‘Shark Tank’ review: Gobie H20, Liddup, RootSuit, and Echo Valley Meats

While we have at times seen episodes of “Shark Tank” that feature products geared by and large towards the ladies, this one was in many ways based around products that could generally considered “manly” by some. We had a cooler for people too lazy to grab a flashlight, meat to celebrate for a major holiday, and a bodysuit that is completely goofy and one that we have seen at countless sporting events. The only exception to this was a specialty water bottle at the end that really could be marketing to anyone.

As with all of our other “Shark Tank” episodes reviews, you can click on any of the product names below to see more information via their official websites.

Liddup – Okay, let’s be real: does anyone really need to have a cooler that has some LED lights attached to it? We’re sure that there is a demand for something like this when it comes to people who like to camp late at night, and they are so dependent on pulling out the right thing to drink that they don’t grab something wrong by mistake.

With that being said, we see this more as a novelty, and they did absolutely the right thing here in teaming up with Kevin O’Leary. While he’s going to take 33% of their royalties forever, this is still a heck of a lot better offer that we thought they were going to receive, since Lori Greiner was right: you can just stick a light in your cooler if you’re that desperate.

Echo Valley Meats – When we wrote about this company in our preview, the positives were pretty clear: the meat looks extremely tasty, and we know that there is a certain market out there for this sort of product. While we thought the prices were expensive yesterday, it turns out that we were wrong and they were actually a little lower than the competitors. (What can we say? We’re not experts on mail-order meat.)

The big problem here was something that all of the sharks pinpointed easily: acquiring new customers. How are you really going to do this in a field with so many competitors with similar products? There’s not enough to make the business stand out, and hopefully the company will be happy with the extra traffic on their website. After all, they didn’t walk away with a deal.

RootSuit – So this is pretty darn hilarious: basically, this guy is selling Green Man from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” We wonder if that was a RootSuit, since we’ve really seen these bodysuits everywhere over the past five years or so. We know that they are popular, but there are two questions here that you have to ask almost immediately.

1. Is this just a passing fad, even if people do love them now at sporting events?

2. When it comes to competition, isn’t there a ton of this on the market already?

Ultimately, Mark Cubsn may be right here in that there’s no real need for a partner in this business. It’s probably not something that would be a hit in retail stores, and he may be better off just trying to pull in money off of it online.

Gobie H20 – To be honest, we didn’t know there were other products out there like this at the time of the presentation, and we have a feeling that many other people across America feel the same way. The product fills a need and the water bottle is cool-looking, and we think most consumers would overlook what was a pretty shoddy presentation just based on this alone.

The major issue here is simply that there is competition out there, and trying to get into a business of filtration when so many are just content with tap water can be a pretty easy thing to do. Every shark went out except for Daymond John, who came in with a surprising offer: he offered $300,000 for 40% of the company, with the contingency that they get it into a big-box retail store. At the end of the day the deal was made, and we actually think that the guy’s cockiness was justified. This could do very, very well.

What did you think about this week’s episode, and are there any products that you are interested in picking up? Be sure to share some of your thoughts below, and you can read up on some other highlights from “Shark Tank” this season over at the link here.

Photo: ABC