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rial Review
Reviewed by: Justin Oberman
Reviewed on: 4/27/2009 3:54:51 PM
Fair
What it Claims to Do: If you're reading this review, you've probably already seen Vince sing the praises of the ShamWow in his TV infomercial. The claims he makes are pretty "wow" - that the ShamWow can hold up to 20 times its weight in water, that it wont drip and that it can be used wet or dry. These claims seem pretty incredible, and we at infoNOTmercial.com decided to find out just how truthful they are.
What We Found: In the infomercial, Vince uses the ShamWow to absorb an entire bowl of water. We found this worked pretty well. The ShamWow absorbed an entire cup of water from our bowl and did not even drip. The ShamWow did not perform as well, however, when we used 2 cups of water... it absorbed almost all of the water, but this time it dripped pretty heavily. This is still better than most home paper towels. When we tried to see how many paper towels it would take to absorb the same amount of water as the ShamWow, we found that we needed 12 paper towels. Furthermore, the paper towels dripped more than the ShamWow did.
We then tried the carpet test. In the infomercial, Vince claimed that the ShamWow can absorb both the liquid in a carpet AND the liquid that seeps onto the surface beneath it. We found that this worked better than we expected... but not as well as Vince claimed. There was still some water beneath the surface of the carpet and the carpet itself was slightly damp. What's more, we found what seems to be some creative video editing in the infomercial. If you look really closely at the infomercial between 0:44 and 0:46 seconds, you can see that the liquid that had spilled beyond the corners of the carpet magically disappears before Vince wipes it up with the ShamWow.
One nice thing about the ShamWow - when we tried to clean up a spill from a table, the ShamWow actually absorbed the water. Since the regular towels did not absorb as much, the towels just pushed a lot of the water around the table, making the area of the spill even larger and sometimes pushing some of the spill off the table.
We found that the small blue ShamWows were not particularly useful, so expect to only use the large orange ones if you purchase this set.
The infomercial also does not mention that even though the ShamWow is machine washable, it cannot be placed in the dryer. To top it off, the ShamWow takes an incredibly long time to dry. It's a good thing the ShamWow still works when damp.
In the infomercial, the ShamWow beautifully dries a wet sweater and wipes a car dry. We tested these, and found nothing remarkable about the ShamWow. The sweater was still wet and the car had streaks that a real chamois would not have left.
The Bottom Line: The ShamWow can definitely hold a lot of water. However, don't expect any of the miracles claimed in the infomercial. Drying sweaters, preventing mildew from carpet spills, and wiping cars are not very good uses for the ShamWow. Plus the ShamWow takes a very long time to dry. The ShamWow is definitely a very absorbant towel, but not much more.
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User Reviews
Average Customer Rating
Worth Owning
by: jj, 2/24/2010 8:28:45 PM
Pros: The sham wow is orange which is my favorite color and also it does dry stuff now and again, barely leaving streaks.
Cons: It doesn't work how it is supposed to and drips with too much moisture.
Bottom Line: I don't like that vince lied to me. It doesn't work like my buddy said it would.
Recommended: No
by: Vaporthug, 1/12/2010 9:36:16 PM
Pros: It works, and I see a 2 lg towel, and a shammy mop special for $20 regularly.
Recycle people.
Cons: They originally said it holds 20x the liquid weight of the paper towel.
Consumer buyguide said it only picked up 12x, but still gave it a great review.
Dont let it dry without a good rinse and, for the love of Jescientists everywhere, dont heat it up.
Bottom Line: One of the few infoproducts that does what it shows.
Recommended: Yes
by: Canadian hunter, 11/1/2009 6:28:07 PM
Pros: Works pretty much as advertised
Cons: far too expensive.
Recommended: No
by: hello, 10/3/2009 8:52:29 PM
Pros: bad on paint and glass
Cons: great for vinyl and some plastics
Bottom Line: I am in the car detailing business. The shamwow is terrible on paint. Lots of streaks and not good on glass either. That said, the shamwow works great on vinyl tops, thresholds and certain plastics. Would give it a 100% rating for those applications but 0% for paint and glass. Therefore, 3 stars.
Recommended: Yes
by: No Time for Housework, from Queens, NY, 7/8/2009 3:00:46 PM
Pros: soaks up a lot of water
much more absorbent than paper towels
doesn't get as gross looking as overused sponges
nice bright colors so you can always locate them easily ;)
Cons: leaves streaks
cannot be put in dryer
Bottom Line: The ShamWow basically feels like a thick piece of felt. I was interested in using it to wipe up spills, but it wasn't very good at that - it left streaks behind on my flat, smooth table. I poured a cup of water on it just to test the claims and yes - Vince, you were right - it absorbed a lot of water. But if it doesn't clean spills, what's the practical use? And you can't put it in the dryer, so even if you do wash it, you have to wait for it to dry?
I did notice that the table dried pretty quickly from the streaks left behind by the ShamWow, but I did still have to let the table air out for that to happen. I prefer to wipe spills completely dry. And I wouldn't use it for anything other than water, because I wouldn't want to have to wash the ShamWow and wait for it to drip dry.
On the other hand, I'll bet its really good for stuffing under your doors to prevent flooding ;)
So should you get a ShamWow? If you want a cool science experiment or want to test a yellow cloths power for absorption, go ahead. I'll stick to my Kirkland Signature, thank you.
Recommended: No
by: Deathly Lost, 5/27/2009 2:05:00 PM
Pros: Amazing for drying anything.
Is more absorbent than paper towels or even cloth towels.
Soft and gentle on furniture, skin, car, etc
Durable and lasts a long time.
Easily cleaned.
Cons: Can not put in dryer.
Will mold if left wet for a long time.
Bottom Line: I used to use a Speedo Shammy when I was on the swimming and diving team. It was amazing. I used it as a regular towel. I was curious how it compares to the ShamWow. I get a good idea from this video. It seems to have all the same advantages and disadvantages. So if this Shamwow is anything like the Speedo shammy, it is totally worth it. The Speedo shammy is about $19 and you only get one that is smaller than the large Shamwows. Although apparently the smaller ones are not as good. Oh well. They are also great for drying your car. Incredibly useful and long lasting. No matter what your use for it is, it is an awesome product. The ShamWow is yet another shammy. Any good quality shammy type product is worth it.
Recommended: Yes
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Quick Look
Editors Rating:
FairAverage user rating:
Worth OwningRead all customer reviews
- Pros:
- Holds as much water as 12 paper towels
- Machine Washable and reusable
- Works when still a bit wet (in fact, works better sometimes)
- Doesn't drip under moderate amounts of water
- Cons:
- Takes a very long time to dry on its own and can't be used in dryer (possible mildew concerns)
- Doesn't work as well when actually dry
- Will drip with 2 cups or more of water
- Small blue ones are misleading and not very different from average towels
The Bottom Line:
We are disappointed to find some of the claims, such as the soaked carpet, are not entirely true. That being said, we're pretty impressed with what it DOES do (that is, absorb a LOT of liquid). If you have the need for it, the ShamWow is a great product. However don't be fooled into thinking it is as versatile as the commercial claims.
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