A small and medium Recoil Winder
A new Kickstarter product to address that First Worldiest of First
World problems, errant electronics cables, is off to a flying start.
Since launching the project page, the Recoil Winder family of
spring-loaded, self-winding cable holders has attracted five times the
starting goal of US$10,000, and with 19 days to go. Seeing a Winder in
action, it isn't hard to see why. The spring-loaded mechanism appears to
be very quick and easy to use, and the result is so
neat it's hard to
watch one in action without imagining a future free of boxes, drawers
and cupboards full of entwined masses of seemingly self-tangling cables.
There are three sizes of Recoil Winder. The Small Winder is designed
with Apple earbuds in mind, and doesn't struggle with those with small
integrated microphones. The Medium Winder is designed for other
headphones and "light weight USB and charging cords" up to 47 inches
(1.2 meters) in length. The Large Winder will take 60-inch (1.5-meter)
cables, though only those of "small diameter". Having seen the video,
"small" doesn't appear all that tiny, as the larger winders appear to be
able to handle cables as broad as are likely to see everyday use - just
don't try to wind up a 4-core armored electrical cable. The product
range is completed by the rack, a neat, black stand that houses three
Winders of any size.
It doesn't really matter what's on the ends of the cable, either. The
demo videos show chargers, Wii Nunchuk's and USB cables all wound in
the blink of an eye because, to wind a cable, you first fold it in half.
The fold is then hooked onto the Recoil Winder, and, with a small tug,
the Winder promptly winds up the cable with its spring-loaded action.
For a moment, it appeared that unwinding a cable might prove a point
of concern, the action being conspicuously absent from the two prominent
videos on the Kickstarter product page. But shrewd would-be investors
cottoned on and this question is now top-most in the FAQ. The designer
has issued a video response, and, sure enough, unwinding a cable turns
out to be as quick and easy as winding one up.
Investors can opt for a broad variety of packages from US$8 for one
small Winder, up to $2500 for 125 sets of Winders, a set being a rack
with one Winder of each size. A single set will set you back $30, while
two can be had for $55.
Even during writing, the pledges continued to rise, standing (as I
write these very words) at $50,251 from just over a thousand backers,
with a mean investment of $47. It would appear that a significant number
of investors see the product as the answer to their cable management
nightmares, and want to take advantage of introductory prices to stock
up on a good number of Winders.
Given the backing this product has received with so much time
remaining on the clock, the signs are as positive as can be that
inventor David Alden has come up with a winning piece of industrial
design. You can see a video of his innovation at work below.
Product page: Recoil Winder
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