As I mentioned in the
Fishbone Tool I managed to get a hold of a
GoPro Tool. The photos are pretty horrid as I was too lazy to break out the light box this time.
It looks like a black tool, but that's just the reflection. It's actually a textured chrome finish. According to GoPro:
The Tool makes it easy to tighten your GoPro thumb screws to prevent the camera from shifting during high-speed, high-vibration activities. Whether you’re headed surfing, skydiving or off-road racing, The Tool delivers the extra torque you need to get your thumb screws tighter than you can by hand. It’s perfect when mounting the camera using multiple extension arms, or adjusting thumb screws in cold conditions with numb fingers. Added bonus: The Tool doubles as a bottle opener, so you can use it to crack a cold one back in the parking lot.
Tighten your GoPro thumb screws more securely than by hand
Prevents the camera from tilting up or down during high-speed, high-vibration activities
Ideal for achieving stability while mounting the camera with multiple extension arms
Easily adjust thumb screws in cold conditions despite numb fingers
Doubles as a bottle opener for après-adventure good times
Can be attached to your keychain or gear for quick access
As you can see, it's not as long as the aftermarket one, and when it comes to wrenches, length is everything. However, as mentioned in the Fishbone thread, it's easy to over torque the plastic fittings, but since GoPro doesn't offer aluminum fittings it's understandable that they wouldn't feel that you need more leverage to really crank stuff down.
As a wrench it differs from the other wrenches available by not allowing the thumbscrew to pass all the way through.
At first I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, and time will tell for sure. Being shallow it can easily slip off the thumbscrew and doesn't get as much of a bite. On the other hand, it only fits on so far and doesn't slide too far in and catch on bits of housing and just royally annoy you when you try to pull it off. I'll see how I feel about it after some longer term testing, but I'm thinking that I am going to prefer it to the aftermarket wrenches.
Multitools are required by Federal Law (I think it's in the Constitution?) to include a bottle opener, and the GoPro Tool is certainly properly equipped. This makes sense, as after surviving many of the (mis)adventures that are filmed with a GoPro most people probably require an adult beverage.
As you can see from the above photos, the GoPro Tool doesn't lift a cap clean off. The Fishbone was an excellent bottle opener, but the GoPro Tool needed to bite the cap in three places to get it off. That's about the same as the Leatherman Squirt series, which as some of you might remember I wasn't all that thrilled with. Still, it outperforms some multitool cap lifters, as many just don't work at all, so while it's not the best bottle opener out there, it works well enough.
Overall I have paid a lot more for other tools that do a lot less than this one. I carry my GoPro stuff in a couple of MOLLE type equipment bags, and I usually have a
Leatherman OHT attached to the bag for anything I might need it to do. The pliers aren't as good as a wrench for tightening the thumbscrews, especially the plastic ones as the pliers bite into the plastic too much and slip easily. The bottle opener.... well I have never been a fan of Leatherman's can and bottle opener combo tool. The GoPro won't replace the OHT, but it is specialized enough that it will work nicely in conjunction with it.
And, for $5 there's probably no point in deciding if you want it or not- if you have a GoPro and you see this thing in the store, you might as well grab it. It's really not a huge gamble.
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