Absolutely concur. I bought one of these from a Boy Sprout and eventually broke the handle and I used the busted off head for years because I couldn’t find a replacement and never got around to making one.
I have this monster two-handed Ice Dozer thingy that is supposed to cut through ice measured in inches, but I like the Fantastic better. Much better.
The only problem is that it will scrape off paint, rubber, decals, etc. if you’re clumsy. You have to keep it away from the edges of the window.
I live in Northern California (ok, technically the SF Bay Area is Central CA, and it matters for this discussion.)
What’s an ice scraper?
It’s like a credit card on icy days but with a handle and won’t break as quickly.
We’ve got two for each car. Best scrapers I have ever used. It just surprises me that I have never seen them for sale in Anchorage. I have never even seen other metal scrapers, just useless plastic ones.
23 years of use? This sounds like a terrible product for the manufacturer, unless they plan on customers losing them and buying replacements, 
“Fantastic Ice Scraper with Brass Blade ($6)”
“Oh, yeah, it still costs $2.”
Found them 3 for $3.26 on Amazon, too.
Picked one up after this was featured on BB a few years back, it was a great purchase. If it can get through northern New England ice storms, it can get through anything.
Bonus: cheap enough to buy a bunch, since I’m always giving em away to friends in need.
I have been looking for these for years. I remember them being popular in about 1987 and loved them. Never thought I’d need to stockpile them. Thank you for posting about them!
Plastic ones work fine for me. We only get the occasional ice storm in Georgia and you’d have to be all kinds of stupid to hit the road during one. I got a big two handed one with a snow brush, long enough that I can get my weight behind it. If memory serves, I’ve had it 25 years and four cars and it still works just fine, on the zero to two times a year that I need it.
What, you mean you don’t use a bucket of steaming hot water?
What?
Hammertime!
I need to try one of these. Most of the time a plastic scraper works fine for me. Two or three times a year though we get what I can only attribute to freezing fog: Ice an 8th of an inch thick that behaves like it was epoxy laid down in thin coats with an airbrush and baked on.
I live in the Midwest: what’s the point of an ice scraper that’s barely 6" long? 
There are a small number of 1 star revies for this item on Amazon. Anybody here experience the scratched windshields that these 1-stars complain of? http://www.amazon.com/CJ-Industries-F101-Fantastic-Scraper/product-reviews/B000FW4LT4/ref=cm_cr_dp_qt_hist_one?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0
I have a friend in Norway who was utterly incredulous that I did not own snow chains. “You should always have them just in case!” he said. I kept trying to explain to him that there was no possible way I would ever accidentally find myself in need of snow chains in Los Angeles.
Never had chains in northern Wisconsin (illegal), but I do have them in L.A. since they are often required in the surrounding mountains.
I picked one of these up about 20 years ago because it was the only one they sold at my local Kmart. I was nervous that it would scratch the windows. Boy was I in for a surprise. They’re awesome, even on the hard-frost plastic scrapers can’t touch. When the handle broke, I cried. Years later I rejoiced when I discovered they were available on Amazon.
Yup. I never had snow chains when I lived places where it snowed (snow tires do a lot better), but I bought a set after I moved to the SF Bay Area because you need them if you’re going to drive to the mountains in the winter time (which are full of Californians who don’t know how to drive in snow, and don’t have snow tires, so everybody’s required to use chains.) I’ve never actually used them; it makes more sense for me to take the ski bus than to drive.
(And I do actually have an ice scraper somewhere in my trunk, and have needed it once or twice in the last 20 years to scrape frost off the windshield, though it’s usually the squegee end I use.)
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