Silverline LM Crunch clone

[Thisjk38]

Here it is on eBay for U.S seekers, ships from England. $27 though don't think it's worth it to me. Maybe someone else though.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Silverline-589688-Self-Grip-Multi-Tool-/350700453734?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51a7603f66

[Grant Lamontagne]

Mine arrived in the mail today safe and sound.  I have to say that while I have yet to use it for anything, it feels somewhat nicer than the Crunch.  I do have to qualify that though- I have only got one Crunch and it was used when I bought it and the Silverline model is brand new.  Therefore it feels nicer than a tool that has a fair number of miles on it. 

The inner tools seem a little less solid than the Crunch ones, but overall, for the price this one seems quite nice.  From what I've seen so far, I'd take one of these for anywhere under $20 and consider myself happy.  For $27.... maybe, maybe not.  Let me get some use under it and I'll report back.

Its amazing how closely they have managed to copy the Crunch though.  If Silverline (or whomever the manufacturer is) can crank these out at less than $10 a pop and achieve 80-90% of a Leatherman, why can't Leatherman produce these and sell them for under $40?  Given how good this is for how little money, I would find myself cautioning people about wasting money on a Leatherman.

Def

[tosh]

Mine arrived in the mail today safe and sound.  I have to say that while I have yet to use it for anything, it feels somewhat nicer than the Crunch.  I do have to qualify that though- I have only got one Crunch and it was used when I bought it and the Silverline model is brand new.  Therefore it feels nicer than a tool that has a fair number of miles on it. 

The inner tools seem a little less solid than the Crunch ones, but overall, for the price this one seems quite nice.  From what I've seen so far, I'd take one of these for anywhere under $20 and consider myself happy.  For $27.... maybe, maybe not.  Let me get some use under it and I'll report back.

Its amazing how closely they have managed to copy the Crunch though.  If Silverline (or whomever the manufacturer is) can crank these out at less than $10 a pop and achieve 80-90% of a Leatherman, why can't Leatherman produce these and sell them for under $40?  Given how good this is for how little money, I would find myself cautioning people about wasting money on a Leatherman.Def

LOL 

Be hopes you're not expecting an invite to Tim's garden party this year Def!!....Tim -->

As for the silverline clone - I'll echo your thoughts, I've got three scattered about, all get used and all still working!!

Can't say fairer than that 

[Mr. Whippy]

Mine arrived in the mail today safe and sound.  I have to say that while I have yet to use it for anything, it feels somewhat nicer than the Crunch.  I do have to qualify that though- I have only got one Crunch and it was used when I bought it and the Silverline model is brand new.  Therefore it feels nicer than a tool that has a fair number of miles on it. 

The inner tools seem a little less solid than the Crunch ones, but overall, for the price this one seems quite nice.  From what I've seen so far, I'd take one of these for anywhere under $20 and consider myself happy.  For $27.... maybe, maybe not.  Let me get some use under it and I'll report back.

Its amazing how closely they have managed to copy the Crunch though.  If Silverline (or whomever the manufacturer is) can crank these out at less than $10 a pop and achieve 80-90% of a Leatherman, why can't Leatherman produce these and sell them for under $40?  Given how good this is for how little money, I would find myself cautioning people about wasting money on a Leatherman.

Def

Well,

To give a counter position:  When you pay full fare for a Leatherman, you also are purchasing their warranty process.  Seeing  how I've sent back a Charge ALX twice and received good as new (and possibly brand new) tools, I would say that their price is a bargain.

I'm not a fan of the Crunch in general.  Mainly because the tools aside from the locking pliers are really a compromise.  I have to carry another MT to go with it.  If I'm going to do that, I'd just as soon carry a small Vise-Grip with a MT and get the speed/convenience of the it.

BUT if I DID EDC a Crunch, I am sure I'd have broken it a few times by now. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

True, however, there is one thing that kind of offsets the warranty service, and that is the price.  Depending on where you got it from you could get three to five Silverline tools.

I'm not suggesting people should buy this instead if a Leatherman as the Leatherman price includes the design process, which Silverline obviously isn't funding, but I do have to say that this is about as good as a copy can get.  I'm really impressed with it.

Def

Sent from my Motorola Atrix digital multitool.

[nelson]

I'd seen the Silverline on Amazon for a couple of years and the price was what stopped me buying it, as a £10 multitool is almost guaranteed to be garbage. I only bought it eventually out of curiosity as I'd never handled a charge.

I think this thread has since boosted their image, its probanly the best of the cheap tools on here and as a gripping tool for the price it is excellent, but the Philips driver and File are just ballast.

