Heavy Duty (100% Solid Metal Front & Back) Retractable Reel Key-ID-Badge-Belt Clip & Chain Pull Sold Individually

I bought this Jan 28th 2011. It broke last night, March 29th 2012, but only after I dropped my keys 20 feet onto a concrete step. So it lasted 14 months. I knew it would break one day, so I bought a replacement about 6 months ago. I grabbed the replacement and switched it out. Since I am changing careers next Feb I shan't be buying another replacement as I fully expect it to last that long. I can't recommend this product enough. And to address someone else's review - both of mine are metal, not plastic! UPDATE: OK, my latest one did not last anywhere near as long sadly. March 29th 2012 thru Jan 15 2013. Still, that's not too bad.

And I'd probably pay a little more if the price went up! Just purchased my second one of these very tough belt clip chains as my first one finally bit the dust after 14 months. I work in a resort and have to constantly use my access key to enter guest rooms and storage areas. If I had to guess, I probably easily average 50 pulls on this chain each day. It operates very smoothly considering the toughness of the chain, and I never had any issue with it getting stuck or tangled. Also, the chain always retracts fully (you don't have to deal with it starting to sag like some other products out there). One downside to this is that, when it does die, you won't know until that last pull as it maintains its durability until the very end. Note: the clip is very strong on this product, and could be problematic if you wear a really thick belt as it can be tough to slide on and may wear down that area of your belt over time. Fortunately, this means the clip isn't going anywhere so you won't have to worry about it accidentally falling off. Just make sure you don't wear an expensive belt as the clip may wear it down over time (that did happen to my first belt). However, I really can't blame the clip as it's serving its purpose. So, if you need a solid and reliable belt clip with retractable chain that can handle thousands of pulls, this one is a hands down sure thing.

The version I received may be different than what others did or they may have improved the design. The cord appears to be braided metal thread with a plastic coating. It doesn't snag my clothes because of the plastic coating and I don't expect it to break as others I've owned have made from nylon. I expect it to last much longer than the pack of 5 cheap clips I'm replacing where the clip broke from the plastic housing. The clip is is strong, held in place with a large metal screw and it is screwed into metal, not plastic. The title claims it is metal front and back. This is not true, it is metal on the clip side, plastic on the other and I don't mind this. My only complaint is the size, especially the size of the clip. I used to clip my badge to the metal frame that holds my laptop's strap, however, this clip is so wide and it won't fit. My bag has a bunch of metal fittings and all are too small. The housing and clip are about twice the size of my old retractable clip and larger than they appear in the photo. Besides that, it's perfect as a retractable badge holder and should last for years.

I use this to hold my "Black 2 Sided Rigid Multi Card Holder by Specialist ID, Sold Individually" and I am swiping my card fairly frequently. I took the key ring off and with a pair of needle-nosed pliers, opened and closed the link at the bottom. I've only been using this for a couple of weeks and, thus far, have had no issues. I like this because it is light and only about 2 inches in diameter (I'm just estimating this). The body seems to be made of a light grade of metal or aluminum; however, it seems sturdy enough. Now, what I found that was interesting was that mine did not come with a chain but a thin length of metal cable. The cable itself has a sleeve of plastic around it to prolong its life span (I'm assuming). Overall, I'm very pleased with the setup. I've been through a slew of these sort of things over the years that would break quite easily (those were the type that were plastic and had a retractable string that would break quite easily - I think I found those in a 4-pack at Office Max and I do not recommend those at all). The old one I found at Walmart and it had had a long length of chain and was extremely heavy with a much larger diameter and it seemed to get in the way a great deal on my belt. Plus I think it was made for someone carrying a slew of keys. This one is light and fairly comfortable. Because the weight is so light, I could conceivably see someone wearing this on his/her neck lanyard without any difficulty.

I would strongly recommend against this product for anyone thinking they need something like this. I experienced two significant issues in the week I owned and used it, and now it is completely broken and unusable. I'm not sure what is supposed to be "Heavy Duty" about this product, as it not only fails to hold up to any kind of heavy use, it doesn't seem to be able to perform its duty for more than a couple of weeks at best. It simply hung from my belt for 7 days with maybe a pound of weight (three keys, a key fob, a badge, and a few plastic tags), had its cord extended about 3 times a day, and this proved to be too much for it. First issue I had is one in many other reviews - the cord extended to a certain point and would not retract. I fiddled with it a bit and eventually, one of the times I fully extended the cord, it fully retracted back and seemed fine. This happened on about the third day I owned it, so I had some misgivings at this point. Second issue I had is while walking to work one day, the cord apparently disconnected itself from the pin it's connected to in order for it to retract, dropping my keys on the ground as I walked on without noticing since I had my headphones on. I arrived at work to find my badge and keys missing and had to trace back my steps to find it, nearly making me late in the process. Not fun, but at least I found them safely. This happened on the 8th day of use. With no way to get the cord reattached to the pin, this is now a large metal chunk sitting in my recycling bin.