For Greek pals, MT 6.99€ at Lidl Stores [REVIEW]

[kkokkolis]

Today there was only one left.
I got it and here are my impressions (you might move it to Cheap & Cheerful section).

The seath is nice. Made from dark ballistic material, hard and formed in the shape of the tool. It is wider than the Surge's but thinner. One can mount the seath both ways.
The tool looks like a Gerber wannabe. It is wider than the Surge and weights almost 300gr (mechanical kitchen scale, sorry for less precision).
The pliers is spring loaded and a bit smaller than the Surge's in the base. It is of hybrid fashion.
The pliers opens in a positive way and locks in place. The handle helps for precise work and has anatomical shape. The scales don't "cut" in your palms, except at great force. In general it is a great step forward compared with 3 other cheap tools I got through the years.

[kkokkolis]

The jaws open wide as is the case with the Surge.
One reads "Stainless 2CR" and "OWIM GmbH & Co KG Stifts bergstrasse 1 D-74167 Neckers NLM" with code numbers 79417 and Z31076.
The root of the pliers looks less efficient than the Surge's.
The simple wire cutters are precise and cut paper!

[kkokkolis]

Now the bad news.
It is almost impossible to take out the blades. You need nails and balls of steel, or a …Surge. The slip joint blades have a very strong spring and their screws are of a peculiar type, I have no driver for. I used WD40 and then Singer oil and managed to open them.
There there is no real step forward from former tools. When you open one, 2-3 come out also. They are mediocre tools.
One handle has a 3mm driver, a Philips 2 driver, a drop point blade (with somewhat rounded and unsharp point) and a double sided metal file (ribbed and crosscut) with no metal saw but with a 4.5mm driver.
The other a Victorinox wannabe wood saw, a Victorinox-like can opener with no driver, a 3.5mm knife-awl and another 4.5mm driver.
All drivers have good reach.
All blades look cheap.
Although they don't lock, the Herculean spring keeps them in place far better than in any non locking MT or SAK I know off.
The shape of the handle doesn't help using those blades. There is some minor play but it doesn't rattle. The black material is plastic.

Final verdict.
For the money you get a nice pair of pliers. Although they measure with the Surge's, there's less material at the base and I would use them for light/ medium workload. The (external) spring helps for a pleasurable experience.
The rest of the tools are usable, if you manage to get them out (now it is easier, after all this oil). The look something between the usual Chinese blades and the ones from a Juice. Not that bad, but for the weight and size of the tool, that makes EDC difficult, one might expect something better.
About the price? Years ago I bought two much lighter and generally worse tools for around 10€ each. So it is a better option.
One could get it and forget it in his glove compartment, boat, bicycle tools pouch or Toolchest, as a backup tool when he forgot his Swisstool or Leatherman.

[Taxi Dad]

good review 

[enki_ck]

Nice write up.

Have you tried loosening the tool pivots a bit with maybe a pair of needle nose pliers? The pivot screws are probably too tight.

[kkokkolis]

 Yes and I couldn't do anything. It seems that they use a custom tool.
Now they are less stiff but the problem is that the big handles don't permit the fingers to reach the nail nicks easily.

[Cupboard]

from what I hear they might be on in the UK too. One of the guys at work, knowing my interest in MTs, joked that I was silly spending money on them when you can get them for £4.

[kkokkolis]

He is right. You might tell him also that it is silly to drool for pretty women, when he might have an ugly one that asks for much less in return.
Well, this is a lie. They all want half the universe, but he'll get the message.

[Taxi Dad]

crappy present is the curse of telling people about our hobby my friends, i have loads of junk i've had to fake excitement over on xmas morning !
they just don't understand 

[Cupboard]

I hadn't noticed that the other thread already mentioned this in the UK.

I can identify with the gifts! I appreciate small and well thought through things, and there's no shame in just giving me something as a bit of a joke or a card. "Oh he likes x. Lets give him a cheap version of x" is just frustrating.

That said, there's a couple that until last Christmas always gave me a £5 Woolworths voucher (obviously not for the last couple). They'd started when my mum and her sister were born and when I was born they carried on with me and my cousins until I was 21. It had always been a £5 voucher too - but it was a really nice gesture from them. A small part of one year's voucher bought me my first crappy PST clone!

[Grathr]

Nice review! 

crappy present is the curse of telling people about our hobby my friends, i have loads of junk i've had to fake excitement over on xmas morning !
they just don't understand 

Luckily most of my friends understands the difference between cheap POS MTs and good quality MTs, so that has not been much of a problem for me

[firiki]

While a have a soft spot for cheap multitools, a weird attraction I cannot explain, they let me down almost immediately so I refrain from buying them unless its something with a  great "wow factor" on it which is rare. (Thank goodness.)   

@kkokkolis: Have you seen any POLO brand MT's? http://www.polo.gr/static/data/greek/polo_sougiades_ergaleia.pdf

[Chako]

There was a time when I was happy to get cheap crappy tools...as I collect them all. Nowadays, I don't get any as all my friends know I probably already have it.

Good review kkokkolis. I have several of these all made by the same manufacturer in China, all with slight cosmetic differences and possibly tool selections. They are sturdy and well made for their price. People could do far worse then to buy one of these. I personally would through one of these in a tool box to get bashed up in the line of duty. If it breaks...no big loss.

[Sparky415]

from what I hear they might be on in the UK too. One of the guys at work, knowing my interest in MTs, joked that I was silly spending money on them when you can get them for £4.

Yep they are available at Lidls in the UK 

I’m sure I know someone that got a pair to play with 

[kkokkolis]

@firiki

No, I've never seen a Polo tool. They seem Chinese. A Polochamp (with corckscrew driver!!!) for 14 euros?
There is a fisherman's shop in Omonoia Sq with Zwilling knives. They are exactly the same Victorinox makes, high quality. Perhaps Vic made them for Zwilling?