Funny story about the Zipka and a fundamental design flaw.

I was standing in the aisle of head lanterns at REI one day playing with the Zipka. While I was there, two women came up to me to ask about the lights. They knew I didn't work for REI but they wanted to know which light I thought was the coolest one there for them to purchase for their nephew. Of course, I showed them the Zipka. I pulled on the retractable cord a few times and showed how it fit nicely on my head. So, one of the women (let's call her woman1) decided to give it a try.

Woman1 enthusiastically dons the Zipka. She places the Zipka over her head and the cord retracts to fit to size. Looks great, works great, everything's great and she's very impressed with my taste. So, she decides to take it off. Only, woman1 has long thin hair (enter design flaw). Woman1 pulls on the front end of the Zipka to extend the cord and begins to lift up. Then in one quick motion, the back end of the zipka slides up the back of her head and retracts very quickly and “zips” up along with the chord a substantial portion of Woman1's hair. Woman2 lets out a shriek and begins to pull on the cord to extend it and release the hair. This has, instead, the reverse effect and Woman1's hair ends up bundled in knots inside the compact retractor portion of the Zipka.

Meanwhile, I start to slink away from the situation that is quickly gaining the attention of others in the store. On a side note, Woman1 was in a wheelchair and although that obviously bares no significance on the effect of the Zipka on her, it did have a profound effect on how many people rushed to her aid in the situation. A woman in a wheel chair shrieking loudly while another woman pulls at her hair seems odd enough a situation to garner the attention of others fairly quickly.

Well, anyway. I think someone from REI had to eventually take the retracting part of the Zipka apart to release the hair. Needless to say - I'd recommend the Zipka, but unless you have a buzz-cut, pay attention to how you remove the Zipka from your head.

- trs