(introduction music) - This is James White
with Freakin Reviews and this is my fourth
annual Worst of the Year where I give you my picks
for the 10 worst products that I reviewed in 2020. I had to go through
over a 150 products to come up with this list. Not everything on this list
came out in 2020. They're just new to me. So without further delay,
let's get right to my picks for the worst of 2020. (chill music) Number 10 would
be the Power Pod. What's kind of ironic to me
is it has the word "power" in it and that's what it seems
to lack the most. I charge an old iPhone 7 Plus
and it only gave it 19% of a charge in one hour
before it's depleted. This might have been good
in 2010, but in 2020, 800mAh, which is all this has,
is not going to cut it. To me, the Power Pod
is an easy choice for my number 10. Let's see some scenes
in my original Power Pod review. Power Pod, which is
an As Seen on TV keychain phone charger. There seems to be a lever
right here that allows you to slide the connector out. All right. Here is the Power Pod
and down here I've got an iPhone 7 Plus
with a battery at 10%. Let's plug it in. All right. It does
show it's charging All right. I came out here
to check at the one hour update. So I got a whopping 19%
in one hour. It's not so impressive. If you buy Power Pod,
you'll probably be disppointed. I kind of realized
that no test is going to make this look better. It's just very weak.
I just think for $20, you can do a lot better
than the Power Pod. (chill music) Back in May of 2020,
I did a collection of car gadgets including this sorry excuse
for a car swivel tray. It's supposedly goes
in your cup holder and gives you a swivel arm
to hold some of your food or other items... It doesn't work very well. It doesn't fit in the cup holder
very well, the tray itself is so small,
it doesn't hold very much. The arm itself is weak.
It's a disaster. Let's take a look
at some of the original scenes from that video. It is an automobile swivel tray. Doesn't look very big, does it? I'm not sure
how well it really swivels. And is that, is it me
or does this look kind of not quite straight? I don't know. But, I'll make it work. I think. All right. Well... Oh, wow. I can't say it's real. It's real firm, but it is staying in place. I don't know if I can put
anything real heavy on here like a drink. Would I put a drink on here? No way. I can put some
McDonald's fries on here. And I can put some McDonald's
nuggets on here, but that's pretty much
all the room I've got. I don't really see how it swivels. I know it's supposed to swivel, but I'm not really seeing
much of a swivel feature. I think if I did swivel,
it's already weak enough, it would be even weaker
if I try to swivel it. All right. Talking about the tray,
I don't think you're going to want this while driving. Not only that, but if you
go to reach... I mean... You can't have
this there. You can't have it while driving. One thing that's kind
of funny is the tray is right in the path
of my air conditioning, so these are some
cold french fries now, because they're getting blasted
by cold air. I'm not getting a swivel.
I've been trying... That's not, that's not
really swiveling. If it did, it would make
an already weak tray even weaker, so I don't... (chill music) Number eight is Tac Amp. And if you'll notice,
it's in the packaging. Why is it in the packaging?
Because I don't use it. It's advertised as a product
that allows you to hear crispy sounds from across the room,
but all I heard was a lot of static
and mid-range noise. It's kind of advertised
under the Tac umbrella of products.
I don't understand why. To me, this was a product
that over-promised and under-delivered. Here's some scenes
from my original Tac Amplifier video. Tac Amplifier. High performance sound amplifier. Wait, I only got one?
Maybe I haven't assumed. I thought I was going to get two. I don't hear anything.
In fact, I hear less. It sounds like when you hold
a shell up to your ear and hear the ocean. That's what I'm hearing. Hello? Hello? Not so good. Oh, yeah. All I hear is... (static) I don't think I hear any better
on my right ear. It's just everything
sounds very static-y and mid-range-y and echo-y. I hear a lot more frequency
without this. The constant hiss almost
drowns out what I'm trying to listen to. When I take the earpiece out,
the music clear. Welcome ladies and gentlemen.
How's it sound? All right. Well, this is probably
not very good. So let me turn it down
a little bit more. I sound like an old school
radio announcer. Hello, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to YAWN Radio in 1942. It's just this muffled mid-range... It's just, it's just not good. I'm not a fan
of the Tac Amplifier. (chill music) Number seven is the Draft Top.
This is advertised as a topless can opener. I understand where they're going
for with this product, but it doesn't work on all cans. It's such a large learning curve
to try to get it down right. I really struggle with it,
you know. Ruining cans, spilling liquid everywhere.
