has a telescoping handle with a spring at the top of the horn,it flexes as your foot slides in your shoes.,you don't need to bend over .Prefect gift for a leg amputee or and elderly person, or someone with back troublesnice productI bought this for my dad, who is 90, to help him put on his shoes. It works fine for that, but it is NOT easy for him or me to twist and collapse it for easy storage. The metal makes it sturdy enough, and he's able to use it.I misplaced my old non-collapsable shoe horn while I was deer hunting. And I'm glad I did!I love this shoe horn. I was surprised by the number of one-star reviews though. All of them seemedto be baffled by the spring. The spring is an important part of this shoe horn. With a handlethis long you'd be falling over with how far you'd have to lean back to get the horn in placeand reach down and back to use the horn. I find it a dream to use. I'm 6'2" and for some reason,I always have trouble with the back of left shoe collapsing. I've used a shorter shoe horn forquite some time (about 14 inches long). But this one has that one beat hands down. Evenwith my height. I don't have to bend or lean at all. The spring at the end of the shoe hornhelps a lot because even though the horn itself is at an angle to start. The handle can flexat the spring. And I don't have to lean or bend. It's great! I don't understand why so many peoplereport problems because of the spring. I'm guessing they're shoving it too far under their foot.You can't put it under your foot up to your toes. But you can get your shoe on with ease.And it's far easier to travel with. It's collapsed length makes it easy to pack in very nearly any bagyou might carry. And it's strong. My old fixed length plastic was always a hassle. And I was alwaysworried I was going to break it while on the road while trying to get it to fit in a bag.I've tried to abuse this thing. And it can take it. The handle is more than strong enough.Needing both knees replaced so very difficult to bend over to put my shoes on. This allows me to slip into my shoes easily.The shoe horn works the way you'd expect, and the telescoping feature is convenient, as I sometimes use it sitting down, and sometimes standing up. The only reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is that the rubber handle came off pretty easily. The shoe horn is still 100% usable, and the rubber tube-shaped piece can just be slid back over the metal handle, but it'd be nice if it didn't come off (I will probably eventually get around to gluing it).This shoe horn is great for travel because it can collapse. I love the spring on it, it makes it easy to guide my foot into my shoe from any angle without bending over. I would highly recommend it.Although I love it enough to use everyday the rubber grip keeps coming off of the metal shaft. Even just hanging it up we will hear a "clunk" as the shoe horn falls to the floor. I tried several "fixes" - hot glue, gorilla tape - neither works. Just made a gooey mess that I cleaned off later. A hole and screw is maybe my next attempt.May work for shoes but if like me you wear boots, this doesn't work at all. As your heal hits the horn much higher up the spring 'knuckle' bends and the horn just slides under your foot or bends the back of your boot. After this had happened a few times I lost my balance and fell over bending the telescopic arm so I couldn't even return it.Its advertised as a shoe horn, and looks like a show horn, the ability to adjust the height made it more attractive, however when it arrived, the spring is too flexible and makes it impossible to use as a shoe hornThe idea of a shoe horn is to provide stiff support to let people put on their shoes or boots, this does not.First time I used this product the blade bent, as shown in the photo.I reported this to the supplier and emailed them on 17th February, asking them for a more durable replacement (I even offered to pay the difference if it was more expensive).I've had no contact from them since so you can draw your own conclusionsLiked it is retractable can take on holiday/gym etc a little lightweightI dislike everything about this shoehorn. It collapses under your foot so you can't get any leverage.