Warning: my thickest grabber claw broke mid-cleanup at Santa Monica Pier

I was hauling a soaked beach towel stuffed with bottle caps and a broken sandal when the hinge just snapped, leaving me to fish trash out of wet sand with a stick for 20 minutes. Anyone else find the heavy-duty grabbers fail faster than the cheap ones, or did I just get a dud?

2 comments

2 Comments

xena_miller312d agoMost Upvoted

I used to swear by the heavy duty ones, figured thicker meant tougher, but after mine snapped on a half full bag I totally get why some folks just buy the cheap ones now. Sounds like you got the same deal I did, they're not built for the real wet sand stuff.

holly_williams3h ago

That whole idea of thicker being tougher is a trap for sure. The heavy duty ones just get stiff and brittle, so when you put any real stress on them they crack right down the middle. The cheap ones have more give in the plastic, they flex and bend instead of just snapping clean off. Plus the cheap ones are so easy to replace that you don't get mad about it, you just grab another one. It took me three busted bags of gravel to finally learn that lesson myself. You'd think they'd test these things with actual wet loads before putting "heavy duty" on the package, right?