Consumer

Does It Really Do That: Smart Lidz

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Smart Lidz promises to fit any size bowl, jar, cup or can and make the seal vacuum tight so that even if a bowl of liquid falls on the floor, none spills!

We ask Sue Caputo of Wexford to help us find out.

Sue is usually surrounded by children.

Not only is she a teacher, Sue has two children of her own and she works as a nanny too.

Julia is 5 years-old and Mickey is 3.

They agree to help their nanny put Smart Lidz to the test.

Like most of us, Sue never seems to be able to find the right lid for the right container.

She thinks Smart Lidz could be the perfect product for her if it does what the infomercial's Chef Tony promises.

"My amazing Smart Lidz!," says Chef Tony. "With just a press, you can vacuum seal and store everything air tight."

But does it really do that?

Sue takes a medium lid and tries to create a vacuum on a dish with a wavy edge.

"It does!", says Susan.

"It didn't!," I say.

Something went wrong.

The lid went on, stuck for a few seconds and then suddenly let go.

We assume this is user error so we try a few more times.

We follow directions shown on the internet and on the box.

Just put the lid on top of the bowl.

Press your fingers into the middle of the lid, push down and voila... a vacuum.

We think we've got the hang of it.

The lids seem to be creating that vacuum and staying on.

We move onto the next test.

Are these lids really spill proof?

To find out, Sue fills a bowl with milk, puts a smart lid on top, creates the vacuum, and asks three year old Mickey if he wants to help us out. He agrees.

"Just throw the bowl on the floor, Mickey!" encourages Sue. "Throw it to Oreo (her black and white dog). It's okay. Just this once. Go ahead and throw it. Let it go!"

But poor Mickey!

No matter how hard he tries to throw that bowl, his hands just won't let go.

(This is so cute. It's worth watching the video just to see this poor little boy fight to go against his better instincts.)

We ask his sister, Julia, to give it a shot. No problem for Julia.

The bowl plummets toward the floor, hitting Oreo in the head, bouncing off and onto the floor.

This lid stays put!

Just to be sure. We try again.

This time Oreo has better luck.

The lid dislodges and Oreo gets a bowl of milk to lick up off the floor.

It just doesn't seem to be working as well as it should.

We find some small print directions in the box, the kind we should all read word for word, but rarely do.

The directions say there's a second step not shown on the infomercial or one the box.

"After you press down once," directions say, "to lock out any additional air, lift tab for a second while pressing down."

Sue says this second step makes a big difference, but what about the other promises?

"You can go from the freezer to the microwave to the table all in the same dish," the infomercial promises.

The secret is supposedly space age polymers.

Sue loves the idea of leftovers straight from the table into the refrigerator, and right into the microwave, but when we take the dish out of the microwave, we notice that the vacuum seal is broken.

That wouldn't be a problem, except that we are unable to get a vacuum seal with this lid on any bowls.

What's the problem?

Back to the fine print in those directions, which tell us to break the vacuum before we put the lid in the microwave.

"Overheating can ruin a lid by causing the center to become floppy and loose," warn the directions, but you can fix the problem by running the lid under hot tap water.

We give it a try, but no go. It didn't work. No vacuum and no wonder. Our lid has a hole in it.

So much for microwave safe.

However, in spite of its obvious limitations,

"I think it's great," Sue says. "I think it's wonderful. You know how many times kids are walking, you have a lid and it drops and sometimes the dog will get fed and sometimes he won't.!

Overall, the lids do a good job as lids.

Fine for the refrigerator but stay away from the microwave.

Who wants space age polymers on their food anyway.

For that use, we say thumbs up.

If you buy them on the internet, we say thumbs down.

Ten dollars plus $7 shipping and handling doesn't sound bad, but people have been telling us they've had shipping and handling charges of as much as seventy dollars.

One woman sent her product back and was charged a $75 restocking fee.

Stay away from this company's on-line games.

We found Smart Lidz selling at Boscov's for $9.99 with no shipping and handling.

And remember, If it doesn't work, take it back!
 

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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