PowerDuo poor quality--is it just mine?

[silentio]

So I just got my PowerDuo from the group buy, and this was what met me when I opened the box.

Warped scale, at the corner where the tweezers are:



This same side doesn't fit on the tool properly. You can see a gap as indicated by the arrow:



And this one is weird. Part of the metal is damaged:



These aside, the little lever to unlock the tools is almost impossible to activate, way too stiff.  And the tweezers are a joke--the two metal strips almost feel like they are going to separate.

I have to say I do like the idea of the PowerDuo. The knife and pliers deploy smoothly and it's quite handy, much smaller than I expected.

However, the quality of the product is very worrying. If this is what SOG is happy to sell, I can see why there's all the talk about production moving to China being a problem. Is what I have an isolated problem, or did you guys see problems with your PowerDuos as well?

[Syph007]

Oh wow.  I sure hope that isnt typical.  The made in china part is what made me hold off buying one though. I wanted to know if it was the same quality as the powerlock, PPP, Paratool and the other SOG MTs I have.  Looks like it is not.  Lower cost is not a concern for me, SOG I am happy to pay for quality.

[Beerplumber]

I also hope that's not going to be common issues. Mines still on the way so ill comment when it arrives. I really like the idea behind its design as well. High hopes I can attach a pocket clip and really put it into edc circulation.


Keep calm and jeep on

[AimlessWanderer]

That's appauling! I've had pound store items with better quality that that    I can usually forgive a manufacture supplying a tool with A (singular) defect, as there'll always be something that slips the net .... but that is really poor. Thanks for posting, I'll be steering well clear of these  Liner, scale, lock and tweezers is too many defects on one item as fas as I'm concerned 

<rant>

However, I must say this whole "Blame China" thing is misleading for less frequent visitors to the forums though. I've had some great gear from that neck of the woods because the manufacturer has made sure they're up to par. It's purely SOG's responsibility to ensure quality products get to market, not the offshore manufacturing facility they sub-contract to. It's all too easy to blame the country of manufacture - they work to the commercial and design retraints of the brand name in question. If <insert relevant brand here> is unhappy with their logo on something sub-standard they should have control measures in place to ensure this doesn't get out to the distributers.

There are many fans of Chinese made knives and tools here from a range of brands, yet whenever a brand pumps out something naff due to excessive corner cutting or commercial restraint, or even just sloppy control measures, we blame the far off factory - that's unfair on those companies offering hard working stuff from the region that our members carry and use daily, nor is it fair to visitors of this site who come here for guidance 

</rant>

[Syph007]

Well the normal SOGs are great.  They just say 'assembled' in USA, not made in USA, so Im guessing some parts are from China too, and I love those tools.  Ive never heard of anyone moving production to china to increase quality, its always to cut costs.  SOG USA should still be QCing the final product before shipping though, that's too bad.  I hope this isnt a sign of things to come, because SOG has always been a solid producer of good tools.  They are my #2 fav MT right now, behind Vic swisstools.

[dks]

I agree that the issue, if there is one, is with SOG not China. AG Russel and Buck make tools in China with no problems.

I have one on order too (Though I asked Travis to sent me one of the good ones  ) and I really hope it is OK as I intend to use it. I will be seriously p***d off if it is not OK as it is not a cheap tool, by any means.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I'd suggest contacting SOG with regards to a warranty replacement.  That tool is as defective as tools get.

My PowerDuo is nowhere near that bad.  In fact, mine is just about perfect.

Def

[MultiMat]

I think SOG has some of it's MTs made in Taiwan , The CrossCut  & I think Bob thought they were just as good if not better than the US made ones  .

That PowerDuo should never have got through QC  . I hope SOG's QC slip ups do not become systemic 

[silentio]

Just to clarify, I have nothing against things made in China. Hey, I'm ethnically Chinese myself

I do feel a lot of effort has to be put in to make sure the partners/manufacturers there do things right. A few errant workers who let things slip by can do a lot of damage to a company's brand name.

Travis is going to help me sort this out (good man, as always!). But I really hope this is an isolated defective tool. I like SOG's stuff, and would like to see them continue putting out quality products, wherever they are made.

[AimlessWanderer]

 

[Scott86]

Dont know if you guys have seen this video yet, but it was enough to make me shy away from the powerduo.


Would i ever use the can opener? I doubt it(Never have on my other MT's) but the fact that that was ignored by whoever green-lit the design tells me its probably got other issues as well.

[AimlessWanderer]

Dont know if you guys have seen this video yet, but it was enough to make me shy away from the powerduo.


Would i ever use the can opener? I doubt it(Never have on my other MT's) but the fact that that was ignored by whoever green-lit the design tells me its probably got other issues as well.

Cheers mate, I didn't quite get what the vid was showing me at first, but then it clicked

 

[Gareth]

Dont know if you guys have seen this video yet, but it was enough to make me shy away from the powerduo.


Would i ever use the can opener? I doubt it(Never have on my other MT's) but the fact that that was ignored by whoever green-lit the design tells me its probably got other issues as well.

Oh dear.   I wonder if it has the same issue if you are trying to open a smaller can?  Interestingly the placement of the can opener has dictated Victorinox design for years, if it is not the outermost tool it becomes hard (or impossible) to use.  I believe this is also the reason we get the "left handed" liner lock on the 111mm line, the can placement of the can opener means a normal liner lock wouldn't work.

[Syph007]

Dont know if you guys have seen this video yet, but it was enough to make me shy away from the powerduo.


