Rotato Express, an automatic vegetable peeler

Anonymous Anonymous

#1 – 12:11 PM November 21, 2008

Robo-bris.

technogeek

#2 – 12:27 PM November 21, 2008

Note that the hand-cranked version of this has been around for many decades. Admittedly that doesn't look as "delicate", but it can also be set up to cut as a continuous spiral, automatically coring an apple as it goes. About the same price bracket ($20-30), probably more durable, certainly more eco-friendly. Websearch "crank potato peeler" turns up many versions and vendors.

Personally, I think the main thing the electric version is intended to peel is your wallet.

geekpdx

#3 – 12:30 PM November 21, 2008

Ron Popeil
A Blendtec blender
Mr. Potatohead
Wax fruit
Any HD-DVD disc
A banana
Those stupid promo stress/squeeze balls

Dillenger69

#4 – 12:41 PM November 21, 2008

Reminds me of this.
$15 and lasts for generations.

Chrs

#5 – 12:58 PM November 21, 2008

Looks like a cheap way to make ultra-thin curly fries, if you start it back at the top again a few times. Mmm!

Starfruit or dragon fruit would be fun to watch it try.

caipirina

#6 – 1:02 PM November 21, 2008

LOL . banana was my first thought too ..

But I am wondering at more simple things like a not so evenly shaped potato .. would that still come out in a string ??

airship

#7 – 1:09 PM November 21, 2008

Make your own skinless franks!

Halloween Jack

#8 – 1:24 PM November 21, 2008

Hamsters.

Jenonymous

#9 – 1:38 PM November 21, 2008

Okay, #1 beat me to it.

I was also thinking "really close haircut," "ultrafine grooves on a bowling ball or cue ball to add serious English to a throw/hit," and "spiral-etched Easter Eggs."

omnifrog

#10 – 1:56 PM November 21, 2008

@technogeek

It's unlikely that the electricity used by vegetable peelers, or even kitchen gadgets as a category, contribute significantly to our use of energy. While I admire your thoughtfulness about the environment, it's better that we focus on the low hanging fruit first (and peel it electrically!)

bibulb

#11 – 2:02 PM November 21, 2008

Edison cylinders!

salsaman

#12 – 2:04 PM November 21, 2008

Strange that they're only asking $30 and that it doesn't seem to exist-- not in stock, and the image screams "composite" with the unit's even highlights and lack of color in the reflections.

therevengor

#13 – 3:13 PM November 21, 2008

If this doesn't make 'em talk, they ain't gonna talk.

Anonymous Anonymous

#14 – 3:43 PM November 21, 2008

I prefer the white version for $18
http://tinyurl.com/5nff6r

Ceronomus

#15 – 4:23 PM November 21, 2008

How about Rev. Phelps? His skin is pretty thick and hey, there might even be a human being under there somewhere.

Jack

#16 – 6:22 PM November 21, 2008

Who peels tomatoes? Communists?

krylon

#17 – 9:05 PM November 21, 2008

A watermelon. It might take a while.

A New Challenger

#18 – 12:29 AM November 22, 2008

Dammit, Jenonymous beat me to hard-boiled eggs.

Try a banana.

Anonymous Anonymous

#19 – 12:47 AM November 22, 2008

Most of the hand crank versions suck, because the torque necessary to crank it destabilizes the machine, and the pressure of the peeling blade and its travel down the fruit or veggie is almost never a smooth ride, It simply does not peel fast and easy, at least in the hand cranked versions.

Perhaps an electric version would not be jerked around so, and might do a decent job

remmelt

#20 – 4:59 AM November 22, 2008

Note the use of perfect fruit/veg in the pic. Compare to your real examples. Now compare to anything from a bio/eco shop. It won't work as advertised.

Also, what's wrong with this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Peeler_01_Pengo.jpg

Is it the time you "save?" Totally offset by having only half peeled fruit and you having to manually redo some patches. And having to get this sucker out from under the sink, plugging it in. And having to answer to your esthetically non-challenged friends for having another plastic monstrosity in your kitchen.

Omnifrog@10: it's not just the power it draws while being on, it's also the power/oil it takes for manufacturing another plastic gizmo, delivering it to your door, etc. There's nothing wrong with a regular peeler. This is not modern life.

Cassandra

#21 – 8:19 AM November 22, 2008

Mangoes. Lychee.

Anonymous Anonymous

#22 – 10:35 AM November 22, 2008

But the peels are typically where the good vitamins are (depending on the food).

-a vegetarian

Habits

#23 – 10:58 AM November 22, 2008

Jam an iPhone in there and just go wild.

Register willitpeel.com and start sending passive-aggressive emails to that blender guy.

semiotix

#24 – 11:41 AM November 22, 2008

Damn, now I'm hungry for an eight-foot-long, quarter-inch-wide strip of potato skin.

OM

#25 – 3:41 PM November 22, 2008

...I wanna see an iPhone run through one of these. And where's the steampunk version, guys?

gnoodles

#26 – 7:05 PM November 22, 2008

$30 is cheap for a potato peeler? I suppose if you ate an awful lot of potatos, this might not be such a bad deal, but between the price and the cabinet space required, it doesn't seem like a deal to me.

Downpressor

#27 – 10:07 PM November 22, 2008

Here is my vote http://i33.tinypic.com/2prtlxj.jpg

Mindpowered

#28 – 1:59 PM November 23, 2008

I'd like to see a durian peeler.

chef

#29 – 2:55 AM November 24, 2008

@#20: The peeling arm is spring loaded(well, if it's anything like the mechanical versions of these things), so it should work on "irregular" fruit 'n veg too.

cha0tic

#30 – 10:16 AM November 25, 2008

A baby. After this old Joke:
What's red and screams in the corner?
A peeled baby in a bag of salt. Click

Anonymous Anonymous

#31 – 7:01 PM December 30, 2008

received white version about 6 yrs ago as gift and it works great every thanksgiving and Christmas i have to make 10 lbs of mashed potatoes and having carpels tunnel in my wrist the rotato express allows me to do this task with ease,im actually on here looking for one for my sister highly recommend getting

chevy

#32 – 7:11 PM December 30, 2008

received the white version about 6 yrs ago as a gift. love it works great

Anonymous Anonymous

#33 – 8:03 PM June 6, 2009

This peeler is far to much money for what it is. I would have to agree with techno geek. it peels your wallet mainly, unfortunately its peeling mechanism seems to be set at a certain peel thickness so by the looks of things you loose far more potato during peeling than if you used a good old hand held peeler. The process of making this machine is also a BIG green turn off. The amount of materials processing and treatment needed to make it safe for use in food prep would be larger than a hand held, more expensive and the involvement of more processes = an increase in the toxic wastes produced on the side.

um and hey using your arm to peel a potato is not that much hard work, really...