JML Electric Can Opener – Automatic Tin Opener, One Touch Hands Free

Broke my wrist & needed a little help opening my beloved beans. It does need 4AA batteries but the weight of the batteries helps it feel solid & attaching the opener on the can easy. Just clip on the top & watch it go! Great piece of kit & much cheaper than plug in openers. Nice clean cut & no sharp edges, lid just lifts off so no finger pressure required to prise it open.

One of my household suffers from osteoarthritis, and this painful condition has meant that opening tins, a regular task whilst cooking has become nigh on impossible with the two most common mechanical types available: either a claw type can opener that rips through a lid leaving sharp edges; or a butterfly can opener that features a rotating cutting wheel and requires a handle to be turned. Even trying to buy cans with pull rings to save having to use a can opener at all has been ineffective as the grip required to use the ring pull simply isn’t there. This is extremely frustrating for the sufferer, who takes pride in being independent and dislikes having to ask one of the other household occupants to perform this task with a passion. To give that sense of independence back to the sufferer I purchased a JML™ Hands Free Battery Powered Tin Can Opener which will perform this vital task with just the effort required to press a large button. What attracted me to this particular opener was one of the claims made in the product information: “Ideal for those with arthritis or limited hand mobility”. Other electric can openers didn’t necessarily make this claim, and at £14.99 I thought the price was acceptable for the extra functionality given a manual opener would cost in the region of £3-£5. That large button seems to have been deliberately designed with impaired hands in mind, and after fitting the 4 x AA batteries to the underside of the opener it operated effectively and intuitively. The user simply places the opener on the top of the can with the large cutting wheel pressed against the side and pushes the start button. That’s a trigger for a smaller cutting wheel to grip the can very securely, with the back of the opener lifting up and moving around the tin lid all by itself. When the lid has been opened the back of the opener falls flat against the top of the newly opened tin, with the freshly cut lid attached to it thanks to a large magnet on the underside, and it’s just a matter of pressing that large button to turn off the opener. What I particularly like is that the opener is very tactile and sits in a hand without the greatest grip easily. It’s deliberately chunky, but doesn’t weigh a lot even with batteries added. Most of the construction is smooth, food quality plastic which easily wipes down if it gets messy with a damp cloth – don’t put in the normal washing up if you want it to continue working. The ‘business end’ is stainless steel so will remain bright and shiny, which some manual tin openers do not. The cut isn’t made on the top of the can but just below, on the side of the lid, and whilst the opener is operating the grip on that lid is very firm indeed – it’s not slipping off. What is surprising is the cut on both the lid and the can is smooth – there’s no chance of cutting your fingers on a sharp edge here which is a very nice feature. The opener will happily open cans with or without an integrated ring pull, of all sizes such as small tins of peas or carrots, large tins of new potatoes, or Fray Bentos™ pies which are a very occasional treat but often tricky to get into. The can lid doesn’t need to be circular either, with the opener tackling rectangular sardine and mackerel tins just as readily. To say that the primary user of this can opener is delighted would be an understatement. She has found it easy to use, easy to keep clean, and liberating, getting rid of a significant source of almost daily frustration. The opener sits easily in amongst other kitchen utensils in a cutlery drawer and doesn’t take up a lot of space, measuring around 15.5cm long, 6.5cm at it’s widest, and around 4.5cm at it’s deepest. With batteries in situ it weighs around 320g. The only slight downsides I can see from this product are that pressing the button doesn’t always result in instant turn off, you might have to press it twice for it to register, and an automatic cut off facility would be a nice-to-have; and occasionally the cutter has to traverse the can twice to make the cut, although this usually happens with tinned potatoes which seem to have a thicker layer of steel to chew through. Both of these are minor issues when judged against the sense of liberty this device has brought, and I’d recommend it for anyone whose hands aren’t as nimble as they should be.

Reasonably easy to use. The easiest can opener to attach and I’ve had a few. Only thing I find a bit difficult is getting it stopped. Although with practice I’m getting the hang of it better. Would buy another one if I had to. So I would recommend it and it’s easy to clean.

Best things i decided to add to my kitchen Ultility. You have to know how to make it sit on the tin once you figure that out its a miracle worker, you dont even see where the cut is and yet its fully open.Cannot reconmend this enough

This is great. Just place it on top of the tin and it does the job well. Great if you have trouble with conventional openers .

Excuse the pun… it does exactly what it says on the tin! JML - it just works. Neat, clean, white electric can opener that is magnetic on top so you just place on top of the can you wish to open and it slides itself into place. Press the button and watch the magic. It moves itself around the tin unaided in a full circle and when it gets back to the start you just repress the button to stop it. It lifts off the tin leaving the tin looking like nothing has happened. The opener once used has no signs of food so only needs a wipe over and back into the drawer. Going back to the tin can, it looks like it is completely in tact but in fact a smooth, neat cut has completely removed the lid which then lifts off easily with NO sharp edges. You could run your tongue around the edge and it wouldn’t get cut. So good I ordered a second one for my mum’s Christmas stocking (she’s in her 80s and going to love it!). It works with dented tins, tins with ring pulls on top and best yet, for the corned beef square tin that has the tool missing. I’m now actively looking for more challenges for it. The only downside - I can only give it 5 stars.

Worked ok for the first week or so. Needed a couple of attempts to set it opening but I put that down to operator learning curve and to be fair, once it worked, it worked well with a clean cut with no sharp edges. Now, however, it is completely useless. Sets itself a a jaunty angle and runs for a fraction of the can before getting stuck. And for the section that it has retried to open, all it has managed is distort the can so that no opener (electric or otherwise) can complete the task. It must be possible to make a can opener that can routinely and reliably open cans but in my experience, this is certainly not that product. Save yourself the trouble and avoid this product and please let me know if you find a suitable can opener that actually works.

First one didnt last very long. Will give a second try. Works very well and leaves a fairly safe edge on the open can. Very easy to use