Try It Out Tuesday: The Sharper Image electric wine opener leaves tester with a bad taste

Have you ever tasted a wine for the first time, only to find that it is bad? You may get a similar bad taste in your mouth if you buy The Sharper Image electric wine opener. It was the subject of Good Morning Tri-State's Try It Out Tuesday segment.

It claims to open your favorite bottles with ease. But "ease" is not the four-letter word of choice when trying to use the opener.

The battery-operated unit does not reverse off the bottle well, either stalling or not running in reverse. Once the cork is grabbed, it has a tough time lifting the cork out of the bottle. Addionally, the cork gets stuck sometimes in the opener's barrel, like it did during the test, making the opener useless.

You can buy the opener online for about $20. As always Try It Out Tuesday is an unscientific test with unscientific results.

According to Consumer Reports, the best electric corkscrew is the Emerson electric wine bottle opener, and its virtual twin, Oster's Inspire electric wine opener 4207. Both can be found for about $20.

Also something to keep in mind, as our John Matarese has explained in the past, The Sharper Image name has been sold off, so while it once was a quality name in the past, there are no guarantees that the current manufacturer is living up to the same standard.