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Endeavor Gator Grip

us Offline thebullfrog

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Endeavor Gator Grip
on: April 22, 2010, 10:27:09 PM
Found this tool in the basement a while back and been meaning to do a write-up on it. Finally got around to it. The pics were done quickly on my camera so I apologize for the (lack of) quality. The tool in question (which belongs to my Grandfather) is made by/for Endeavor Tool Company, under the Gator Grip brand. Some may recognize the Gator Grip name from infomercials several years back. It's a "universal" socket that uses a bunch of spring loaded pins to fit a variety of different nuts and fasteners. The idea is sound and it is clever, not sure how well it holds up to actual use however. This particular tool includes the socket, a Wenger Pocket Grip- type multi-tool and a cool little adapter to use the socket with the multi's pliers, all in a two pocket nylon sheath.







The sheath is huge, as is the tool. Seems made well enough but it's bulky as Hell. On top of that the belt loop is so far down the sheath, causing it to ride so stupidly high that it'd be REALLY uncomfortable to wear, not that you'd be able to keep your pants on wearing this thing anyway.

First off is the socket that gives the tool it's namesake:



You can see all the little pins that are all individually spring-loaded allowing the socket to "conform" to any size shape fastener you can fit in there, from 1/4" (7mm) to 3/4" (19mm). On everything I tried it on it seemed to hold prety decently, and it does indeed do a pretty good job of conforming to oddball shapes (like the handle of my Powerlock), so the theory is sound and the design does work. The problem is in the execution: it's rather poorly made and I don't see it holding up very well. For little small lightweight jobs around the house, it's actually kinda a nifty thing to have, but don't try and do any actual work with it.

Next up is the multi itself:



As you can see it's a large, heavy, bulky affair in the same vein (read: ripoff) of the Pocket Grip. The handle scales are a fairly hard rubbery plastic material that is actually really nice to hold onto. . It's very comfy and grippy. The scales, like the plier spring, are held on with Phillips screws. The rest of the tool is riveted. The plier jaws are freakin' huge. They're easily the thickest I've personally encountered on a multi. The spring under the handle is really stiff so the pliers open back up very nicely. In fact the spring is a little too stiff, and it takes an excessive amount of effort to hold the pliers closed, making them a bit awkward to use. The wire cutters in the pliers jaws are about the worst I have ever come across. They are a bypass type, which is the norm for multis, but they are completely blunt and squared off. I tried them on a wire coat hanger and it did nothing- not even leaving a mark. More like they are there to make it look like it includes wire cutters.



The small driver. As you can see it is in a ridiculously stupid place. It's practically impossible to use the thing. On top of that its extremely stiff to open, and hardly locks into place at all. This will be the common theme for the rest of the tools.



Bottle opener, driver, wire "stripper". I suppose the bottle opener probably works, couldn't test it. The driver has good reach, but is so thin it'd likely bend the first time it was used. Not helped by the super-cheap metal, but we'll come back to that later. The wire "stripper" notches are a joke. It's just two little cutouts in the tool. Not only are they not sharpened at all, they are actually very nicely ROUNDED. I guess they wanted to make sure the wire you stick in there fit in nice and ergonomically. Or something. They are really laughable.



I actually like this tool. It's a combination driver, ruler, and file. It's a handy little 2" fold out ruler, with a large driver. On the back-side is a file. Again however, the driver is almost razor-thin at the tip, and unfortunately the file only covers like 3/4 of the tool, leaving only about 1.5 inches of usable file. It is decently aggressive however and seems to work okay. I like the idea, but not the execution.



Long ass Phillips. Seen pictured with my Spirit S for comparison. From a design point it's gotta be my all time favorite multi-tool Phillips. It's like 2.5 inches long and the tip is shaped exactly as a dedicated #2 driver. The squared shank is even rounded near the tip. I LOVE this driver, but unfortunately the execution leaves a lot to be desired, which again, I will come back to later.



Blade. Terrible. It's short, stubby, and dull. The grind is horrendous, the tip is fake. I say fake because it's ground to look pointy, but is actually quite rounded. Again, it's like they put more effort into making a non-functional feature look useful than it would have taken to just make the tool actually work. On top of that it's impossible to open. The nail nick sits really low in the tool behind the scissors, making it almost totally inaccessible.



Scissors. Not bad. SAK sized. Note the spring. It's beefy and works well. Actually a very effective set-up. They are dull as can be however, and hardly cut paper. Also the tip of the part where your thumb goes? It's sharpened. No seriously, it's really really sharp and pointy. It could almost be used as an awl. I stabbed myself on it a couple times. Pretty dangerous IMO.

Now is where I make a couple observations about the tool as a whole. Like I mentioned, the metal is really bad. I swear it's spring steel. The tools all bend very, very easily. They spring right back into shape. The file/ruler reminds me of a scale model diving board. This alone would make this multi basically unusable. On top of that, it apparently corrodes easily. I don't know how old the tool is, and I know at least the file has been used (wood shavings in it) but knowing the owner there's no way it's been used more than a couple times. I understand it's been in a basement for however long in his workshop, but there is really bad pitting all over the place. the tools are polished to some degree, but still appear very dull, almost bead blasted. Beyond the metal being really bad, there's the opening and lock-up. The small driver is really stiff to open, everything else isn't too bad other than the difficult to access knife. When you open the tools, they have a super satisfying snap to them. They sound like they really slam home with authority. But they don't. It takes basically zero pressure to close the implements. Annoying at best, but it's really at the level of being dangerous in actual use. There is also a lot of side to side play in all the tools.

