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Does It Really Do That? TouCan

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Like most new moms, Erika Howland, has her hands full. From feedings and diaper changes, to cuddling little Cooper, there never seems to be enough hours in the day.

Erika is just getting into a routine with her 6-week-old baby. When it comes to cooking, she's keeping things quick and simple.

"Before, I could just come home and kind of throw some things together and have dinner and everything would be great, but now with a baby, you have to plan a lot more and I don't always have both my hands to do everything," said Howland.

Erika was eager to try out the TouCan with KDKA-TV's Sarah Arbogast. It's advertised as the world's easiest hands-free can opener. Plus, it claims to help open tight jar lids and is also a bottle opener.

They opened up the package and put four AA batteries in the TouCan and nothing happened. When they took another look at the batteries, they quickly realized two of them weren't connecting.

To fix it, they slightly bent one of the battery plates for a tighter fit and they were in business. The directions say to place the TouCan on top of a can, with the edge between the cutting blade and the wheel and then press the on button.

In just a few seconds, a can of corn was open and with no sharp edges.

They tested the TouCan out again on a can of corned beef. The infomercial claims it works on any shape or size can. So corned beef was picked specifically because of its odd shape.

Once again, the TouCan worked as promised.

Arbogast asked Erika to compare it by opening another can with a handheld opener.

"It took a lot of energy to open it with the handheld can opener and it just really wasn't that easy," said Howland.

The TouCan's big claim is that it doesn't leave any sharp edges on the can or the lid. It was pretty easy to see and feel that, but they wanted to test it just like they do in the commercial by rubbing the lids on a balloon.

The can lid from the TouCan was no problem, but the lid from the handheld opener instantly popped the balloon.

After they tested out the TouCan's no sharp edges claim, they wanted to see if it can help open tough to open jars.

"I heard the seal pop, much easier," said Howland.

The TouCan easily loosened the lids of a pickle jar and a jar of jelly.

The third test on the TouCan wasn't quite as successful. It claims to be an easy to use bottle opener. Although it worked, Erika found the product to be a bit too bulky and not as convenient as a smaller bottle opener.

So, in the end, does it really do that?

"It definitely works, I like it, it's easy, it's safe, no sharp edges, it's quick and I can do it while holding the baby and in my book, that's two thumbs up," said Howland.

One other note:

The TouCan has a built-in magnet to help you easily lift lids off the opened cans, but it didn't really work so well in our tests. It seemed to work better if the lid was already loosened, but with no sharp edges, we felt you really didn't need the magnet anyway.

You can buy the TouCan online or in stores for around $20.

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