that case, the "needle" probably isn't even very sharp. Unless you're very unlucky, it's unlikely to strike anything anatomical, including your thighs.

Too bad this woman didn't wait for today's Woot before getting lost on the way home:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/16/BAAH1EUOCI.DTL

pippakay wrote:in for three. well, six. christmas is coming, after all.

this year, i'm giving the gift of i-love-you-and-don't-want-you-to-die-underwater-when-i-could-have-saved-you. happy holidays.

I hope none of the recipients gets trapped before xmas!

Ordered 2 sets. Can't wait to use them. Hopefully will come in handy soon.

sdc100 wrote:Only if you're inhumanly endowed and/or very excited, with very binding underwear that forces the relevant bits against your body.

More seriously, the tip seems to be very very short, probably less than the thickness of the glass The point (no pun intended) is not to puncture the glass but to shock the glass into breaking. In that case, the "needle" probably isn't even sharp. Unless you're very unlucky, it's unlikely to strike anything anatomical, including your thighs.

C'mon folks. This is not like locked and loaded like a gun ready to go off. You couldn't produce the conditions necessary to fire it in your pocket unless you were really trying. And then you might not be able to do it anyway.

OK, what the hey, in for three (3) which is actually six (6). Yeah, I'll put one in each vehicle which has glass or seat belts. Will also show concern for kids and grandkids and hand a couple out. I am thinking this is just a good thing to do. I feel better, safer, now. Thanks, Woot.com.

Couldn't I just keep a cheap claw hammer under the front seat that I am sure would work? It would also provide me a little more protection.
$4.99 at Walmart online.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Grip-41140-1-lb.-Fiberglass-Claw-Hammer/14698606

tlee87 wrote:Ordered 2 sets. Can't wait to use them. Hopefully will come in handy soon.

Hmmmm... that sounds ominous. Should I forward this post to the police?

GitEmSteveDave wrote:

Trust me when I say that you would know when you are pressing up against the tip way before it builds up enough pressure to spring, so you have more chance of being injured by keys in your pocket than a center punch firing.

Very true. I have been carrying a similar one for years (without the light and whistle) and have never hurt myself with it. Meanwhile I have poked myself with a key during that time. No it did not require hospitalization.

i bought 3 (2 packs).
it'll be a good present to give to the family members.

just leave it in your car just in case something horrible happens. it could save you or a loved ones life.

i think i can spend $29 on that.

eco2geek wrote:For that, you have to buy the deluxe model, which comes with a built-in cell phone.

Seriously, has anyone here actually used one of these gizmos and have experience with how effective they are at seatbelt cutting and window breaking? I'm a bit leery of videos where the guy's practised using it so often he makes it look easy.

Everyone on my rescue squad has one of these attached to their turn out gear. The seat belt cutter slices right through the webbing without worrying about cutting the patient or yourself with exposed blade.

And the window punch will shatter side and rear windows as simply as pushing the device against it and letting the spring loaded punch do it's job. Just use moderate force in one of the lower corners and the safety glass spider webs, then just carefully push out the glass.

Last time I was submerged in the river, I didn't have this tool and drowned. I was a grasshopper back then and this time, reincarnated as a human, I've decided I must have this tool!

Does anyone know if these will float?