GRAB THIS: The sliver of space between the car’s seat and center console, under the hotel mini fridge, or at the back of the dresser — if there’s a hard-to-reach place, I will inadvertently send a key, a credit card, coins, my cell phone, or some other important item into that void. Retrieval can be a painful and futile reach for fingers too fat, short or klutzy to do the job. Hello ODii, my new crack weapon for tight-space recovery maneuvers. The slim 13-inch-long plastic cylinder houses a flexible metal rod that telescopes out an additional 7 inches, armed with a four-pronged claw at the fore. Squeeze a spring-loaded mechanism in the handle, and the claw grabs tightly onto your prey, contracting to as svelte as a quarter of an inch for withdrawal. But wait, there’s more. An additional flexible metal rod with a strong neodymium magnet at the tip snaps out from the base and telescopes 23 inches to capture metallic items. A two-inch detachable push-button LED flashlight (three replaceable button batteries included) brightens up the search area. The whole shebang weighs barely 6 ounces. Ready, don’t aim, drop.
ODii Grab-It Gadget is $29.99 at www.myodii.com.
Judi Dash, Gear & Gadgets syndicate
