Mammut - Spot the difference!

[DaveK]

I recently bought a new multi-tool from ebay for the princely sum of £2.49 & P&P (about $5 US). I wouldn't normally buy cheap tools, but the pictures in the item description reminded me quite a bit of the Leatherman Wave and I was curious. It arrived this morning and I thought I'd share my initial thoughts with you.

The first thing that I noticed upon taking it from its disintegrating box and cheap nylon sheath was a brass stud where the thumb holes are on the old wave, but other than that it bore more than a passing resemblance to its "inspiration" the original Leatherman Wave.

The tool bears the logo "MAMMUT FINETOOL CORP", and has little picture of a Woolly Mammoth printed on there too. This logo and the brass thumb stud however seem to be the only real significant variations from the Wave. It is quite clearly intended to be a replica of the Wave, and I couldn't help wonder if maybe they sometimes 'forget' to put the Mammoth on there and accidentally print "Leatherman Wave" on there by mistake. I also thought of the $10 Rolex watches that are so popular in that part of the world too.

My apologies for the quality of the pictures, but hopefully you can see them well enough to get an idea.

Side by side: the tools are remarkably similar in appearance. The poor lighting in this picture makes them look quite different, but in reality they have exactly the same finish and colour. They are also very similar in weight, the Wave 0.5 grams heavier at 220 grams.



The selection (and even the location) of the external opening tools, is identical. It's quite difficult to get the saw and the file out of the Mammut, as they seem to recess a bit too far into the handles when closed.



This picture is very poor, but hopefully you can see that the tool selection in the handles is identical, except for one screwdriver which appears to have jumped to the opposite handle for some reason. The design of the scissors is taken straight from the Wave.



This final picture shows the straight edged blades, and whilst there is absolutely no comparison in the quality of the steel, it seems pretty sharp for now at least. The liner lock mechanism also "pays tribute" to the Wave, although it only seems to engage about half of the time!




So all in all, an interesting tool, clearly failing to honour LMs patents and clearly inferior quality. Although to be fair, it does seem reasonably well put together considering it cost £2.49. It's unlikely that I will use the Mammut much if at all, so I'll probably never find out how robust it is.As a novelty item, I'm glad I own it, but I don't think Leatherman have much to worry about just yet

[J-sews]

Great analysis Dave! Those copycats really do get every last detail on their knock-offs don't they? At a casual glance, the brass thumb stud is the only give away that its not a real Wave.


Hmmm, after so faithfully copying everything, I wonder why they didn't just put a thumbhole on the knife blade instead of the brass stud?

[Leatherman123]

I've got one of these too.. For the money, they are not THAT bad!

[Spoonrobot]

What's up with the Mammut file in the second picture? Looks like it's been burned?

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

That really is quite close to the original, like Bob said if you only gave it a cursory glance, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a Wave

For £2.50 it'd make a great fishing knife though

[Sea Monster]

For under $10, I'd buy it!

Wave design in a no-fear for loss or excessive abuse package, who can resist.


I, err, have reasonable sympathy for knock-offs.

Do you have any idea of the costs of qualified white manufacturers? (Especially in my town with  the highest Cost of Living in the country, and apparently no: 21 in the world according to at least one website.)

I'm currently in negotiations for offshore production - the factory & equipment is as expensive as anywhere, but the estimate costs after that are significantly below what I can get locally.

[DaveK]

What's up with the Mammut file in the second picture? Looks like it's been burned?

Yeah the pictures are lousy spoon sorry 'bout that. The file looks a bit tarnished on one side, I'm thinking it might be filings stuck in there. It doesn't look so bad in real life, but I'll take the trusty old toothbrush to it later....

[Rodion]

Mammoths are called "Mammuta" in Israel. I wonder if ZOG has anything to do with this... 

[Guyute]

I'm so tempted to grab one of these.

[rahim123]

Hi everyone,

Well, I know you're all going to hate me for saying this  but I ordered a Mammut Fine Tool Corp 17-in-1 multitool. And... I like it! It cost me $11.50, and it's worth about $11.50. No, it's not Leatherman or Gerber quality. But it's also not Leatherman or Gerber price. The most important thing that I wanted was the liner lock. And although they are not imprinted with the little padlock symbol, the little metal tabs do indeed effectively lock the four principal tools upon pressing them firmly against the lock. Most of the other tools have a fairly positive "snap" into place feel. The scissors work well. The outer facing edges of the handles when using the plier are nicely chamfered and feel good in my hand. It came in a nice box that says "Fosco Industries".

So, that's my Mammut Fine Tool experience, take it or leave it. 

[EZ822]

For the price I would get a couple to use as beaters.

[papa_bob]

does anyone know what's the mammut fine tool corp's tagline?

[rahim123]

does anyone know what's the mammut fine tool corp's tagline?

Mammut Fine Tool Corp - Multitools for Mammoths™

[AHB]

does anyone know what's the mammut fine tool corp's tagline?

Mammut Fine Tool Corp - Multitools for Mammoths™

Mammut Fine Tool Corp - Multitools for Fat Wooly Beasts..?? 

[nuphoria]

They are made to service these things

[ryan1835]

i have red alert 3 and i havent had any wooly death mamoths on it 

[SlackOne]

The Mammoth Tank was an April's Fool joke, but they released the source art for it and it shows up in a few mods now.

[kreisler]

Where did you get if for 2.49GBP?
The cheapest i could find is 11.80US$ shipped on PC-link.biz (questionable dealer.. never heard of them before).
sounds stupid but i dont want to use my Spirit (fingerprints .. argh!!) for outdoors, so a beater would come in handy.

Anyone who has been using the Mammut for a longer period of time?

[Threeme2189]

Holy thread resurrection!

[Pignut71]

Holy thread resurrection!

Indeed. Wish I could see the pics.

[Chako]

here are some pictures of the Mammut mixed up in this other thread...

http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,19118.msg361814.html#msg361814

[kreisler]

Holy thread resurrection!

appears that talking about the Mammut products has come to a standstill. that is a sign. for me not to buy it. the tool isnt sold on ebay any longer and it is safe to assume that it's not manufactured anymore, or that the tool (or company) has lost all its relevance in discussions, on forums, on the market, or with practitioners. no Mammut Fine Tool Crop website, nothing, no support by nobody. No talking, no youtube. Mammoth, dinosaur, dead. 

okay, then let me invest my little pocket money in something more current, more relevant. maybe a new flashlight? 

[AHB]

Lots of Knock-offs in this thread..
http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,13689.0.html