The other day I received a KeyShark from the folks at Cranky Monkee for a review here at Gear Diary. The timing was perfect, as it arrived just before for my annual U of I football tailgate.
So, what is a KeyShark you ask? And what does it have to do with football tailgating?
Well, I’m glad you asked. A KeyShark is a lightweight, but strong, bottle opener that is designed to fit on your keychain.
I have to say, though, that when it first arrived I was a little skeptical. It’s pretty darn small and pretty darn lightweight. It was taped to a business card… and it was WAY smaller than the business card. I was sure it was going to bend on the first steel bottle cap. Nonetheless, I dutifully stuck it on my keychain and set off for Champaign-Urbana.
As you can see from the photo below, the KeyShark is indeed rather small. Smaller than the keys next to it on my keychain. The small size makes it unnoticeable when carrying around.
Most importantly, it works well. It was easy to open a bottle and it didn’t have the least amount of give when prying off a bottle cap. It looks cool, too.
The promotional photos we were sent showed the user with their thumb and fingers set back from the tip of the KeyShark (first photo below). I found for me it was easier when I placed my thumb over the front end of the KeyShark, as shown in the second photo below.
The KeyShark doesn’t really have a sharp edge to it, but you never know what might catch the attention of the TSA folks. Bob from Cranky Monkee noted that the KeyShark falls into the TSA category of tools under 7″ and should be allowed, so you shouldn’t need to remove it from your keychain before traveling by air.
The KeyShark is available directly from Cranky Monkee’s website. Shipping in the US is just a buck.
Oh, and aside from getting to test a functional, but fun new gadget, the next best part of doing a review of the KeyShark is getting to enjoy the, uh, byproducts of the review process. Cheers!
MSRP: $4.99
What I Like: Small, light, and gets the job done.
What Needs Improvement: It’s a tiny bottle opener with a shark-like shape… I wouldn’t change a thing at this point. Give me a little more time to “experiment.”
Wow, somebody actually admits to having an annual U of I football outing! If I did attend, I’m certain this device would have been quite handy to open all Little Kings that I would have been drinking.
Sean ’86 Engineering