It's just, it was a mess. So... Maybe one day they'll perfect it,
but right now it deserves a place
in my worst of 2020. But let's take a look back
at some scenes from my original Draft Top review. It looks kind of like one
of those hands-free can openers I reviewed last year. Okay. I am squeezing the top. Smooth as silk. Now, if that was done properly,
all I have to do is push this thing in here. And it wasn't done properly. Oh. Oh, that's got to be right. Oh, yeah. Not a lot of people want
to have their top and they're floating in their beer. Oh, great. I feel like I need to stick
my finger in there and fish... Oh, it just
went in the bottom. It's chaos in here. I don't like the top in the can. They also said
there's two primary different types of beer can tops.
One seems to be easier than the other. To me, they all seem pretty hard. This is great technology, man.
This is great. All right. Come on, man. I'm not seeing the benefit yet. Let me try a different can.
Maybe these are just bad cans. My hands are getting tired
from opening three cans. Come on. And they make it look
so easy on the video. You know, you have
to love modern technology, you know? Those old school
can openers, I can't compare to these. I'm actually sweating here
trying to open these cans. It's gliding through it
like butter. Oh, I did it. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Stella, you came
through in the clutch. A lot of consumers are going
to give up, because it seems just much
more difficult than pulling a tab and pour it to glass. (chill music) Number six is this cooling spray.
So back in July, I actually did a comparison
of three cooling products and this you're supposed
to spray on and cool off, it didn't really work. I didn't find that it worked better
than regular water. In fact, it had a smell
to it that started to bother me after a while. So in that case,
it was probably worse than using regular water. Check out some scenes
from my original video. They say the cooling effect
lasts longer if you wear something over it.
They show a guy wearing a, wearing a sports coat. Won't that work
with regular water too if it's just evaporative cooling? I'm going to spray one half
with the SurgeCool spray and then half the water,
and see what happens. Okay. It feels nice and cool. Now, for the water bottle. All right. I've got the sprays on.
Cooling spray and water. Let's see what happens. I don't, I don't feel
any difference, to be honest with you. None. Zero. Don't feel any difference. All I'm feeling is just
a wet shirt which feels nice, but I don't need to pay
for a bottle of something to do that. I can just
dump some water myself. They say two hours. That was 10 minutes. I'm trying to decide
if it feels cooler on the left than on the right. It's pretty close. It just feels wet.
It doesn't feel cooler. But you know, you need,
you need some cooling products. - A sports coat. - Put it on here. How's the cooling spray
holding up? - It's all gone. It's all evaporated. - That's about how I was.
It did not last long at all in the dry air. And it has a smell
that it's pleasant at first, but eventually
that smell kind of got to me. I'm not sure it's really necessary. (chill music) Number five is this USB dishwasher. This was advertised
as a device that could actually stick on the side
of your sink and clean your dishes. Now, I should say some people
mistakenly believed I was doing this wrong
and they were thinking about a different USB dishwasher
that goes in the bottom of the sink. This one goes
on the side of the sink, quite clearly stated
in the instructions. But, I haven't reviewed
the one that goes in the bottom of the sink yet. Maybe I will in 2021. This one on the side
of the sink did not work. Let's take a look back
at some scenes from that review. That's right. This is supposed
to wash a sink full of dishes by itself. Does that seem like
a dishwasher to you? It doesn't seem like
a dishwasher to me. All right. The way this
is supposed to work is it has two minutes
of wave agitation, and then one minute
of vibratory sound waves for one minute. All right. I can't go any lower
than that, so that's as far as it goes.
I added water so it's not spraying out as much. It's still spraying
out of the sink though. So once we have two minutes
of agitation, we have one minute of vibration. Two minutes of this,
one minute of vibration. Now, this has got
some crud still on it. It still got some stuff here too. Didn't make a dent on that. I still see some stuff
on there too. At this point, I could have
just washed them by hand. Am I confident in this?
Absolutely not. But we're off, and we have
our 15-minute cycle coming up. There it goes. Very interesting. Do you think that actually
helps clean? I don't know. The greasy Teriyaki bowl
actually doesn't look so bad. Coffee cup still got
some stuff in there. Now, there's still
some stuff in there. Need I say more. I don't think you really need it.
I feel like just soaking your dishes in the sink
is going to do the same thing. (chill music) Number four on my list
from June is the Instahang. Now, I don't have the Instahang,
because it broke. So, the Instahang is kind
of a new version of an old product that's a corner shelf.
This version has a rotating center to it, has a lever
you pull down and it sticks to the wall. I didn't think it
worked very well. It fell a couple times,
ended up breaking. So to me, the Instahang
was an easy inclusion in my worst of 2020.
Here's some clips from my original Instahang video. These are very rubbery feeling. There's the handle
you snap it in place with. Pretty cheap plastic.
This rotates. Supposed to have it
at a slight angle upward. (snaps) Is that normal? I'm not able to push
this anymore forward. I feel like I'm going to break it.
