Anyone who has driven a car in Minnesota over a winter or two is familiar with the three basic types of windshield ice scrapers.
There’s the one-hander, a sort of short spatula small enough to fit in the glove box.
There’s the stick, a longish wand, one that used to be made of wood but now is usually made of plastic, with a scraper on one end and a modest snow brush on the other.
And then there’s the desperation credit card, used when you get caught without a real tool and this is your last resort other than using your fingernails.
But is there a better way? To find out, we gathered the most unusual ice scraping ideas we could find. We tested them on our windshield on the frosty mornings we’ve experienced so far this winter.
These devices include beefy battery-powered tools, heated ice scrapers, scrapers that look like a spaceship, and scrapers big enough to defend yourself against a polar bear. Read on to learn about our surprising winner, an unlikely cone-shaped gadget that looks like the lid of a Moroccan tagine pot.

The Better Ice Scraper