Innovation Award Profile: VIM Tools Extendable Wrench Extender with a Detachable Head
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Q: What makes this product so innovative?
A: The first thing that makes this product an innovative product would be the versatility of all the attachments that it has available for the same item. This product is a wrench extender that comes with an extendable handle. That wrench extender head is detachable, and it has multiple different attachments for that same handle, making it a lot more useful of a tool than just a wrench extender. And now what that does is, it saves a ton of space in your drawer, because, as you know, the real estate in a toolbox is crazy expensive these days. So, the amount of space that five heads and one handle for this product would take up as opposed to five full-length sizes of each one of those heads ... the difference is crazy.
Q: How could this product help improve the lives of technicians and shop owners?
A: On the technician side, since it’s a wrench extender, the leverage you're gaining on using that on a wrench is unparalleled. Some people may ask, ‘Why not use a double wrench?’ This is where the safety part of it comes in. You're using a tool that is not gonna split on you or break, and then you have to deal with your knuckles busting. It's a lot safer option than using a pipe or rigging a tool to make it whatever it is you need for that specific job. It being variable length, and it being able to safely grab onto that wrench to give you more leverage is the best of both worlds. That's a good thing for the shop owner as well — you don't have your technicians outside rigging tools and getting injured while doing it. It helps both out in that sense.
And each attachment that you purchase for it — I think we have four or five, and we have more coming — the more that you buy, the more value the tool has.
Q: What has the feedback been from the technicians who've purchased this tool?
A: A lot of people were skeptical because of the detachable head, but once people started giving it a try, it took off so much because they were very surprised at the quality of what we were able to bring out in a tool that has a detachable head. Most people figured they were going to be able to destroy the tool quickly and that just wasn't the case. Another thing that people wanted to know is, ‘Are there more size options? What other availability is there for this handle and for this wrench extender? Is there a bigger wrench extender? Etcetera.’ They're eager for more.