[AimlessWanderer]

Glad it got there safe Grant My problem with it, was that is was a really excellent copy of a rather average and frustrating tool. The copy is excellent, especially considering the price. I just don't like the Crunch I much prefer the Schrades

[Cupboard]

The PST clone was my first MT, I got it from Woolworths for about £3 including a sheath.

It sort of worked... it was very uncomfortable to use the pliers, the screwdrivers were on the wrong side of the pivot so when you lent on them they folded rather than pushing themselves in to the back stop and the steel that the blade was made out of was a joke. I had a basic tungsten carbide sharpener at the time and when you tried to sharpen it, you got little curls of steel coming off the blade like when you're planing wood.

However, it prompted me to buy a LM Kick and later a Wave so it's all good.

[Grant Lamontagne]

That's the divisor, isn't it?  For some folks cheapo tools are a way to find out that having an array of tools with them is a good thing and they eventually trade up.  For others the disappointment of starting with a cheap tool sours them on all multitools and they just don't feel the need to move ahead.

For others, cheap tools are just that- a cheap tool.  The Silverline Crunch is perfect for those types- it's a handy, well made tool that probably won't let them down, at least not for the things it's meant for.  As Al pointed out, it's a great copy of a very limited tool, but it is still a good tool in it's own right.

Def

[mtool78]

Depending on where you got it from you could get three to five Silverline tools.

LM Crunch is about 160 USD here and I paid about 13 each for my Silverline clones - what does that make? 1 original LM or 12 clones...let me think...

[Grant Lamontagne]

Well, the original Crunch is indeed better than the Silverline, but certainly not 12 times better!   

Def

[AimlessWanderer]

That's pretty much the maths I ended up with too. It's not very often the cheapo is better value than the big name brand, but I think this one definitely ticks that box

[mtool78]

Houston, we have a problem. Silverlines cutters are not doing their job - there is too much flex and cutters will spread away from each other. Check out your - do I just have all bad apples or is it common problem? 

[nelson]

Houston, we have a problem. Silverlines cutters are not doing their job - there is too much flex and cutters will spread away from each other. Check out your - do I just have all bad apples or is it common problem? 

You're right. Just tried them and they cut 2.5mm electrical wire fine, but they spread when I tried to cut a coat hangar wire and didn't cut it at all.

As a comparison the wingman didn't cut the coat hangar within my hands pain threshold and the charge, PPP and Diesel snipped it like it was nothing.







I mentioned before the file isn't up to much, the rest of the tools are good at the price, but to me this was always just a cheap foldable vise grip which it does admirably... still worth a tenner?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[mtool78]

Yep - it's still a good too. I'm afraid there is not much to do with this problem, tightening does'nt help. It's a shame because material of pliers seems to be pretty good, I have really used a force to see if it will break but it really holds up well. I think that the file aint much worse than what the genuine Crunch has - it's just too short and pattern ain't too agressive.

1 of my 3 Silverlines has also a problem with the lock of tools - it doesnt hold. Other two are just fine, I guess the corner of that locking clip is just too rounded. Anyway, this tool is my edc at the moment, I used to carry Crunch but I want to see how will this clone make on long run.

[hennypenny]

I'm a bit of a hater for cheap tools, but took a chance on a Silverline vise grip tool that is a rip off of the LM Crunch and ...given it cost 10 bills its surprisingly good! If i needed a vise grip type tool as an EDC I'd go the LM route, but this is more than adequate for occasional use.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000LFVA58/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_img_sol_1

It's even looks a bit better in real life than the Amazon picture.

Amazon review...
This a blatant rip off of the LM Crunch, but bearing in mind it's ten times cheaper it is a surprisingly good one. The grips are adequate for most jobs but if you really push them to their limits the handles can twist slightly, though they still work and do not fall apart. There are no instructions so if you have never seen a LM crunch you will not know to remove the bottom screw to be able to fit standard hex bits or about the wire stripper built into the grip mechanism. I am an absolute LM devotee and can easily spend £150+ on their tools as EDC but this is a no brainer for a tenner just to have in your tool kit when you need a small locking vise grip. Bad points are the serrated blade, I'd rather have a plain edge, but again this is the way a LM crunch is.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

After a few months of owning the Silverline Crunch clone, I'm interested in knowing your views on it. There are still selling for £9 on Amazon UK, but I have a chance to buy the Leatherman Crunch (Dated 2003) for £63. Is the Crunch worth £63 as a collector's piece? Why was Leatherman not able to patent such unique design in the first place? 

[xt60043f]

Hi there MT.O.  I am a new member, long time lurker.  I am a hardware design engineer (electronics)  with a penchant for classic motorcycles. 

