Angry Birds Hand Sanitizer (hands-on)
Listen, when you work hard (and play hard) the way we do, your hands are going to get dirty from time to time. In fact, if we've got one piece of advice for frequent trade show attendees, it would be: wash your hands. A lot. Of course, a clean water source isn't always waiting for you between booths -- when that happens, there's no beating a well-placed bottle of hand sanitizer. But while the likes of Purell and its ilk have traditionally done the trick, we've always longed for a solution that could combine our sanitization obsessions with our passion for casual gaming. That wait, mercifully, is now over, thanks to a groundbreaking partnership between the fowl flingers at Rovio and those Ph.D.s in oral care products (the Firefly Hello Kitty toothbrush, anyone?): Dr. Fresh.
Part of the industry-leading Infectiguard Kids line, Angry Birds Hand Sanitizer offers a slim and slick profile, perfect for tiny hands. The twist-off lid is located at the bottom of the bottle, pointing in a downward orientation when positioned as intended. The whole thing is supported by a carabiner laced through a loop in the top of the skinny bottle, so the sanitizer can be suspended from a backpack, messenger bag or other carrying case for easy access to its cleansing contents. And at 1.8 fluid ounces, the whole thing comes in well under the TSA's carry-on liquid restrictions.
The bottles themselves come in three colors: red, yellow and green -- two birds and a pig, respectively. Ours was the yellow model -- the angrier of the two birds. The carabiner matches the label -- though ours was actually more of a gold than a yellow, really. Still, as the packaging handily notes: "free clip." Color clashing or no, who are we to look a free clip in the mouth -- or beak, as it were? And while the whole spread isn't the flashiest we've seen (with a plasticky back that's somewhat reminiscent of recent offerings from Samsung), the thing is solidly built with a ruggedness that should be able to suffer through a few backpack tossings (or catapultings, if you wish).
As for the sanitizer itself, while we're sadly unable to test the company's claims of killing "99.99 percent of harmful germs" at present, we can say that the gel has a good consistency to it, without leaving behind the sort of filmy aftereffect of some of the competition. In spite of moisturizing claims, however, we can't honestly say that we felt much effect of that front. Our skin still felt a bit dry during the prolonged winter weather on the east coast. As for the smell? Well, we've smelled worse, though that's not necessarily a glowing recommendation -- in fact, you really shouldn't be smelling the thing at all.
Still, with prices ranging from $0.01 to $5 over on Amazon, you could probably do worse than Angry Birds Hand Sanitizer. Also, free clip.
