Product: The Monkey Hook picture hanger
Designer: A Monkey & A Marketer
Price: $3 for 2
Rating: Recommend*
Like trying to reinvent the mousetrap, a product comes along every now and then that DOES make a significant improvement in an ancient field. The Monkey Hook is one of them.
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An ingenious and simple design, The Monkey Hook uses one rigid piece of wire to replace the need for a hammer, pin and hook. Able to hold 50lbs per hook, these guys can be doubled and even tripled for heavy loads such as mirrors.
The upside of this is that Monkey Hooks are super handy and work really well in drywall. We had no trouble putting one in the wall with our bare hands.
The downside is that they only work on drywall, are a bit pricey and they seem like overkill if you are hanging a few small pictures.
We say - go buy some of these and have fun using them. But don't plan on having them totally replace the glorious OOKs picture hangers that we swear by. A complete toolbox will carry both.
(Re-edited from original post on 2005-07-12)
(Re-edited from original post on 2006-01-26)
*Rating System:
Strong Recommend
Recommend
Avoid
Strong Avoid!
Used, no doubt, to secure your THICK LARGE MEATY French flap clock. ;)
where can I get these? do these sell them at the usual hardware stores or are they only available online?
Those hooks sound great but here in good old Hawaiia my grass shack has single wall construction so I can't use them.
Hee. I misread P(too)'s comment and laughed potato chip crumbs all over my keyboard. Say it five times fast "thick large meaty French flap clock."
Okay. The slideshow was amusing and kinda silly, but I did need to see how they worked. Interesting. I've been having the most, ahem, amazing luck trying to hang stuff in my new condo w/ drywall, so this may do the trick.
anyone know if you could sort of "adapt" these for use w/ other wall-mounted objects, not just pictures/mirrors? i tried looking at the slideshow & their website, but couldn't quite get a feel for it.
So, P2 is back? FINally!!!! Anyway, these look good theoretically, but I'd have to see them in action in real live meatspace (so to speak) to believe it, really.
it looks to me like you could fashion your own monkey hook out of a coat hanger...
I'll try to answer some of the questions:
1) I cannot comment on the THICK LARGE MEATY French Flap Clock...
2) We have closed ACE Corporate and will soon be in all ACE stores...but in the meantime, you can order by phone at 866-663-4665 (ONE-HOOK) or online at www.monkeyhook.com. We have a printable order form available for mail or fax orders as well. Look for the link in the Purchase Online tab.
3) Sooj - Monkey Hooks can be used for ANY wall decor...or even a place to hang keys or a dog leash...very versatile.
4)riye - it will work on single wall construction as long as the single wall is 5/8" or less, and has appropriate space on the other side. Paneling, etc...
Wow, this is the second RECYCLING of this item.
1. Is this what Billy Mays (correct name?) advertises on TV? Because I wouldn't buy one for that reason alone. His screaming voice would be forever imbedded in my walls.
2. Sorry, but I'm not trusting my one and only $3,000 painting to one of these. Call me silly, but not gonna' do it. I don't want to wake up and find the cat dead beneath it and regret not using an OOKs hook - or 2. I'm an old fashioned gal who likes tools and nails and security.
got mine on amazon. i have used them all over my condo and they work great on everything from small paintings to a large heavy mirror (was skeptical at first but it's still hanging no probs)
I saw these advertised on TV the other night and thought they looked great but all those "as seen on TV" thingies are immediately suspicious. If this has been road tested and came thru with flying colors then I'm getting some.
sadly, those of us with plaster-over-cement/brick walls are still stuck with masonry drill bits and anchors to hang anything more substantial than a postcard.
Road-tested these hangars and think they're great. Used them to hang a mirror (approx 20" x 30", medium thickness) and a poster in a clip frame with glass (30" x 40") - 2 hooks per item. Plus they're a cinch to install and create minimal holes in drywall. Purchased them at a hardware franchise in So. Cal. - "Orchard Supply" aka "OSH".
forgive the silly question.
i rent, how do i figure out what type of walls i have?
where do you live? If it's in Boston, you have paper thin walls, the studs are not at regular intervals, and you are looking at horse-hair insulation in all the 2 - 3 families/victorian homes. You can't even use anchors, they just fall out and take a bigger hole with them. My experience is, you have to have (series) of light art, or really big impact that you hang in one place and leave there, and you have to find the stud to hang anything heavy, or costly.
We bought a wall-mounted stainless steel pot rack and couldn't find a place where it would hold anywhere on the inside wall. The outside walls were all windows, so we are stuck with the piece until we move.
if you are renting in new buildings in the south, slightly better luck on the stud spacing.
I can't speak for the West Coast, but I have a feeling it could be shitty.
My apartment in Manhattan had walls that were so painted over so many millions of times, that I wasn't finding anything 1 inch in but paint and plaster. Use the anchors - it's going to be worth it. Butterfly to be specific. Good luck. Use spackle when you move out.
Yowch. Yeah, these are similar to the "as seen on TV hawked by Billy Mays" things; if you see the commercial, there are extensive demonstrations in it.
They look cool and useful, so I'm pleased to see a review of a similar product here. Esp since I haven't been by in a while! :)
hahaha. that chimp is adorable! what an easy, handy product. Thanks for showcasing it.
It's weird how AT posts often coincide with my current needs. I have a giant Brocade Home mirror sitting on my living room floor and I was wondering how the heck I'm going to hang it.
Unfortunately, this one cracked in shipping and it's now backordered so I have a good month to figure it out.
It works great! Hung a 40 pound mirror using two of these that I bought from ACE Hardware store. My only complaint is that they are too expensive considering that I could make one using a close hanger. But still, a great simple idea! Really, these should not cost more than 0.25 cents a piece and not close to $1.00 each!