I bought 4 Silverline faux crunchs ((crunches?)SLFC) as soon as I saw the price.  Rather good for the money but it is still flawed in quite a few ways.

Pros:

1. It comes with a lifetime warranty from SL if you register within 30 days of purchase.
2. It costs less than a round of beers.
3. The vice grips are actually rather nice. (As I would expect when it is a direct rip off a quality product!)
4. Nice positive feel to the lock mechanism.
5. The blade can be easily modified to be UK legal.
6. It is made of mild steel (I think) so I magnetised it    This also means it can be welded.

Cons:

1. The wire cutter is plain rubbish.
2. The ancillary tools are poorly thought out.
    a. Do I really need 3 kinds of flat screw driver?
    b. Why is the medium screw driver not also a can opener (like a SAK)? There is plenty of room.
    c. The file is meh.
3. There is no ruler stamped on the side!
4. The screw is a bit rattly.  (Perhaps this is because they have used an M6 and the original crunch, being American had an imperial pitch threaded bolt hole?  I don't know)
5. The pivot bolt is just not quite the right length.  If you do not have loc-tite your only option is to torque it up,  This squeezes the handle together making it extremely hard to get the little tools out.

I have addressed the problem with the pivot bold by replacing the male part of the pivot bolt with an M3.5 countersunk screw.  This allows the pivot to be properly torqued up but leaves the tools noce and loose but perfectly stable when in the locked position.

I have addressed the rattly adjuster screw with an M6 SS hex head bolt.  The thread seems to be a slightly better fit.

I think I may make the following modifications to one of my SLFC:

1. Make the blade UK legal.
2. Ditch the lanyard loop  , phillips screwdriver, file and medium screwdriver. Put a tiny rare earth magnet in the handle and store a small flat head/phillips screw head hex bit in the space.

My recommendation is to buy as many as you can while you still can at the absurdly low price of £8.50.  I would feel extremely annoyed if I lost a SS leatherman that cost me ~£100, only mildly miffed if I lost a SLFC.



After playing with my SLFC I really want the real deal.  It would be nice to have working wire cutters but the lame selection of tools in the handle kind of puts me off.  Also I do not know what leathermans policy is on honoring warranties in the UK.  Secondary to that is the price, in the UK we are charged more for everything.  1$!=1£, stop ripping us off multinational companies!

The cheapest place I have seen to buy a crunch is through ebay.  There is an American seller who charges £40+~£15 shipping and in addition to that, unless he will play nice there is also a 20%+£8 tax and administration charge.

Does anyone know where to get a new/almost new crunch in the UK for a reasonable fee?

[hennypenny]

'Buy as many as you can, while you can.....'
Are you thinking Leatherman has taken out a law suit against Silverline and they will withdraw it from sale? Can anyone tell me how Silverline can get away with such blatant infringement on copyright?

[xt60043f]

Silverline get away with it because they are not in any way a manufacturer.  They simply import cheap tat from China.  Some factory has ripped off the leatherman design then either approached or been approached by Silverline.  Silverline are presumably always on the lookout for more low cost stuff to add to there 'line'.

Buy as many as you can because it is a good item for the price and with any grey market rip-off item from the east the supply is questionable.  This year the factory may be making SLFC, next they might be making knockoff bicycle parts.  Although in the case of knockoff bicycle parts I imagine it is more the case that once the run of 10,000 items the customer asked for has completed they just feed their production line with lower quality materials and stop rejecting all but the worse defective items.  After your customer has paid for the tooling of the production line (the expensive bit) and you have the staff to make 10,000, it costs very little to make another 10,000.  It is the cost of shipping out your manufacturing costs to the east.  As soon as it is made in China you have lost control of your product.  Although this is not really the case with leatherman as they are manufactured in the USA(?).

There is no copyright issue possibly because; 1. The crunch has 'pat pending' stamped on the side which means the patent has not been fully granted.  2. China does not give a rats *ss about western patents.  3. The American patent system does not extend to the EU (thank goodness).  This possibly goes some way to explaining why they are hard to get hold of in the states.  If you tried selling them in the USA you would get lawyer stomped in about 10 seconds.

Don't get me wrong, this is a knock off and of no where near the same quality of the real thing.  I in no way condone the quick buck mentality that goes behind making cheap knockoff tools but if you think I am going to spend nearly £400 on LMC (car, motorbike toolkit, pocket, house) that I cannot even keep in my pocket due to silly UK laws, you would be mistaken.

Look at it this way, before I would NEVER have bought a crunch before.  Now I have seen how good this cheap a** knockoff is it is not a question of if I will buy a real one but when!

