Though I haven't had a chance to use it yet, I thought I'd give some initial thoughts on my new model Powerlock. I've mentioned a couple times around the site that I was pretty disappointed in my original version Powerlock, so when I broke the plier head, I never bothered getting it fixed. I finally decided to give SOG another chance.
I gotta say I am actually pretty happy so far. There are still things I don't like about it, but it is vastly improved in my opinion. The gear covers obviously are amazing. We all know that. The new Paladin style plier head? I am simply in love, gotta be one of the best pliier designs on the market, desperately needs replaceable cutters though. In Carbide
And then there's the biggest are of controversy, the Piano Locks. I love 'em. Well almost. I like them a lot though. Really if I wasn't so spoiled by the locking perfection that is the Swisstool Spirit, I would love them. the fact that they make no noise at all when they lock into place just bothers the bejeezus out of me. Without that tactile sound of metal snapping onto metal, it feels like they never lock. There's almost no noise, and you don't even really feel a click, there's almost zero feedback whatsoever to assure you that the tool is locked. I find it very disconcerting. On the other hand it DOES lock. It's not exactly the strongest lock around, but it gets the job done. With the handle cover closed I feel perfectly safe with them. On my old one the lock was borderline dangerously bad, unless you lined up all the tools perfectly the lock couldn't close, and if one of the other tools wiggled (which happened a lot on mine) it would unlock whatever you were using. The Piano Lock is much much better in this regard. Some people complain about the pressure needed to unlock the tools since it's nigh impossible to press just one "key". Frankly I think those people are just sissies
. While it does take some force, and I can see the complaint, I don't find it that bad. I don't think it's an unreasonable amount of effort at all. The new locks do seem to make customizing the tool a lot harder. It was a PITA to get the tool loadout I wanted put together, but I can live with that for the improvement. And lack of clumping. I HATE clumping. Which brings up the next point. From the factory, a lot of the tools still clumped. With the rather spartan loadout I'm using now everything works fine with zero clumping, but with more tools in there some of them still liked to stick together. Scarily the knife was the worst. Every time I opened the driver next to it the blade would come with. Flat out dangerous if you aren't paying close attention. SOG really needs to tweak some things a bit as I damn near sliced my finger open a couple times before I removed the knife entirely in favor of the wire strippers.
As a whole I find the "2.0" to be vastly superior to it's predecessor. While there's still some issues that need taken care of, and I'd like some more Vic style feedback from the locks I don't have any disappointment in the tool like I did the original version. For the most part my old complaints have been remedied. On top of fixing most of what I found lacking before, there's also a slight tactile advantage to the new tool. There's just something about the new locks that makes the whole tool feel tougher, and less cheap. I think it's the (mostly) lack of clumping. While the locks themselves could feel a bit more solid, the better lockup, a bit less tool play (though there is still a fair amount in most tools) just give the tool a more solid overall feel than the old set-up. The gear covers also make the tool feel more complete, as oppsed to the exposed gears which while they looked cool, they were so annoying and painful to use it gave the tool this whole aura of only being half thought out.
One other thing is the general "vibe" of the tool. It actually "feels" like a tool. The look, feel, and design is so much more industrial. The Swisstools always felt a bit TOO precise, a bit too perfect. Almost over-engineered. They are amazing and tough tools, but they always "feel" a bit weaker because of all that perfection. You almost don't even want to use them for fear of blemishing their perfection. Leathermans seem to fall somewhere in the middle, depending on the model. Nice, good looking, but still a bit of an edge to them so-to-speak. The Powerlock just has that raw machine-like feel to it that makes you WANT to use the thing. It's the little things, like some tools being visibly made of a duller, stronger metal. The bolts sticking out everywhere. The angular shape of the plier head. These kinds of little things that just add up. They are still the only tools I've owned that seem to say "the sole reason for my existence is to be used, as often as possible, and as hard as necessary".
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