LEVER

They might look daunting, but lever corkscrews can be a cinch to use. Their secret: levers and gears that do the twisting and tugging for you.

Typical lever models, including the Screwpull (Le Creuset) Elegance (see demo, top left), have two handles that clamp around the bottle’s neck to hold the device in place, with the worm poised above the cork. A pull of a lever rotates the worm and drives it into the cork. Pull the lever back and the cork is lifted out of the bottle. Removing the cork from the worm also involves moving the lever.

Although it doesn’t look like a typical lever model, the Vacu Vin WineMaster (see demo, below left), works in the same basic way. You place the device over a bottle with its four handles upright. Push the two small handles down and the worm is twisted into the cork. Push the two big handles down and the cork is pulled out of the bottle. Push all handles back up and the cork drops off the worm. The Screwpull (Le Creuset) and VacuVin corkscrews were excellent performers. The Metrokane Rabbit was also easy to use, but its operation wasn’t quite as smooth; it was judged very good. (We tested the basic Rabbit with plastic handles but also looked at a high-end version with metal handles. They were similar in performance.)

Lever models are relatively bulky and some are expensive. But lower-priced versions are appearing: Metrokane has launched the Houdini, which costs about $40. And an Arcosteel model was selling for under $20 online. We didn’t do full tests of those models, but a quick evaluation found that both worked well.

CONTINUOUS TURNING

Turning the handle is the only effort required. After a few turns, the screw is stopped from traveling downward by the corkscrew's frame; further turning forces the cork to ride up and out of the bottle. The Oxo, Screwpull, and Zyliss models ($20 to $30) were judged very good. We especially liked the Oxo's big, easy-to-grip handle (left).

WING

Wing corkscrews all work in the same familiar way, but they don't all work equally well. We tested versions priced from $5 to $45 and found that performance rose in step with cost. Best was the Monopol, $45; it had strengths such as a worm with well-defined threads, and long wings for good leverage. The $16 J.A. Henckels Euro (left) had similar virtues. Models that cost under $10 had shorter wings and didn't work as smoothly.

WAITER'S CORKSCREW

These are basically T-shaped corkscrews with a fold-out arm that braces against the bottle's lip for extra leverage. Best in our tests was the Pulltaps, $8 (shown, left). Unlike the other models, it has a two-position arm so you can readjust it to a higher position for extra leverage once the cork is partly out. Waiter's corkscrews are compact and tend to be inexpensive: Those we tested cost less than $10. But it takes practice and a bit of strength to use them.

AIR PUMP

The Corkette Cork Extractor, $19, doesn't require much force: You push the needle into the cork and pump the handle to inject air into the bottle, forcing the cork out. But it can require patience; it took from 8 to 55 pumps to open a bottle. The instructions say it's not for use on damaged, partly empty, or oddly shaped bottles, and advise you to wrap bottles in cloth before opening. There have been concerns that air- and gas-pump models can cause bottles to break, but we had no such problems.