Slinky crossed with an extension cord

I'm pretty taken with the idea of the Flexy Cord, which crosses Slinky with an extension cord. Clever idea!

Flexy Cord Heavy Duty Coiled Extension Cord Multi-pak (via Red Ferret)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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bcsizemo

Plugging hair dryer into hall outlet/non-gfci…

Yeah that home /diy/er in me is showing…

It’s an interesting idea, but it’s more like a solution in search of a problem. It’s going to get tangled. I know the “home” phone is a thing of the past, but those were essentially coiled cords like this and it’s not like those were knot free. Plus you are going to need more physical cord to reach a given length, but for short lengths under 20 feet they would be convenient. For a cord 20ish foot long or below I might spring for it, but it’s certainly not replacing my 100 foot extension cord (or my retractable ceiling mounted one in my workshop.)
- http://contraditorium.com Carlos Cardoso
  
  So… it does not solve every possible scenario? What a terrible product.
  - http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi
    
    @bcsizemo:disqus hasn’t just pointed out that it doesn’t suit all scenarios, but also that it fails its main supposed advantage. This won’t be any more tangle free than the coiled cords on old home phones, or even an old slinky which was always a complete shit to untangle.
Boris Bartlog

Slinkies do tangle, though… as do water hoses with this same basic design. It’s sort of a double or nothing bet: they tangle less easily, but man what a mess when they do…
B. Lloyd

best deal is the multi-pak with various sizes from 4 to 45 feet in upscaling wattages. $79 plus $19.50 shipping, no prime allowed.

http://i.imgur.com/sCi8j.jpg

kind of expensive for extension cords, regardless of how fun they are.
- http://www.facebook.com/mountainbreaker Ian Kerr
  
  I guess that’s the price you pay for a quality, domestically made product.
http://twitter.com/jmaynard8888 Joe Maynard

so you’re buying 20 feet of extension cord and winding it into an effective maximum length of about 8 feet or something. great. and when the contracting spring force or weight of the cord exceeds the friction in the outlet terminals, it unplugs itself. seems easier to just be more careful about putting your extension cords away correctly so they don’t get tangled.
- http://twitter.com/coherent_light Scott Elyard
  
  These cords look like you can put them away a lot faster than recoiling extension cords. Regular extension cords are a pain.
  
  The only legitimate complaint I can see about their use might come from trying to use them in really cold weather. But then, that applies to regular extension cords, too.
  
  I think these are a neat idea.
Lobster

Haven’t they used tubing like this on hazmat suits for decades?

http://windward.hawaii.edu/Calendar/2007/2007_Fall_Chemistry_Forum/image_04.jpg
http://borborygmist.influxofdust.com/ Wayne Dyer

I’m reminded of Coily, from “A Case of Spring Fever”.
- Vulpes Abnocto
  
  “Noooo springs! Hehehehehe!”
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2Hym_r409g
flappy

Electric guitarists mostly gave up on that idea decades ago. Just learn how to properly wrap cable and this solution will have no problem to solve.
- http://imcravingpresidency.tumblr.com/ SedanChair
  
  Who exactly makes money off of that?
- http://illustratorhints.com/ Jesseham
  
  Over-under, yo.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqbYyaUY5Sk
DreadJester

It’s just an oversized telephone cord. Oh wait…… Half of you have no idea what those are….
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I have a corded phone. It’s quite useful for the rare occasion when you end up on a three-hour call.
hugh crawford

Have you ever tried to untangle a slinky !?

Also it needs more yackety sax.
http://www.facebook.com/mountainbreaker Ian Kerr

Made in the US, from US materials, too. How ’bout that…
Wingnut

Just the thing to tangle people’s feet, wrap around kid’s necks and act as a chew-toy for curious pets.
- http://twitter.com/coherent_light Scott Elyard
  
  So it’s an extension cord, then.
LJSeinfeld

Trip hazard.
- Grambo
  
  This.
traalfaz

I’m skeptical. I have a coily air hose for use with shop air. Honestly, it’s a pain in the ass. The loops make it tangle a lot more than a straight hose does when you pull it around. Also when you are pulling around a corner, the loops tend to drag and snag rather than just going around the corner smoothly. It’s one of those things that seems like an incredibly good idea at first, but when it hits reality and you’re pulling it around, it fails miserably.
dragonfrog

GFI outlet in the bathroom keep tripping when you plug in the hairdrier? No problem, just haul in power from the hall – nothing could possibly go wrong!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=172400199 Chelsea Ihnacik

Have you ever gotten your slinky tangled though? That is an awful mess from which you will never recover!
http://Valanx.org David Deutsch

Is there a single person on earth using a vacuum like that? Dragging the cable along by hand? I assumed everybody does it like I do – roll it out at the beginning, work your way through the apartment/house in a way that minimizes tangling.
a1penguin

If you watched the video, don’t do what the woman in the bathroom did. Bathroom outlets are GFI protected to add a measure of safety when electrical appliances are used near sources of water. The hall outlet she connected to using the extension cord is most likely not. It is an electrocution hazard. She could save her own life by going to the basement and resetting the breaker instead of being lazy.
Trevour

I don’t know about everyone else, but I like my extension cords FLAT ON THE GROUND.
TheOven

Did they just show a person defeating the safety plug in the bathroom? Yeah, that’s smart.
Photomonkey

I’ve used similar cords and I can confirm that: They are a pain to store because if you try to wind them the coils hook into each other. It’s hard to tell when you’ve stretched one too far, so they get pulled out of the wall even more often than normal cords (ESPECIALLY while vacuuming!) They are bigger trip hazard because they don’t lay flat (but at least the one that I used was bright orange instead of dark grey!) If you have tangled extension cords just learn how to coil properly, it’s really easy and totally worth taking the time to do.