It's staying, but I just don't feel comfortable with it. I'm going to let this sit
for an hour and come back and see
if it's still there. All right. Well, after,
after three minutes, it fell. I'm just going to let this film. Last time was only
a couple minutes. I got my camera rolling
this time. (crashing sound) Oh! Didn't last three minutes. (creaking) Ah, it's back. It actually feels less secure now
that it's all the way back. I don't trust this at all. (crashing sound) Oh! Whoa! Well, it's consistent at least.
I think it's about how long it last last time? I want to say I have no confidence
in it, but I actually have a lot of confidence
it's going to fall. It's actually made it
to the one-hour mark. Let's put some water on there
and see how it holds up with that. One hour 11 minutes
and about eight minutes after the water went on there. Gone. It fell! My Instahang broke.
I got the white flag out. I'm waiving it. Instahang is an utter failure
and I don't, I don't really have anything
great to say about it. (chill music) From May of 2020,
it's the Tac Shaver. Now, this was an easy one for me. This was supposed
to be a Tactical As Seen on TV electric razor.
Now, I don't know what's Tactical about it. There's doesn't seem
anything Tactical about it other than the name. But it's kind of a weak razor.
I put it to the test against a lot of As Seen on TV
commercial claims. Didn't really hold up so well.
To me, it's just kind of a weak razor
that doesn't work very well. Here's some scenes
from my original Tac Shaver review. What is Tactical about
an electric razor? I just want to know. (razor sound) I think at this rate,
it's going to grow faster than I cut it off. Let me show what a dedicated
trimmer can do. (razor sound) That was about five seconds. This one didn't even get half
a sideburn in five seconds. (razor sound) Oh, it's working. It's definitely not a close shave.
It does work, but not a close shave at all. So let's go find out
right now how the Tac Shaver works underwater. This is so ridiculous.
I'm actually going to shave underwater. This one advertised
as the closest of a razor, but I'm not getting
that kind of closest. I'm getting the closest
of a trimmer. The Tac Shaver does not work
as well on day seven as it did on day one. Last night, it wouldn't
turn on at all, even after being charged. Not on. It's not coming on. You see that? Now it turns on. That's not good. Come on, guys. (chill music) Guys, two on my list
is not a new product in 2020. It was new to me
and deserves a place deep down at the bottom
of the 2020 list. That is the Right Cup. This is supposedly
a flavored cup that you put water into and it fools your brain
into thinking you're drinking flavored liquid. Doesn't work. It tastes like water
and you just have this kind of like sickening sweet smell
that gets worse over time. In fact, I could smell it
right now. The smell gets
to your after a while. The taste doesn't improve
and the smell gets worse. In some ways,
this should be called the wrong cup, but this is the right list
for a product like this to be on. Let's take a look back
at some original scenes from my Right Cup review. First of all, it's a $25 cup. And it only supposedly lasts
about six months. It looks like a sippy cup. And they say you're supposed
to inhale from your nose while you're drinking it,
so you can smell the smell on there, to supposedly trick
your brain to thinking you're drinking some sort
of a berry-flavored water. Well, my brain isn't
so easily fooled. My nose smells berry,
but my tongue tastes water. My first test, I'm not overly
blown away by it, but I'm going to keep using it. There's kind of this
overpowering scent, you know. Like I know it's supposed
to have a scent to it so that it fools your brain
into thinking you're drinking something besides just water. Which number one,
my brain isn't fooled, and number two, that smell
kind of permeates everything. Like when I had to sit
on the kitchen, it smelled like there was
this kind of sickly sweet berry scented candle in there
that wasn't very appealing. The more I smell it,
the less I like it. Now, I have to hold it
right up to my face to smell it when I'm drinking
which is even worse. There is a taste
to the Right Cup. I just don't really
like it that much. It kind of has this like
children's plastic berry flavored taste to it.
Not, not great. It just never really made
water taste like anything but water to me. (chill music) So number one on my list
and my pick for the worst product of 2020
is a product that came out in 2020,
and those of you who saw my original review
are not surprised. It's the Ice Wizard, the ice cube maker.
This was kind of marketed as like a next-gen ice cube maker
and it did nothing but create headaches.
It should be a next-gen headache maker,
because it did better job at that than actually
making ice cubes. It was difficult to fill,
it was difficult to eject the ice from it,
and just everything was just wrong about this one. I can't say enough bad things
about the Ice Wizard. It's a terrible product
in my opinion. But let's take a look back
at some scenes from that review. Doesn't say hwo much
to pour in there. I already see water
dripping inside. That does not bode well. And I'm feeling,
I'm feeling water pouring out the bottom! Come on, now. I may have to play with this
a little bit before I actually try to demonstrate it. It's filling, but look how much
it's going off the sides. A mess. Come on, now. It's not an easy process
and it does spill a lot. Got to love this modern technology. All right.