There is one cool feature left however:



Note that small adapter in the middle. On one end it's a square drive, the other is nicely contoured to fit the pliers.



This is also the only part that has any country of origin marking. There were none anywhere else on the tool or socket. I like this adapter. It allows you to use the pliers as a socket driver, and seems like it would work pretty well.



The pliers and the adapter lock together perfectly. It's a cool idea. Like most of the tool, there are some good ideas present, but the incredibly cheap execution of those designs ruins it. The tool is far too heavy for EDC, especially with the socket and adapter, yet is far too cheaply made for any serious use, which makes it basically worthless. From a design standpoint, there's a lot of little things I like here, but it has little to nothing to offer in terms of real-world usability.





gb Offline Zed

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #1 on: April 22, 2010, 10:56:58 PM
great review mate, i like the idea for the socket, does it lock ,or do you have to keep it tight together ?

paul


us Offline thebullfrog

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #2 on: April 22, 2010, 11:03:20 PM
The pliers lock closed with a shackle. While using the socket adapter you can just lock it down with that and it'll hold fairly tight, though it will wiggle a bit. Notmal hand pressure from using it will suffice to keep it fairly solid at that point however. So in short, yeah you can basically lock it in place.


gb Offline ryan1835

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #3 on: May 02, 2010, 11:51:58 PM
that looks ingenious! why hasnt anyone else thought of it  ???
I


scotland Offline Gareth

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #4 on: May 03, 2010, 01:40:35 AM
I remember the sockets being advertised over here, seemed like a neat idea but I never got round to picking one up.  Good review mate. :tu:
Be excellent to each other and always know where your towel is.


us Offline J-sews

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #5 on: May 03, 2010, 03:48:08 AM
Too bad they didn't build a little more quality into it eh? :-\
In order to be certain of having the right tool for every job.........one must first acquire a lot of tools


gb Offline ryan1835

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #6 on: May 03, 2010, 06:49:34 PM
it would probably be more effective if the pins in the socket were hexagonal too
I


us Offline thebullfrog

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #7 on: May 04, 2010, 03:26:45 AM
Yeah I was thinking the same thing, but they really do seem to hold decently well.


us Offline donvito

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #8 on: May 04, 2010, 06:40:14 AM
I remember the infomercials advertising this universal socket. Great review, thanks :tu: :cheers:


us Offline turbov21

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #9 on: May 04, 2010, 11:33:32 PM
Quote
...but don't try and do any actual work with it.

Yeah.  I was trying to use it to do some work a while back, ended up buying a socket set, and learned a valuable lesson: modular socket heads are great in a pinch, but they're no match for die-cast steel designed for a specific sized bolt.


us Offline ChopperCharles

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #10 on: July 06, 2018, 11:12:18 PM
The wire cutters in the pliers jaws are about the worst I have ever come across. They are a bypass type, which is the norm for multis, but they are completely blunt and squared off. I tried them on a wire coat hanger and it did nothing- not even leaving a mark. More like they are there to make it look like it includes wire cutters.

I think you should go back and re-evaluate the wire cutters in this tool. They are not in any way designed to cut a coat hanger. They're designed to cut stranded copper wire. Go try it. These are some of the BEST wire cutters I've come across on a multi tool. They handle 24 gauge on up to 12 gauge with no problems whatsoever. They're just not designed to cut hard wire.


Charles.


nz Offline zoidberg

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #11 on: July 06, 2018, 11:34:42 PM


00 Offline Mechanickal

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #12 on: July 06, 2018, 11:45:46 PM
And here I was thinking Grant was necroing threads :dd:


us Offline ChopperCharles

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #13 on: July 07, 2018, 12:08:16 AM
I AM THE NECROMANCER  >:D

Charles.


scotland Offline Gareth

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #14 on: July 07, 2018, 10:46:48 AM
I AM THE NECROMANCER  >:D

Charles.
:D :D
The wire cutters in the pliers jaws are about the worst I have ever come across. They are a bypass type, which is the norm for multis, but they are completely blunt and squared off. I tried them on a wire coat hanger and it did nothing- not even leaving a mark. More like they are there to make it look like it includes wire cutters.

I think you should go back and re-evaluate the wire cutters in this tool. They are not in any way designed to cut a coat hanger. They're designed to cut stranded copper wire. Go try it. These are some of the BEST wire cutters I've come across on a multi tool. They handle 24 gauge on up to 12 gauge with no problems whatsoever. They're just not designed to cut hard wire.


Charles.

Necromancer or not, you do make a good point.  I never did get with the idea that hard wire cutting was the be-all-and-end-all of what cutters should be able to do.
Be excellent to each other and always know where your towel is.


us Offline ChopperCharles

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #15 on: July 07, 2018, 05:34:54 PM
Yeah. I almost never have to cut hard wire. But electrical wire? All the time. Between vintage audio restoration, old motorcycles, car stereo installations, general messing around, and Chrysler products, I find I’m cutting soft stranded wire 99% of the time. Every once in a long time I’ll decide I need another circuit in my garage and I’ll need to cut some Romex. But that’s super rare and anything that can cut stranded wire can easily cut romex.

But truly hard wire? I have never needed to cut that.

Charles.


us Offline Captain Hook

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Re: Endeavor Gator Grip
Reply #16 on: July 10, 2018, 05:49:21 AM
I saw a gator grip socket at Wal-Mart the other week. Thought it was a strange idea. I saw video showing that it also works in those hook loop screws and other screws as well can't remember where the video was though 🤔 :think:
~Formerly _MattGyver_ ~


 

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