Am I just unlucky? These newer push-able sink stoppers NEVER work. They set fine but then won’t release. I try pushing the edges, middle… nothing. Gotta unscrew it. What a PITA.
And, who wants to stick their hand in the sink water to open it anyway? It’s not a huge deal, but after shaving, etc. I never really found it difficult to push the traditional piece at the back of the faucet.
Yup, they’ve stuck down for me several times. My daughter’s did so I had to take off the p trap and push it up from below.
Those newer styles eliminate the complex push-rod connected with a weird spring clip, and the leaks where the whole mess inserts into the drain pipe.
Now they just need to make these pop-top ones “work” as designed.
Yes, ones from 3-4 years ago all did that.
The newest ones don’t seem to be that way.
Sometimes they are not adjusted correctly. If it is too tight, you have no play to push it back down to open it. Check out video below…
…are great as far as I am concerned.
I replaced my three vanities with them last year and we are quite happy.
From new, the push-rods never would hold water from our experience.
But these worked fine, too.
I recall those chained stoppers seemed to magically “drop” into the drain, even when you didn’t want them to.
Yeah, it’s funny… I’ve actually installed a few for clients that purchased the faucet (not HI related… I do handyman work for a few people) and I’ve always got them to work just fine. On inspections I never care enough to try to fix them but maybe I’ll give it a try. Probably less time consuming than coming here to complain 
I hate those things
And for some reason they’re in every $5 million house.
The cheaper ones do stick a lot, and I just explain that they need adjusting. What I have also come across is that many of them do not get pulled out ever to be cleaned under them. If you give the sink a small sniff before running water or even after, some will smell like a straight sewer gas from all of the build up internally on the plastic that is inside of the drain/tailpiece. If I see them and smell it, I will also just inform clients it is a regular part of maintenance.
Fortunately, for inspection reports, we cannot quantify the level of odor I have come across.
