Is the Gold-Plated Furls Odyssey crochet hook better than the Nickel-Plated?  Let’s compare the two finishes and find out!

If you’ve been watching my crochet videos for awhile, you probably know that the Furls Odyssey crochet hooks are my very favorite hooks.  I love the super-thick, forward-weighted ergonomic handles and the slick, speedy hook tips.  I use these hooks for all of my projects, and they make crochet so much more comfortable for me.

But as I have shopped for Odyssey hooks in the past, I have always wondered…

Are the Gold Odyssey hooks better than the Nickel hooks?

I have always ordered the nickel-plated hooks, but this week, Furls Crochet sent me a few new Odysseys to try.  These are the brand-new Lime Odyssey hooks, one nickel plated and one gold.

Since I now have a gold-plated Odyssey, I decided to test and compare the two to find out if one finish is better than the other.

Here’s what I found:

I have been using the nickel-plated Odyssey hooks for a few years now, and the first thing I noticed while testing the two hooks is the glide.  The nickel-plated hooks are very slick, and allow the yarn to glide across smoothly and quickly.  But the gold hook lets the yarn glide even better.

It’s not a drastic difference, but it was noticeable when switching back and forth between the two hooks.  The surface of the gold hook has even less friction than the nickel, and it glides in and out of the stitches like butter.

I also noticed that the hook tip is shaped slightly differently on the gold Odyssey.  It’s a bit less rounded on the tip, but for the most part, it’s  pretty similar to the nickel hook tip.  I do find that the slightly more pointed tip tends to go in and out of stitches a little better than the tip on the nickel hook.

The shaft of the nickel-plated Odyssey is surprisingly a little longer than the gold shaft.  It could be because the nickel hook is one size larger than the gold hook.  The rest of the Odyssey hooks in my collection are about the same length as the Gold Lime Odyssey, including an older nickel hook in the same size as the Lime nickel hook.  I’m not sure why that is, but I do prefer the length of the gold hook and my previous nickel hooks.

Overall, I do think the Gold Odyssey is better than the Nickel.  The gold hook has all the features and benefits of the nickel plated Odysseys I have been using for years, but with the best glide I have ever seen in a crochet hook.

So, is the Gold Odyssey worth it?

Furls Crochet hooks tend to be more expensive than the typical crochet hooks you can buy at a major craft store, and there’s a reason for that.  Furls hooks are designed to make your crochet as comfortable, speedy, and efficient as possible.  They are handcrafted from high-quality materials, and are definitely luxury items.  So it’s no surprise that the gold-plated hooks cost more than the nickel-plated ones.

The nickel-plated Odyssey hooks currently retail for $33 USD, while the gold-plated retail for $66 USD.  (Regular price, when they are not on sale.)  In other words, the gold-plated version is double the price of the nickel version.

Is it worth the extra cost?

I would say it depends.  Obviously, it depends on your budget, but it also depends on how important that extra glide is to you.  Although the extra glide is nice, it may or may not be worth paying double the price for it.

If you’re looking for the best ergonomic luxury crochet hook you can possibly get, I would suggest going for the Gold Odyssey.

But if you’re just looking to try a more ergonomic tool and see if it is better for your hands, it might not be worth paying double the price for that little bit of extra glide.  You could get two nickel-plated hooks for the price of one gold.  In that case, I would recommend the Nickel Odyssey.

See my original review of the Furls Odyssey hook here.

Have you tried a Furls Crochet hook?  What did you think?

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