Oster FPSTBW8100 Electronic Wine Vacuum Cork with LCD Display, Black

Works as Expected
I purchased this as a gift for my mother. It's a bit of a special purpose item that may not be suitable for everyone. The entire thing is one "cork" and must stay on the wine bottle to function. This was perfect for my mother, as she'll only ever have one wine bottle open at a time. Wine-tasting types, though, would probably prefer one of the more expensive vacuum cork machines that can seal multiple bottles.

The Oster Vacuum Wine Cork seems to work exactly as advertised. The initial use was a little confusing. After installing the two AAA batteries that came in the package, the expectation was that the buttons would do something when pressed, the display would light, or something to indicate that it was "on". On the contrary, nothing will function until the device is actually one the wine bottle (which is actually pretty intelligent in retrospect). Once on the bottle, the top button will initiate the vacuum sequence, which takes approximately 60 seconds to complete (the...

Will work if...
My brother sent me as a gift. It didn't work. I went through three sets of batteries trying everything to get it to do what it says it does. And, yes, I read and reread the instructions. Prior to throwing it away as junk and stop wasting batteries, I decided to tear it apart and see what was inside.
Note: Not for the clumsy of fingers.
I popped off the black top and carefully pried off the silver ring on the bottom and removed a small screw. This exposed the workings inside. With removal of four more small screws, I was able to get to the pump and sealing mechanism. The pump is a small piston that pushes on a small, silicon, two-sided cup which, it turns out has a rough and a smooth side. The rough side was down so I turned it over so the smooth side was down. This made sense to me for keeping a seal on the vacuum that makes the whole thing function. I put it all back together and VOILA! it works as advertised.
It's done a great job keeping leftover wine...

Useless gadget
So far I have tried it on about 6 different 3/4L bottles and it only worked on 2 when the bottle was 3/4 full with liquid.
Further it uses up batteries very quickly. More detailed instructions would be helpful.
Claus Wutherich

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