A few weeks ago, we asked you which infomercial items you would love to see put to the test, and in the comments and e-mails, a number of you mentioned Mighty Putty, the epoxy adhesive hawked by the late Billy Mays. But then we looked through the archive over at sister site ConsumerReports.org and found they’d already put the putty through the paces.

CR compared Mighty Putty to Devcon Plastic Steel, which was top-rated in its household glue ratings. The results:

Moderately mighty but pretty pricey. Mighty Putty was good on plastic and metal and fair on wood; Devcon was excellent on metal and wood and good on plastic. Both excelled at filling gaps. It took more than 350 pounds of force to break Mighty Putty’s hold on metal and wood (for plastic, 270 pounds). But Devcon, Loctite Sumo Glue, and Elmer’s Ultimate are stronger and cost less… Mighty Putty cost $19.99 for six sticks plus $8.95 shipping and handling. And it took three weeks for our order to arrive.

So before you plunk down the nearly $29 for your Mighty Putty sticks, consider that you can get better for cheaper, and without the wait.

Powerful putty? [Consumer Reports]

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