I’m back with another batch of completely random product reviews, and this one really covers a little bit of everything. This time I tested a manual nut chopper, a “Shark Tank” hat organizer, and some “Lucky Charms” flavored toothpaste. As you’d probably expect from that lineup, the results were all over the place.
Where to Purchase
Prep Works Nut Chopper
First up was the “Prep Works Nut Chopper”, which is essentially a manual grinder for chopping nuts without using electricity. I paid a little over $22 for it on Amazon, and right away, I was curious whether it could actually be practical, or if it would be more effort for less value. The idea is simple enough, where you load in your nuts, turn the handle, and apparently choosing between coarse or fine results, depending on which direction you crank it.
Even before using it, I was skeptical about the “coarse versus fine” claim. Looking at the design, I wasn’t convinced that turning the handle in one direction rather than the other would really make a noticeable difference. From what I saw while testing it, I can understand why some people online said they didn’t notice much difference either.
I started out with walnuts and pecans, which are softer and seemed like the fairest starting point. With both of those, the nut chopper did a decent job. It definitely required some elbow grease to get going, and it wasn’t exactly smooth, but once I found a rhythm, it chopped them pretty well. The finished results looked good, and if all you’re using this for is softer nuts in small amounts, I can see it being useful.
Things changed once I moved up to almonds. That’s where the limitations became a lot more obvious. The grinder kept getting stuck, and instead of building momentum with each turn, every crank felt like its own little battle. It still technically worked, but it took way more effort than I’d want for something as simple as chopped almonds. For comparison, I tried an electric chopper right after, and it got through the almonds in just a couple of seconds. That really put things into perspective.
My overall feeling on the nut chopper is that it does in fact work, but with limitations. It’s fine if you specifically want a manual option and you’re mostly sticking to softer nuts, but it’s not especially efficient. It doesn’t hold much at once, and it can be frustrating with anything harder. It’s not terrible, but it also doesn’t feel like the best solution unless you really want to avoid using an electric appliance.
DomeDock
Next in the lineup was the “DomeDock”, which is a wall-mounted hat organizer that was featured on Shark Tank. The concept is actually pretty clever, where instead of tossing your hats on shelves, hooks, or the top of a chair somewhere, you stack them vertically on this wall-mounted holder. I paid $20 for it directly from the company, and at first glance, it looked pretty minimal for the price.
Most of the mixed opinions I saw about this one seemed to come down to hat shape, and after testing it, that made perfect sense. Flat-bill hats fit really well and looked neat stacked together. They slid in securely and gave the whole organizer a much cleaner, more polished look. Curved-bill hats, on the other hand, were more finicky. They didn’t sit as securely, and depending on how I stacked them, the entire arrangement nearly started leaning away from the wall in a way that looked a little awkward.
Once I started experimenting with the order I put the hats on it, it became clear that this product works best when similar hat types are grouped together. If I put the curved-bill hats near the bottom, and stacked the flatter ones above them, the setup looked better and felt more stable. If I mixed different styles too much, it got less elegant pretty quickly. That doesn’t make the DomeDock a bad product, but it does mean it’s not a “one size fits all” solution the way it might appear in photos.
In the end, I do think the DomeDock works, but it’s one of those products where your mileage is really going to depend on what kind of hats you actually own. If your collection is mostly similar styles, especially flat bills, it’s a pretty neat storage option. If you have a mix of shapes and sizes, you may need to do some rearranging and accept that it won’t always look perfectly uniform. It’s functional, but not quite as effortless as it first appears.
Lucky Charms Toothpaste
Last in this lineup was the “Lucky Charms” toothpaste, which is undoubtedly the oddball of the group. I picked it up at Walmart for $8, mostly out of curiosity. The big question here was, “Does it actually taste like Lucky Charms, or is it just one of those novelty products with fun packaging and not much else going for it?”
Visually, I’ll give it credit. It does look nice, and has a slightly sparkly appearance. However, when it came to taste, I had a much harder time deciding what I thought. My first impression wasn’t “Lucky Charms” so much as a sweet, artificial flavor that reminded me of how cotton candy vapes smell. That sounds harsh, but it really was the first thing that came to mind.
What’s strange is that after brushing, the aftertaste actually did remind me more of Lucky Charms than the initial flavor did. So, I can understand why opinions are split, and why some people would say it tastes like the cereal. Although, I can also understand why others would say it tastes more like some sort of “sugary vape juice”. To me, it landed somewhere in the middle of toothpaste, Lucky Charms, and that weird artificial sweetness all mixed together.
I wouldn’t say it was awful, but I also wouldn’t call it amazing. For eight bucks, it definitely feels overpriced for what is without a doubt just a novelty toothpaste. I’ll use it since I already have it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it again. Maybe it would be fun for kids who need a little extra motivation to brush their teeth, especially if they already love Lucky Charms, but for me it’s more of a gimmick than a must-have.
Conclusion
Overall, this was one of those review lineups where every product kind of landed in the “it works, but…” category. The nut chopper works, but it’s limited and takes effort. The DomeDock works, but it depends heavily on your hat collection. The Lucky Charms toothpaste works as toothpaste, but the novelty flavor probably won’t justify the price for most people. None of them were total disasters, but none of them felt like runaway winners either.
Video Review
Check out the full video review below.