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

I have to give this product two stars because the description is very deceptive. Before I go into detail as to why, I'll explain why this product does not get 1 star, and give the "pros".It looks nice, it's not terribly large and the matte black finish on the outside is subtle. The retaining clip (which I would clip to a belt loop) is sturdy and keeps the item from slipping off (though it can be a pain to put it on in the first place, it's pretty tight). The chain retracts quite well and very rarely snags while retracting. Overall, it works well.However, this is one glaring flaw and it's bad enough that I don't recommend that anyone purchase this product. The chain is most certainly not heavy duty. It's one of the flimsiest metal chains I've ever seen. I'm not exaggerating. Most of the time you think of a chain, you think of solid rings of metal interconnected. The chain in this reel, however, is composed of pairs of extremely flat, paper-thin metal. Imagine the aluminum of a soda can, but even thinner than that.This item did reasonably well for a couple of months. I was actually putting it to light duty. The only thing connected to it is a key card in a plastic holder, I'm not carrying around a big ring of keys or anything. It's just a key card I pull out to open doors, then I let it retract. One day I reached down to pull out the key card and I'd gashed my finger! When I looked down to see what had cut me, I saw that the link nearest the key ring had broken. I bound up my finger (it was a pretty nasty gash) and took the reel off of my belt loop. Not wanting the chain to slice up my hand any further, I tried to figure out how to remove the broken link. It turned out to be ridiculously easy, as it cut with a regular pair of scissors about as easily as paper. That isn't an exaggeration. Since each link of the chain is a pair of these rings, the chain as a whole was still intact even with the broken part removed, but considering how flimsy the chain is with the links in pairs I hastily replaced this reel with a much stronger one that won't break.In any case, do not buy this. I imagine that a reel using a nylon string will hold up longer than this "heavy duty" chain.

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.

When looking for a reel for my work badge, I wanted something sturdy/durable and not too flashy. I have definitely found both in this product.I went ahead and measured the length of the metal pull cord for the reel that I'm using right now, and its actually quite a bit longer than what is stated in the description. Mine measures about 27 inches long (versus the 18 inches claimed in the product description). I'm not sure if this varies a bit from unit to unit, however.The bulk of the upper clip portion that holds the metal chain is made up of 2 circular halves. The rear half (with the clip) is a shiny metal material. The front half appears to be a tough plastic. It's a matte black color, and doesn't really stand out too much (especially against dark clothing).At work, I have to pull the badge from my waist and up to security scanners as a sort of key card. I've gone through my first one of these and am on to my second. The first one served me well for about 6 months, then the wire snapped off the reel. After some quick math based on my average use, I would say this lasted me anywhere from about 1000 to 1200 pulls.Overall, I really do like these and will definitely be purchasing more.

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.