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Everytool (Wave Clone) review

us Offline Lynn LeFey

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Everytool (Wave Clone) review
on: August 02, 2013, 09:09:41 PM
This is all Sazabi's fault. He pointed out a sale on a Wave knock-off on Amazon.com
http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,46447.0.html

It is in NO WAY my fault that I then purchased one.  :D


This is the Everytool, by Atlas Tools (apparently. That's what it says on the sheath)

This is a $10 ($16 with shipping) knock-off of the Leatherman Wave. It looks like a Wave. In hand, it FEELS like a Wave. It's more like a ripple in a mudpuddle than a Wave.

So, here it is...


This thing is on par with the weight and dimensions of a Wave. I'm not going to weigh it exactly.

The tool comes with a cheap nylon sheath with a small patch of velcro for a closure. While it feels flimsy, the stitching (particularly on the belt loop) seems to be done fairly well. While not exactly 'sturdy', I doubt it will fall off the belt the first time it's used.

The tool is mostly stainless steel, with brass thumbstuds on the blades, at least one brass/copper bit inside (a washer in the scissor assembly) and plastic endcaps on the ends away from the plier assembly.

Like the actual Leatherman Wave, it comes with four outside accessible tools: Plain edge blade, Serrated blade, Saw, and File. None of these come near to the quality on an actual Wave.

Surprisingly, all of them lock up very securely, and unlock easily with reasonable pressure on the liner locks. The first two or three times I opened the plain edged blade, it didn't seem to lock in place correctly, but that has since resolved.

Also like the actual Leatherman, both blades are one-hand-open for right-handed users. Unlike the original, it's done with thumbstuds. This works fine, except that while fiddling with this thing, I accidentally caught the stud, and deployed the plain edge blade tip right into the palm of my hand. Had I been exerting more force at the time, that could have been REALLY bad. The blades were impossible to deploy one-handed initially. Opening and closing them several times loosened them up, but unfortunately, the main blade is already showing signs of TOO much loosening. This, after only about 20 openings/closing. Along that same line of too stiff/too loose, the initial attempt to open the saw nearly broke my thumbnail. The catches for the saw and file are on the tips of the tools, and they are not held in place precisely when closed, allowing these nail nicks to get buried in the handle. Digging them out is a pain, particularly when the tool is stiff to extract.

The plain edge is not sharp out of the package. It will not push cut, pull cut, or even ragged cut paper. The serrated edge is pretty dull as well, but good enough to easily tear through corrugated cardboard.

The saw blade is too wide to be great, and cut oak as well as middling tools (like the Husky Multitool, Kobalt, etc.) Coupled with the less-than stellar ergonomics of the tool in closed configuration, it made the experience pretty bad.

The file is standard fair for low-end multitools. Which is to say, just this side of worthless.

Opening the tool up, we come to the plier assembly. Side to side play in the plier joint is slight, but noticeable. Pliers come to a fine needlenose, but don't mate up with great precision. Hard wire cutters had no problem with 12-gauge solid copper wire, and cut a coat hanger with one hand grip strength, showing no marring. The regular wire cutters had too much slop to cut a zip tie in one 'bite'. I didn't have any other material to test the plain wirecutters on. Sorry.

There was a casting defect in my plier head assembly, where the plier head meets the back stop.


There's a blob of metal where this thing ought to be a smooth 'shelf' to set against the backstop. I'm not sure if that's just mine, or all of them.

So, I took it apart. One of the good things about the design, right? Hex bolt construction. Except the metal sucks so bad, that the hex wrenches stripped. I had to use two pair of vise grips to get it apart. Let us say there is now 'significant marring' on the bolts holding that side of the plier head assembly together. Well... at least the pliers work better now.

Okay. So... inside tools.

One side, you have a can opener, phillips driver, small flathead driver, and Awl. The drivers and awl all suffer from the same problem. There are no locks on these tools, and they collapse under heavy pressure. They are otherwise pretty well formed, slot into screws well, and don't cam out under the pressure you can apply. The can opener is positioned so that latching onto the rim of a can is difficult because the tool body is in the way. It WILL open cans, if you cut about 1/4" in from the rim. And, expect heavy marring on those plastic endcaps on the tool while you do it. (That's how I found out that they're plastic).

The other side has a lanyard ring, scissors, very small flathead, and combination large flathead/cap lifter.  The small flathead suffers the same collapse problems as the drivers on the other side. The large flathead is more in-line, less likely to collapse, but still not great. The cap lifter, with the tool in half-open configuration (to get the tool body out of the way) is actually very good.

The biggest surprise to me were the scissors. They scored a 4 on my scissor test. This is not great, but all of their failings were in soft material (t-shirt, Khaki and 550 cord). If you avoid those, these are actually really decent scissors, with a decent blade length, and good ergonomics.

Speaking of Ergonomics. It largely inherits this trait from the Wave. When closed, the metal edges of the tool take noticeable toll on your hands. This is most noticeable to me when using a tool that requires both force, and a good deal of time to use, specifically the saw. This would equally apply with long cutting tasks though. In plier configuration, the tool is VERY comfortable.

This is a not-terrible knock-off. As an inexpensive loaner or emergency tool-kit MT, I think it fairs better than many other options in its price range. It is NOT in the same ballpark as the Wave.

Pros:
4 outside-accessible, locking tools
good ergonomics in plier configuration
surprisingly good scissors

Cons:
Non-locking drivers and Awl.
Bad plier head casting/finish
bad ergonomics with saw


gb Offline farrierphil

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Re: Everytool (Wave Clone) review
Reply #1 on: August 05, 2013, 12:28:31 AM
And does it come with a 25 day (sorry), 25 year warrenty?  ;) . Yeah i like the look of the scissors but what about the screwdrivers, would they shear off under pressure?


us Offline Lynn LeFey

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Re: Everytool (Wave Clone) review
Reply #2 on: August 07, 2013, 02:20:27 AM
They'll fold under pressure LONG before shearing off.

As for warranty, it almost comes with a 'ha-ha, sucker' sign.  :rofl:


gb Offline farrierphil

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Re: Everytool (Wave Clone) review
Reply #3 on: August 07, 2013, 04:26:29 PM
Lol, thanks for the update.  :tu: Ill put them on my NOT to buy list!


us Offline Lynn LeFey

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  • Any tool is better than nothing. Some not by much
Re: Everytool (Wave Clone) review
Reply #4 on: August 07, 2013, 10:53:02 PM
I waste my money... So YOU don't have to!!  :rofl:

Sometimes they're 'cheap and cheerful'. Sometimes they're just 'cheap'.


 

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