Stretchy Circular Needles

I love to try new things and new gadgets. An ad in a knitting magazine caught my eye for circular needles that stretch. I thought maybe this was the solution for avoiding knitting socks on double pointed needles (which I don't mind) or 2 circular needles (which I hate). The only size I could see that the needles come in is size 2 or 2.75 mm. The length recommended for socks is the 10 inch length, but they do come in other lengths all the way up to 52 inches. My question is, if they stretch, why do you need 52 inches. Anyway, I've knit only 1 inch on a sock ribbing and do not know if these are any different from the old 10 inch circulars which caused pain in the hands because of the short shanks on the needles and the small circumferance of the circle. These might be better because your hands in the center of the circle seem to stretch the cords a little bit as you work to make a larger circumference.

This shows how the cable stretches-sort of.

I still haven't made up my mind if they are keepers or if I go back to the dpns. Look them up at www.stretchycirculars.com

PS. They will be put in the box with other curiosity notions and I'll go back to my double point needles. I got pain in my hands so had to go back to wearing my braces at night for a couple nights.