[Zed]

I just read through All these posts and now I want one 

[Taxi Dad]

me too Paul ! 
at that price i don't think i can NOT buy one 

[AimlessWanderer]

Don't get too excited chaps. It's a very cheap copy of a tool which is very limited in function and frustrating to use in my opinion. By all means get one to play with, but I got rid of mine pretty quick, and I'm just REALLY glad I hadn't forked out for the genuine article.

It's a good tool to see if you like the format, but I doubt it's a tool that would suit most people in use - too much faffing about and not enough function. Unless you actually NEED locking pliers, this will almost certainly be lost at the back of a drawer in a short space of time. Again, just my opinion 

[enki_ck]

Don't get too excited chaps. It's a very cheap copy of a tool which is very limited in function and frustrating to use in my opinion. By all means get one to play with, but I got rid of mine pretty quick, and I'm just REALLY glad I hadn't forked out for the genuine article.

It's a good tool to see if you like the format, but I doubt it's a tool that would suit most people in use - too much faffing about and not enough function. Unless you actually NEED locking pliers, this will almost certainly be lost at the back of a drawer in a short space of time. Again, just my opinion 

I've been thinking along the same lines myself. I'd like to try one out some day just to see how it works but I don't see myself using it. I have enough of drawer fillers already.

[Griffe]

I've got one since a few months now, and I can only share xt60043f's opinion.

I use it as a bike tool as I go to work each day that way, and it has always been a reliable tool. It's been through rain, dirt and grease, and it still works great.

The medium and philips screwdrivers are indeed useless, and the wire-cutters won't cut mutch. And, as the original item, it would benefit from a can-opener instead of the extra screwdrivers. Someone a bit skillful could adapt a can-opener on it I presume. The blade is easy to remove, a good point as this tool is sold in the UK.

The lifetime-warranty isn't important to me as I leave the UK in 2 weeks but it shall be noted that the conditions are rather strict : "This guarantee does not cover damage caused by abuse, misuse, modification, accident, or fair wear & tear".

And as 50ft-trad underlined, one must keep in mind that's not the average multitool either, and should be considered only if you need locking pliers.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I'm glad Al decided to get rid of his as quickly as possible since it ended up in my hands somehow....

I agree with what everyone is saying though- that this is only about 70-80% as good as the Crunch, which is a very limited market tool to begin with.  Still, at about 10% the cost of the Crunch, it is a great deal.

Def

[Taxi Dad]

as my old Dad used to say "it might come in handy if you find a use for it !" 

[xt60043f]

I have just figured out why the SFLC plier head does not swing fully into the body.

If you look on this image:



You can see there is a dent between the silverline print and the big circular pivot for the plier.  This is not present on the real crunch.



So there you have it!  There is silverline's innovative feature!  This is their improvement to make it a distinguished product!

But seriously, if they had put the dent on the other side of the same handle, in the same location, it would have stopped the plier head being recessed so far into the pivot handle and allowed it to close nicely.  This would probably allow it to be 'flipped' like the leatherman.

[hennypenny]

Just received my Silverline Crunch - such amazingly quick service from Amazon UK. Looks fantastic and similar to the Leartherman Crunch except for the little notch mentioned above. The only issue I have is the tool does not close completely flush (2nd picture), and there is slight up/down play on the locked blade.
Very pleased for £9.10

[xt60043f]

Amazingly quick    It took them a week to deliver mine. Literally a week.  They had not even dispatched them till 3 days after I placed the order.  I suspect it is a ploy to get us to pay for Amazon prime...

Woot, I now have a UK legal to carry SLFC!

2 minutes with Dr File and...

Before:



After:



The blade 'sticks' in position like a non locking SAK but does not NEED the lock clip pressed to put it back, just a firm push.  It is now a non-locking knife and thus legal to carry in the UK.  The nicest aspect of this is the fact I would have the handles closed to use the knife anyway so there is no chance it could close on my fingers anyway.

Still, if a jobsworth copper wanted to take it he would find some reason to get you under section 57 of the 1984 'I don't like the look of your face sonny' act.

[hennypenny]

I have just figured out why the SFLC plier head does not swing fully into the body.

If you look on this image:

(Image removed from quote.)

You can see there is a dent between the silverline print and the big circular pivot for the plier.  This is not present on the real crunch.

(Image removed from quote.)

So there you have it!  There is silverline's innovative feature!  This is their improvement to make it a distinguished product!

But seriously, if they had put the dent on the other side of the same handle, in the same location, it would have stopped the plier head being recessed so far into the pivot handle and allowed it to close nicely.  This would probably allow it to be 'flipped' like the leatherman.

The copy is actually exactly as it should be, with the notch only on the left side of the tool and not present on the right side. Your comparison pictures have the tools seen from different sides.