Would i ever use the can opener? I doubt it(Never have on my other MT's) but the fact that that was ignored by whoever green-lit the design tells me its probably got other issues as well.

Oh dear.   I wonder if it has the same issue if you are trying to open a smaller can?  Interestingly the placement of the can opener has dictated Victorinox design for years, if it is not the outermost tool it becomes hard (or impossible) to use.  I believe this is also the reason we get the "left handed" liner lock on the 111mm line, the can placement of the can opener means a normal liner lock wouldn't work.

Yes absolutely.  I made the mistake of trying the can opener on a non outer layer in a SAK and it has the same effect of being useless.

[silentio]

Oh wow, that's exactly the same spot where my scales are separated from the tool. That's quite a design flaw.

[scrappy]

That is worse than mine but I am also dissapointed. The phillips on mine is not even useable. I paid less for the rebar than the powerduo so I was expecting a similair quality tool but they are no where near the same level of quality.

[Frankctz]

My powerDuo so far still work fine and n o big issues, but I still no try to open a can,  but the video worry me, I will check the can opener and see..

[dks]

I got my SOG Powerduo too, with a minigrip.



Generally looked OK, apart from a crack on the covers, shown below. It appears that there was a pin sticking out which pushed the cover cracking it a bit. That pin was not in at the other side!!
In the following picture you can see that that only the tip of the pin is in:



The blade opens nicely, though not as smoothly as in a SAK. Smaller than the SAK blade too.



The pliers are the standard, newer, pointier, smaller SOG pliers.





The gears used have more teeth but are thinner and smaller.



The extra tools are definitely not the ones used in standard SOGs. They feel and look cheaper.



They lock, but move a bit up and down (like other locking SOGs).
On mine, if you push them hard, in the direction in which they close (whilst locked) they will move worryingly up, shifting the liners with them. In mine this was caused by the pin not being in at the liner adjoining to the knife…. This pin also caused the cover’s crack, on the other side..Seriously, ZERO for QC.

I loosened the covers and tried to set the pin in properly. However the pin will go in and then when released and the liners spread it will pop out again.
the picture below show the ptoblem.



I did not want to continue further than that. I fixed the covers back and decided that I have been had by SOG and considering that the shipping cost to them will be the same as the tool cost, will have to live with my mistake. My Gerber Dime had brilliant quality compared to that. At least I can fix it with a gentle tap from a hammer..

Generally good effort with the Pliers and the knife but the rest looks like a bad afterthought...The quality/execution of these tools is way below the quality of the blade and pliers sytems

[Syph007]

Thanks for those pics comparing to normal SOGs.  Its very obvious these are not made at the same factory as the other good SOGs, and are a cheaper made tool. I have zero interest in trying one for sure now.  Thanks for saving me some $.   

Those tools look pathetic to be honest, and SOG should be embarrassed to have their name on it.  I love SOG stuff, so I hope this doesnt continue to other new tools they make or it's a real downer.

[dks]

The blade looks and feels good in the hand (nice grip) and the pliers should be OK. However the rest I see as emergency use only.

[Medic82]

I was kicking myself for not jumping on the group buy. Now I am happy that I didn't do it. I am so disappointed with SOG and wonder if this is going to be the standard of quality from SOG.

Sent from my Galaxy S3

[Syph007]

(Image removed from quote.)

Is the left pivot there just dirty, or is something wrong there too?  The pliers look to be the same otherwise, which is good at least as I do like their plier heads.

[redbaron]

this, along with the sogfari, I'm disappointed

[tosh]

I actually suspected this would be the case.
I think SOG has been forced to rush these out to satisfy consumer demands.

However, that detailed picture showing the cogs on the new PowerDuo worries me immensly. The teeth seem more rounded off than previous SOGs but more worrying is that the left cog seems to be thicker gauge steel than the bottom right cog!! (or is it just the light playing tricks).

I too was all for buying one, but read a review posted on the HH site and withdrew my order.  I can't/wont waste money on substandard workmanship especially when they're asking premium prices.

I do wonder how much damage the PowerDuo will have done to the next generation of Sogs built under license in China.

I'll now be very cautious and will scrutinize any new future releases from Sog.

[dks]

Syph, what you see is just grease; prety normal.

Tosh, the sheet metal is prety thin. The cogs are the same thickness but finished at different "standards" so the tips are rounder on one of them (one set was filed more).

If Ganzo can produce a product with decent QC in China SOG should be able to do the same, too. It seems that they actually asked for the QC to be skipped. I remind people again: the powerduo IS NOT a low cost product!

Still like the pliers and the blade

[AHB]

You should all use the hell out of them, not at least that flimsy Phillips driver (and make tons of youtube vids) and then make SOG replace it.. >

[silentio]

So we agree that the knife and pliers are ok, while the rest of the tools are not. I think the solution is obvious. SOG should add a clip, remove everything but the pliers and knife, and voila! SOG Freestyle! 

[AHB]

I still can't believe this is coming from the same company that made the Toolclip, PowerPlier, not to mention the Paladin 540..

[dks]

I still can't believe this is coming from the same company that made the Toolclip, PowerPlier, not to mention the Paladin 540..

  Don't forget the SOGFari too.

[AHB]

I'm a "plier-kinda-guy", so I would never even have considered getting a SOGfari, but it seems things kinda went South when that Gunny character got involved, didn't it..

Gunny approved my _ _ _....