Mark's Gear Reviews

[markn951]

<shameless self promotion>

Hey guys, I've just started a Youtube channel that I thought you might enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/user/marksgearreviews

I'm sort of new to making Youtube videos so if you're not impressed at first, the videos will get better with each one I make.

Thanks for looking! I REALLY appreciate it!

</shameless self promotion>

[Sean]

I'll check 'em out , thanks.    I might be your first subscriber. 

[markn951]

YEAH first subscriber! BTW A SOG PowerLock video is still uploading, should be done in like 5 minutes? That one's a good-un, IMO best video I've done so far.  

EDIT: Crap, the video is too long. Going to have to make it two parts.

EDIT: Alright, the video(s?) is now live!

[Grant Lamontagne]

<shameless suggestion that maybe we should clear things like this with management before doing it so we don't get in crap for spamming>

Def

[markn951]

I thought of that this morning and I was like "OH CRAP!"

Sorry Def :\

You can take this down if you want.

[ari6126]

OK. Well lets talk about the reviews themselves. I have a couple of points about your Powerlock review. First, you can buy a full PE blade and swap it into your SOG. That is the beauty of the SOGs, you can swap in the tools you want. You can also add something in place of the large nylon washer. Also, the Powerlock (V1) came out in 1998. You can't really compare it to the "modern" multitools. You mentioned that you can't sharpen the V-cutter. That's true, but you can just replace it. It know that would cost some money, but what other tool maker lets you replace your own tools without voiding the warranty?

[markn951]

OK. Well lets talk about the reviews themselves. I have a couple of points about your Powerlock review. First, you can buy a full PE blade and swap it into your SOG. That is the beauty of the SOGs, you can swap in the tools you want. You can also add something in place of the large nylon washer. Also, the Powerlock (V1) came out in 1998. You can't really compare it to the "modern" multitools. You mentioned that you can't sharpen the V-cutter. That's true, but you can just replace it. It know that would cost some money, but what other tool maker lets you replace your own tools without voiding the warranty?

I appreciate the feedback.

I mentioned that, but it's still the crappy chisel ground and you still have to pay extra for it. IMO it's not so much a "beauty" as it is a gimmick.

I can compare it to the ST, PST II, Wave, Sideclip, Flair and Crunch, and even to some degree the ST200 and Pulse, and they still make this tool look bad (obviously not talking about the plier designs here, just the tools and the lock designs

Just because no one has done it doesn't mean I'm not right. Why should I have to buy a new tool every time the blade gets dull? I wasn't saying someone else does the V-Cutter design better, I was just saying, IMO, they could have improved the V-Cutter. Especially since there really hasn't been that many changes to the PowerLock since when it was designed in 1998, which was the whole gist of "this tool feels dated." I would never buy, for example, a PST and say it feels dated in my review because it has been updated since it's inception (I still need to see that movie  ). The PowerLock really hasn't (The 2.0 doesn't really change any of the main flaws of the tool(come to think of it neither did the PST II...bad example)). It's still the flagship model of their multitool line, and all I'm saying is it's due for an upgrade.

Sorry for writing an essay  

[yud]

till I can write a more wordy review of "Mark's Gear Reviews" 

[markn951]

till I can write a more wordy review of "Mark's Gear Reviews" 

please do! I really appreciate any and all feedback i can get!

Also, I just got my first comment yesterday! My Monarch 300 review had the title "rock solid pocket stuffer" (I couldn't think of anything), and it was a comment making fun of that 

[yud]

Well I watched the Powerlock Review, and frist off you need to work on useing the camera (but that will come with time).

Now as to the meat of the review (I had my PowerLock out while watching it).  The main thing I wondered about was how long you played with your PL before you decided it was horrid.  With in a day or two I had no problem useing the handle covers (also they fit on rather easy all you have to slide them down the handle).  Another thing is if you had played around with modding it you would have learned two important things:

A. Not all of the tools are not all the same thickness (hence the metal spacers).
B. Loosening the bolts (about a 1/8 of a trun) will remove the clumping.

You may think that you do not want a tool that you need to do that to, But the key reason you buy a SOG is the abillity to be adjusted so as a reviewer I would exspect you to play around with that feature.  Also the big flat head and the flat haed on the bottle opener are not the same size, and I don't see any big diffrence between the SOG tools and the LM.

[markn951]

The camera work is really in need of improvement, I agree. I'm still waiting on my tripod to get here but it's been ordered, and I'm about to get a new HD camera and external mic so it should be a huge huge improvement. Mainly the tripod is going to help a LOT.

Your right, I've been really thinking about my videos recently and it hit me that I only had the PowerLock for a week, actually carrying it even less than that. To make a proper review I really should have carried it much longer. However, I still don't like the covers, and I still don't like the fact that the pliers are nearly unusable without them. If anything a tool so customizable should give us the viable option of covers or no, the way it is right now I don't see no covers as a viable option.

