Is marketing of what really is just green clutter and junk on the rise? Are we as green consumers being targeted and, more importantly, is it working? These are the questions that arose after I had the opportunity to review TLM International’s Magic Stapler (around $10 on Amazon.com) and Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies’ H-racer (around $100 on Amazon.com). If you’re considering purchasing either the “eco-friendly” Magic Stapler or H-racer toy car—don’t. The Magic Stapler will not replace your stapler on your desk—even though that’s what you hope it will do. The H-racer—though it looks like and is packaged like a remote control car—is not a remote control car. It doesn’t even come with a remote.
People’s expectations about products and their functions must be carefully considered if manufacturers are going to produce and successfully sell green, eco-friendly versions of them. Green products that do not live up to their non-green counter product will not satisfy consumers with even the best of intentions. Consumers will simply shelve, return, or even throw away the product. And how green is that?
First up, the Magic Stapler. It’s a small, compact product that is available in a rainbow of colors. It uses no staples, which is the ecomarketing pitch. The best way I can describe how it works is that it punches the papers and “threads” the papers together. It supposedly can bind up to 10 pages successfully. I found that the model I tested could punch up to only 4 pages successfully.
The byproducts of the process are annoying little paper chads that fall where they may as this device lacks a storage container for later emptying. The biggest issues I have with the Magic Stapler is that it leaves the paper with a gaping hole and doesn’t hold the pages together firmly as one would expect from something that’s advertised as a “stapler.” And when the pages do come undone, you’re left with ugly pages with holes and odd paper threads hanging from them that makes the document look unprofessional and ready for the recycling bin. I thought and thought about what I could use the Magic Stapler for. Crafty invitations? Stapling unessential, short documents only for my personal use? In the end, it’s green junk sitting in a drawer.
Next up is the H-racer. It’s packaged as a sleek, hydrogen-powered car. For the pricetag, it’s built cheaply. I couldn’t completely screw the body of the car together either because of my own inability or because its cheaply made. You’re screwing metal screws into plastic holes with plastic threads in them. I think the plastic on my test model was molded incorrectly. Plastic—is it a coincidence that both of these products I reviewed and do not recommend are made of plastic?
It has one operational mode: straight—and only straight. Straight can be cool for about three seconds before it crashes into a wall and you have to walk over and re-position it. Straight without a remote can be really uncool if kids play with this thing outdoors and happen to find themselves chasing after it as it drives itself into a busy street.
The hydrogen refueling station can either be run on solar power or double AA batteries. I was waiting and waiting for a sunny day and then eventually gave up. Blame Seattle’s weather or the fact that this solar powered unit only works in full sunlight in an outdoor location. I tried refueling from what I thought was a sunny enough location from an indoor windowsill. It didn’t work. I eventually gave up and settled for the battery solution.
If you’re really in love with your H-racer, you’ll want to use only distilled water for refueling. Because I despise the bottle water industry, I settled for tap water, which is like putting regular unleaded in your car instead of super unleaded gasoline. To tell you the truth, I never got the car running. I got the blue lights blinking and the bubbles bubbling (which I’ve read in a few other product reviews is the high point of this toy) and never really cared to spend the time figuring out how to get the car fully fueled to run straight into a wall. This product is definitely not for kids. After reading Stacy Larsen’s review of this same product on the ecometro.com Portland site (The Horizon Fuel Cell H-Racer: Gas or Bomb?) and how the car only lasts 2 minutes per fueling session, I packaged it right back in its box and sent it back to sender. Maybe—and it’s a strong unlikely maybe—a small minority within the ecogeek community would appreciate this toy. For the majority of us, it’s useless, unentertaining green clutter. Watch the video Who Killed the Electric Car. (I've hyperlinked the movie to Netflix so you can easily add it to your queue.) This movie is a way more entertaining and educational use of your time learning about the possibility and reality of cars running on clean and renewable energy.