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66 of 66 found the following review helpful:
 You get what you pay forOct 02, 2005
By Mark E. Brandt
I should have known that the 5-line retractable clothesline as purchased through [...] would be cheaply made as it was cheaply priced, but was negatively impressed with everything about it. For example, the mounting bracket for the housing assembly is flimsy and bent out and pulled away from the wall the moment the clothesline was loaded. The screws were even soft and cheap. The locking mechanism bent while stretching the lines to the tension required to support anything over five pounds (+/-) without sagging substantially. During the initial dry run, the lines would not retract fully. Prognosticating structural failure, before using, I ran strapping around the housing and line end bar, anchoring them to the wall in an attempt to keep them from either pulling the housing away or snapping off the line end bar, thus making the unit non-retractable. The distance stretched is 10'-4" and the lines sag considerably with only one pair of damp jeans hanging from near the end of one line! I'm not sure how long this clothesline will last, but anticipate not very. Cheap, cheap, cheap! Menard's has a wider and longer 5-line unit for $45 that appears to be ten times better than this 'Butts' cheap plastic crap. Before opening, I was tipped off as the picture on the box is so 70's. It's so cheap, I feel I've wasted too much time trying to spare any prospective consumer's thirteen bucks.
Addendum, March 8, 2007: Since I have strapped the unit in place, I must say that I was wrong in my prediction that the 'Butts' clothesline wouldn't last. It has been getting used probably twice a week, and still as good as installed. So, if you know you will have to reinforce the unit's installation and that you won't be able to retract the lines, go ahead and buy one.
50 of 51 found the following review helpful:
 Pretty good for the priceSep 13, 2005
By Dana
I bought two of these clotheslines after moving from a house into an apartment and realizing just how silly it is to put quarters into laundromat dryers, when my desert climate happily dries clothes for free. They're functional, but they do have some issues.
The first problem we encountered is that it does not come with the necessary hardware to mount it. It does come with the necessary screws, but the drywall anchors that are included will not actually anchor it to the drywall. At least I think those were drywall anchors; they looked like cheap versions of the kind I've used in the past. Being not all that aware of hardware, I guess I could be wrong in that assumption. At any rate, I had to go buy drywall anchors before I could mount the clothesline.
The other problems are related to the plastic construction. First, the way to get the line out is to pull the gray knob outward, and that unlocks the spinning mechanism. You then grasp the bar that the lines are mounted to, and walk to the where the hooks are on the other side of the room. Except with ours, the gray knob continually slides into the locked position, so you have to stand in front of the unit and yank until you're fairly sure you have enough line. It would be better if there were a way to prevent it from accidentally sliding to the locked position.
Second, there's no way you can tighten the line after you've hung clothes on it. Well, maybe there is, but I couldn't do it without putting what seemed like too much pressure on the plastic. I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to hang pants on this, because of how low it droops when you hang things. That may be partially because I'm five feet tall, and my husband is over six feet tall. So, not only is the unit mounted a little low so I can reach, but his pants are a little long.
One thing that isn't a problem is the product has a little brushed metal plate attached to it, proudly proclaiming that it was produced by the Butts Manufacturing Company. This isn't a problem to me, but my teenage son found it to be a crisis. He promptly stuck stickers all over the unit that's mounted in his bedroom, so his friends won't see that. Another thing I noticed is that the line does not appear to be plastic-coated as advertised. It appears to be some sort of plastic-nylon type of fiber. Either the information is incorrect, or I've seen some strange plastic-coated clotheslines in my time, and had entirely the wrong mental image of what to expect. Either way, the line is completely satisfactory as it is.
Taking all that into account, I'm actually pretty happy with it. The price was low, and I knew that the plastic construction wouldn't be anything spectacular. One unit can take an entire load of clothes, which is the main reason I chose this model and not a single-line model with more durable metal parts. The line doesn't appear to leave odd marks on clothes, like my mother's clothesline always did. And they certainly appear durable enough to last a few months. They'd probably last years if I were only drying an assortment of handwashable, delicate items.
29 of 29 found the following review helpful:
 Poor QualityMay 14, 2006
By BLM52
I paid over $20.00 for this at OSH and really regret doing so. This product was made very cheaply and poorly. The line is flimsy and not strong enough to hold more than 2 pieces of clothing without sagging. The line on mine is even tearing now. The knob that is suppose to keep the line tight doesn't work properly and the retraction will not pull the line back in correctly or evenly. Now I can't even pull the line out at all, meaning I can't use the darn thing at all anymore. It lasted me less than a year and I hated using it the entire time. Wish I would have invested a bit more money for something worth it.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Don't waste your money!!!Sep 04, 2008
By Pat Davis
What a waste of money. I bought it to save on electricity and instead I get to go buy some drywall compound and repaint... plus my clothes are hanging over the back of all my dining room chairs right now. The drywall anchors that came with it promptly pulled right out of the wall as soon as we put any clothes on it whatsoever (leaving quarter sized holes behind). Plus, the first time we have ever tried to use it, the cord started fraying. I would've been better off buying 10 eyehooks and just stringing a clothesline whenever I needed to dry clothes. It would've been cheaper too. I read the other reviews before I bought it, but I thought for 10 bucks it couldn't be all bad. It is. Keep your money. Buy a latte. Just don't buy this!
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Cheap design, does what it needs to doSep 21, 2007
By T. Cruey
This product is made very poorly. When you pull it out, the lines all retract at different speeds causing some very tight lines along with some very loose lines. Also as a tip, make sure that the line is level or a couple inches higher at the retractable end. This way when the line pulls on itself, it doesn't pop off the wall you were trying to mount it on. All in all for the price it holds your clothes and a decent amount also, but I feel like these definitely won't last with the cheap build quality. I would recommend spending more money on something that will last.
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based on 17 reviews
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