I was reading the manual (I'm a nerd, I always read the manual first) and I read that the bolts are loc-tited on and that playing with them will void the warranty or something to that effect (maybe it was that they should be re-loctited. I'm too lazy to get the manual out). I realize the tools are not all the same thickness but to have a huge-ass spacer where there could have been another tool or something just seems ridiculous to me, because to me it seems like they did that to get you to buy more tools. Well, when I'm buying a multitool I don't want to have to buy MORE stuff. I want everything and the kitchen sink, too, all in one package.

I'm concerned about loosening the bolts because yeah it will remove the clumping but I feel like it's going to make the tools feel even less secure than they already do.

Again, you're right, the difference between me and the big guys (Nutnfancy, Cutlerylover) is not the nice cameras or fancy editing. It's the experience, the preparation, the insight to say "Oh, I want to do a review of this knife, I should buy it, use it for a month, really know it, prepare the video for a week, THEN make the video." All of these videos were spontaneous and they really come through as "Nice try but no cigar." They seem quite amateur, TBH. I really need to work on the format before I make more reviews because if I keep going like this no one is going to want to watch my videos or subscribe to my channel. Having said that though, that's pretty much my personality. I am quite spontaneous and rarely think things through before acting, and I sort of like the fact that my personality comes through in my videos in that way.

The tools themselves are definitely not something I would consider a minus, I don't have a problem with any of them except the knife and maybe the cutter (I still want replaceable blades. On everything. Ever.)

[jzmtl]

The spacer is there because there's another variation that replace v-cutter with scissors, which takes up two slots. So to keep everything else the same except the scissor/v-cutter, they added a spacer.

V-cutter is crap thou, I see no reason for them to discontinue the serrated line cutter and replace it with v-cutter, other than the fact you have to keep buying new ones when the damn thing gets dull, and it wasn't sharp to begin with.

[J-sews]

The V-cutter really does need to have replaceable blades. As it is, there's no way to sharpen it. When the edges of those razors get dull after the first few uses, one might as well pitch the whole thing in the trash.

[Neil]

Can anyone think of viable replacement blades for it.  I'm all for removing the rivets and fitting our own blades

[jzmtl]

You might be able to make some from utility knife blades, some quality ones are hardened to 61+ HRC, thou I don't know if it's worth the effort.

[Freudian Frog]

You might be able to make some from utility knife blades, some quality ones are hardened to 61+ HRC, thou I don't know if it's worth the effort.

Wonder if we could rig one with an exacto blade, would that work?

[jzmtl]

You still need to drill the mounting holes (if you don't have carbide bits you can forget it), and sharpen it to chisel edge.

[yud]

You could try to make the replacement blades made by SOG work

[markn951]

OR how about incorporating a locking design from a utility knife into it?

just thinking. I can't really think about it properly right now (i'm on my way out) but consider this a reservation for my next post.

[Freudian Frog]

HEY GUISE GUESS WUT

http://sogknives.com/store/400-200.html

Why don't they put this in the Powerlock? =(

[yud]

HEY GUISE GUESS WUT

http://sogknives.com/store/400-200.html

Why don't they put this in the Powerlock? =(

anyone know th size compersion

[markn951]

HEY GUISE GUESS WUT

http://sogknives.com/store/400-200.html

Why don't they put this in the Powerlock? =(

:O

[J-sews]

HEY GUISE GUESS WUT

http://sogknives.com/store/400-200.html

Why don't they put this in the Powerlock? =(

ITS GOT SCREWS!!





(they must have heard us bitching!)

[Freudian Frog]

I'm just wondering when if ever it gets to the multitools. =\

[J-sews]

I'm just wondering when if ever it gets to the multitools. =\

Perhaps on the PowerLock 2.15?

[Freudian Frog]

I'm just wondering when if ever it gets to the multitools. =\

Perhaps on the PowerLock 2.15?

Or the Powerlock 2.15.5Ω?

Of course we, the consumers, won't see any changes until the Powerlock 3.0.

By the way, the only changes would be in the V-Cutter and new, flat-nesting handle covers.

[jzmtl]

ITS GOT SCREWS!!





(they must have heard us bitching!)

Actually I think it went the other way. Bi-polar is an older model that's discontinued, so they probably changed screws to rivet used today. 

[markn951]

They must have travelled to the future, heard us bitching, returned to the past, made the change, and then forgot about it and changed the screws to rivets.

[Freudian Frog]

They must have travelled to the future, heard us bitching, returned to the past, made the change, and then forgot about it and changed the screws to rivets.

That's the only reasonable answer.

[yud]

Or maybe little tiny screws are a pain in the but and don't work as good, think about it one loose screw could ruin a v cutter