As Seen On TV: Is Clever Cutter worth the money?

HOUSTON – The Clever Cutter is a two-in-one knife and cutting board that the manufacturer claims slices food in seconds.

KPRC2 consumer reporter Amy Davis' night owl mother-in-law, Sharon Eisenbaum, sees the commercial for the device in the wee hours of the morning.

"It's on between 'Hart to Hart' and 'Matlock,' so I'm usually up at night," Eisenbaum said. "I don't know. It looks like it would be pretty handy."

Since you don't need an extra cutting board, the Clever Cutter makers say you'll have less to clean up and you'll need less prep time.

"Clever Cutter cuts up food ten times faster than ordinary cutters," claims the announcer in the commercial. 
  
Eisenbaum started slower, slicing zucchini with the Clever Cutter.

"It makes nice cuts," she noticed.

But when she advanced to crusty bread, she said it was very difficult to slice.

To test the speed claim, we found two like-sized carrots. Sharon used the Clever Cutter on one and a kitchen knife on the other. The Clever Cutter chopped the carrot in 6 seconds. It took 7 seconds with the knife, proving the Clever Cutter is definitely not ten times faster.

The commercial shows the demonstrator chopping veggies right into a pot, but my mother-in-law needed to steady the cutter on a counter or cutting board. That sort of defeats the purpose of the 2-in-1 gadget. 

After the test, her intrigue into the $14.88-Clever Cutter dissipated.

"It's clever, but I don't know if it's necessary."