Held in hand the opener performed quite well. It grips the bottle cap and folds it quickly, thus exposing the sweet nectar inside. Now it was my experience that the Rocket Tensioner didn't blast the cap off, but rather wrestled it off. This is important, avoiding "alcohol abuse" that occurs with rapid cap removal related spillage. The torque on the opener is not as powerful as say your average kitchen bottle opener, but clearly enough to bump a cap off of your favorite beverage. All the while insuring that none of the sweet sweet ale goes to waste. This method of cap removal is by superior design and makes this bottle opener/chain tensioner superior to all others.