After considerable effort, I finally got both
of them filled up. It's a terrible design.
I mean there's no way to know. All right. Come back tomorrow
and see how they look. And... And it's stuck. Oh. No, I didn't break it. Now this is all kind
of wobbly now. Come on, man. Look, the sides just came out. Now, no more is coming out. Wow. That did not
make much ice at all. Look at this. So I've got 12 cubes,
but look how little they are. They're like mini cubes. Wow. That's not good. So as you can see it,
made about 5oz of ice. Not very impressive. Is there any
redeeming value to this? It's not easy to fill,
it's not easy to dispense. $27 for this and it doesn't
really work that well. I'm stretching
for things that I actually like about this and I'm failing
to come up with anything. So that was my top 10,
but there's a few items that definitely deserve a place
in this video, so let's take a look
at a couple of honorable mentions, or should I say
dishonorable mentions. (chill music) Honorable mention
for the Alien Tape which was supposed to be a multifunctional
double-sided tape. I found that its function
was kind of hit or miss. It seemed like it sometimes
work too well where it would tear
the paint off your wall and other times,
it didn't work well at all. The fact that you can't use it
on paint really reduces the number of uses for it. And the few uses that are left
were kind of spotty at best. Check out some scenes
from my original Alien Tape review. Here's my beautiful Alien Tape. (grunts) So far so good, but let's see how long it stays. All right. This is disappointing. It fell. It fell. It lasted an hour and... Ouch! It's hot. That's hot! That lasted an hour
and 45 minutes. I think that's crooked.
What happens if you do put a painting up on your wall
and it's crooked and you want to readjust it? Sorry! The tape's already on the wall. And there we go. All right. Oh, yeah. It is,
it is taking paint off. Pretty much went exactly
as I expected which is not good. It seems like it's sticking. Well, actually, it's kind
of holding. Oh, it's taking the back
of the rug off. Oh, that's not good. Oh, the same thing. How can I reuse it
when I got the backing of the rug on it?
You can't reuse that. Let's come back a little while
and see how this holds up. Woke up last night at 1:30 a.m.
to a very loud crash, and that was the shower caddy
crashing to the ground with all the shampoo in it. It wasn't really a lot
for $10 worth of tape. So far, the reusability
has been pretty spotty, because most case, the tape
is also destroyed when I'm trying to remove it. I feel like it's going
to tear the material. They have the
world "reusable" on it, they should take that word off. I mean it's strong tape,
but it seems like it's only strong
when it wants to be. For $6-$10 per roll,
depending on where you buy it, it's not better than a tried
and true solution like a hammer and nail. An honorable mention goes
to Smart Cup. This is the only one I have left.
It's kind of looking worse for wear,
because I've actually been testing it in water
over the last year... almost a year to see
how well it biodegrades. It's not biodegrading very fast. Although, I think the product
didn't really work tha bad, it's just that
it seemed like such a waste of plastic to buy
a one-time used cup to pour water into. They say it's bioplastic. I've been soaking it in water,
it hasn't degraded at all, so I'm not sure how biodegradable
it really is. But let's take a look back
at some original scenes from my Smart Cup review. Today, I'm looking
at a product called Smart Cup which is advertised
as the world's first printed beverage. That's the flavor which is printed
into the cup. They say this is bioplastic. What about all this packaging?
What's this made out of? So they're trying to promote
this an environmentally friendly solution,
even though it's a one-use cup. Others asked why you can't
just print these as tablets you can add
to a water bottle without having a single-use cup. That's another good question too. It's a little bit one
of those alka-seltzers where you can see the bubbles
coming from the bottom. It's been two minutes
and it's still dissolving. (drum roll) Not quite what I expected. It's a little bit blander
than I expected. - This taste kind of like,
like a crystal white packet you pour into like a water bottle.
- Oh. I didn't think about
that crystal white's pretty close. Yeah. This is how I check
to make sure it's done. I check the button
to see if they're there or not right now. It's still dissolving it. Perrier water. Water from the fridge. And cranberry juice. Perrier water. I kind of like that
a little bit better. Plain water. Sparkling water. You know, sparkling water
is better. I think taste wise, it's all right. When you add the drinks
to it, it masks the otherwise somewhat weak flavor. It is caffeinated,
so probably not a good idea for kids. I think some people
are going to really like the idea and some people won't. So that's it, the worst of 2020.
Now, this is definitely one of those years that I think
a lot of people want to leave behind and some of these items
can definitely stay with it. But I appreciate everybody
who's liked and commented, subscribed. That really
means a lot to me and I definitely look forward
to seeing what 2021 brings. Stay safe, everybody.
And I'll see you next time.
