Oddball Wave?

[evil510]

Hey gang,

Evil here. I literally just got back from home depot and came across something that caught my eye. I was sifting through the multitool section. I found a rack of new Waves. While I was sorting through them I found what I considered an oddball. I am no authority on Wave models, I do however know the difference between the old and new models in the mainstream. This one looked like an old style Wave, packaged and marked with the same product number of a new Wave... the box shows the new style implements also...BUT this one had brass thumbstuds! Anyone familiar with this particular model? Get this... no Leatherman engraving...or "Wave" for that matter...no date codes that I could see either. I have seen a fake on the net similar to this but even it had some engraving from a different company. The packaging looked 100% legit and was in the same lot as the other Waves. It was retailing at $69.97. I am by no means a collector, but this caught my eye.....

~ evil ~


Pivot bolts, end caps and bolts for end caps are flat... no rounded edges. As you can see, there is a brass thumbstud. There is even a cutout on the scale for the thumbstud. No visible engraving whatsoever. Looked inside handles and couldn't see a date code either.....


Close up of thumbstud area.....


Close up of end cap and bolt.....

[Fisting_Chili]

No idea, but pretty cool!  Did you buy it?

[evil510]

No, I did not. But I hid it in the off chance it is an ultra rare collectible type of Wave. I don't collect but would be willing to go back and get it for another member. If that is the case, hopefully it'll still be there. It was the only one like that of the whole lot.....

[jzmtl]

Errr, that's the infamous Chinese wave knockoff.

Looks like some low life bought the real thing, put the knock off inside and returned it. Not the 1st time it happened in HD mind you, someone did it to a surefire 6P LED with a incan G2.

See HERE

[Chako]

Yep, that is not a Leatherman at all. I would say jzmtl is right on the money with someone stealing the real thing and replacing it with the Chinese knock off.

I have the same, but mine is called a Mammut with a cute picture of a wholly mammoth on the handle. It is about half way down in my first post here...

http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,19118.0.html

[nuphoria]

Dirty trick 

[PyroJames]

Yup, that's the infamous knock-off wave.

[evil510]

Whoever it was, went through the time and effort to use a long sharp razor blade to split the cardboard, etc as there were no obvious signs of tampering. All plastic was intact. Probably a good thing that I hid it, so no one will get ripped off as easily.....

[leonardo]

Chinese knock off!!!

[loepis]

..
Is it a Wave with Surge scales model? 
Thanks for sharing it mate 

[BlueDot]

My brother was looking for a fuel pump last fall, and ended up talking with a guy who bragged about his chinese knockoff parts.  He said they could mark them"made in USA" and put it in exact same labeled box.

So my brother called the OEM and reported them!

If the packaging wasn't damaged, maybe the cheaters went as far as printing "Leatherman" packaging..... 

[J-sews]

Wow, that is really bad news. My guess is someone bought the Wave new, took it home, carefully swapped in the Chinese knockoff, then took it back to the store for a full refund. The return clerk certainly couldn't be expected to notice the switch, and so put it back up on the rack for sale. Talk about a despicable act. Now some other poor soul is going to get ripped off, and come away with a bad opinion about Leatherman products.


Grrrrr...

[sawman]

That sure wouldn't have happened with the old LM clam packaging... 

[Sazabi]

That sure wouldn't have happened with the old LM clam packaging... 

While true, I am happy to see a reduced amount of plastic being used per package, even with one or two ill-intented people.

[ducktapehero]

I would let the store know. I loathe dishonest people.