Review on COFIT 43" Retractable Snow Shovel, Aluminium Alloy Snow Sand Mud Removal Tool For Car Outdoor Camping And Garden, Detachable Four-Piece Construction, Black by Kevin Caldwell

I bought this specifically to keep in a compact car for Winter emergencies. Had the chance to use it and it worked exactly as desired.Got the car stuck on a plow berm and had to dig it out. The shovel itself comes in its own little nylon bag and the whole thing is really light and compact (which is especially important in a smaller vehicle) .Putting it together was easy. Just press the springloaded buttons and snap the pieces together (which I was able to easily do with gloves on).Two of the main reasons I chose this collapsible shovel in particular:1) it has a longer handle than most of the other options, which is a huge plus. Don't have to bend over as much, and it also allows me to easily reach/dig further under the car.2) the collapsible USGI shovels have a fairly stronge hinge (but a much shorter length than this shovel), but as seen in ebay reviews, the cheap Chinese made shovels have pretty fragile/unreliable folding hinges. This design doesn't have a folding hinge.I used it to dig myself out, and the shovel worked great in the typical mix of compacted snow and ice in the berms/ridges that the city plows leave behind. Even chiseling through some of the more solid chunks didn't faze this shovel.Once I dug my car out, taking it apart was just as easy. Although the black coating was scraped off the bottom front edge of the shovel blade, the shovel held up great.It may not be the best choice for hardpacked dirt (a USGI shovel, or the Cold Steel Spetznaz or Trench shovels would be stronger, but as mentioned, those are much shorter), but as an emergency compact snow shovel, this thing is GREAT!