'Les Stroud' Engage Multitool TEST TO DESTRUCTION!

[HarleyXJGuy]

Dr. Evil suggests liquid hot magma.

[Lynn LeFey]

Dr. Evil suggests liquid hot magma.

And sharks with frikin' lasers?

[HarleyXJGuy]

Dr. Evil suggests liquid hot magma.

And sharks with frikin' lasers?

"Are they ill tempered?"

[cedricada]

if you know someone with a rifle, you shoukd shoot it

[Etherealicer]

Dr. Evil suggests liquid hot magma.

And sharks with frikin' lasers?

"Are they ill tempered?"

Yes, ill tempered but no sharks, they are mutated sea bass...

[firiki]

Thanks for your highly entertaining, thorough review, Lynn. It illustates what was evident but needed to be experimentally proved. Now that's science No ideas at the moment, sorry

It's lame that people will put things like these on the market, with big names on 'em acting as bait / guarantee. It borders fraud for me. I say kill it with fire, recycle the thing so it may rest and become useful again (hopefully).

[Lynn LeFey]

Okay. I woke up this morning thinking about something. I was wondering what a tool might reasonably be expected to take. So, I googled 'normal male grip force', and found a paper on grip strength.

48.5 kg in the primary hand of a male who does manual labor.
That's about 107 lbs.

47 kg for a 'skilled' male. I suppose they mean white-collar type here.
That's about 104 lbs. Not much difference, really, on average.

I'm pretty sure that's very near to the ballpark of pressure I was applying to the Engage to cut the roofing nail yesterday. It was more than I could generate from my own normal grip, but not vastly more. Whereas, the force I applied to the Sidekick WAS vastly more than a human could normally muster.

Okay. On to other matters. When I broke the scissors off the other day, I left the stub of metal they had been attached to in the 'extended' position. I folded it back into the 'closed' position this morning, and noticed that the backspring which is intended to give it retention in the open position was doing essentially nothing. So, leaving a tool in the open position overnight will permanently deform the backspring, it seems.

While attempting to press the backspring, hoping to maybe bend it back to make it more useful, I accidentally busted off the back plastic panel. Oops. However, it gives us an opportunity to see the tool's construction. The back panel is held in place by 6 thin plastic pins, molded into the panel. (sheared off here, but you can see the holes in the metal of the tool handle that the pins slot into.

[Lynn LeFey]

In other news, I removed the (worthless) whistle from the tiny flashlight that came with this kit. Here's a pic of the flashlight next to a Fauxton and my foursevens A0.

It is TINY. And happens to have a little hole at the base that a lanyard could be run through. I don't know what the run time is on it, but I'll test that before all this insanity is over.

Weight on the light is 5 grams, or about 1/5 of an ounce.

[Etherealicer]

In other news, I removed the (worthless) whistle from the tiny flashlight that came with this kit. Here's a pic of the flashlight next to a Fauxton and my foursevens A0.

It is TINY. And happens to have a little hole at the base that a lanyard could be run through. I don't know what the run time is on it, but I'll test that before all this insanity is over.

Weight on the light is 5 grams, or about 1/5 of an ounce.

(Image removed from quote.)

Wow, that is tiny and also looks like the most interesting part of this toolset.

[Lynn LeFey]

The firesteel is also pretty good.

I might have to stress again that this kit is not a complete fail.

[styx]

ok i'm calling it in, you're getting Stockholm syndrome for that tool

[Grathr]

How does it grip a bolt? Will it hold on well or will its teeth break/become blunt when twisting?


Sent from a device made from star dust using tapatalk

[Lynn LeFey]

Right. Good question. So...

Here are a couple bolts in my garage, holding the garage door track. The tool had no problem turning either, but getting ahold of the back one was a TOTAL PITA.



Yep. That's pretty standard fair for pliers. What else can I find?

For this somewhat recessed screw, I had to use the tool nose-on. IT had no problem, but this DID give me a great idea for a hardcore test I'll talk about later.



Now, what happens when the tool meets an immovable object? This bolt holds the railing onto our back steps. I was certain the tool wouldn't be able to budge it, and i was right. But that wasn't the point. When faced with an immovable bolt, how do the teeth hold up?



Well... it was about 50/50. Both the bolt and the tool lost a little metal. The teeth did, in general, hold up, though.

Stay tuned for the next SURPRISING test.

[Lynn LeFey]

And now, an intentional torture test.

And in that test, the Engage will not stand alone. Not only will he have his old pal the Sidekick, but he will be joined with a slew of companions: The Kobalt multitool, the Husky multitool, and the Ozark Trail multitool. Why? Because I wanted to see whether any or all of the listed tools would hold up to the punishment I'm about to dish out, or whether it would ruin ANY budget MT.

The test?



Heavy, rusted bolts, holding the hinge of my privacy fence in place.

Used Nose-on.

No drumroll, no fanfair. The results:

Sidekick


This tool had the most 'flex' in this test. The jaws bent the most out of alignment. But they sprang right back. Maybe a very tiny bit of permanent deformation and no change in the pivot tension. Pretty good.

The Ozark Trail (Walmart Special)


VERY little flex, and maybe the slightest bit of pivot loosening. The thick plier head serves it well, here. I'm kind of impressed.

The Husky (from Home Depot)


The undisputed WINNER of this test. NO flex, NO pivot loosening. They were rick-frickin-solid. SO weird! 

Our friend, the Engage


Some flex during the test, very slight permanent deformation and the pivot is now looser. I can tell because the big dent I put in the wire cutters yesterday no longer rubs when opening and closing the tool. So... win? LOL

And the undisputed LOSER of the test overall, the Kobalt


Serious, permanent deformation, and wabbly pivot. Smurfing POS! If anyone wonders why I prefer a Wingman/Sidekick over this hunk of crap, wonder no more.

So, in the realm of budget MTs, the Engage made a fair showing in this. This test is what I would consider wandering into abusive for MTs. We've seen people break high-end name-brand tools doing this kind of stunt. There is no shame here... except for the Kobalt. For the Kobalt, there is shame, and lots of it.

Engage, nose-on plier use: PASS!

[glorn]

I once knackered an MP600 by cutting bicycle spokes. I cut about three and it really screwed up the wire cutters and the pivot. It actually became stuck.

Eh? Any old bikes lying around?

[glorn]

Blade edge retention..

I'd love to see the Engage and Sidekick cut paper, then cardboard, then do some feather stick work, then back to paper. Maybe rope as well. Or a tomato or food prep in general. Perhaps dress some small game. (kidding)

[derekmac]

Blade edge retention..

I'd love to see the Engage and Sidekick cut paper, then cardboard, then do some feather stick work, then back to paper. Maybe rope as well. Or a tomato or food prep in general. Perhaps dress some small game. (kidding)

Like this? 

[Toolslinger]

Blade edge retention..

I'd love to see the Engage and Sidekick cut paper, then cardboard, then do some feather stick work, then back to paper. Maybe rope as well. Or a tomato or food prep in general. Perhaps dress some small game. (kidding)

Like this? 
(Image removed from quote.)

[Toolslinger]

I gave up on Les after I watched his bigfoot special.   

Now this sad tool isnt helping his case.  The Brits have the survival show concept won for me, as Im a big fan of both Ray Mears and Ed Stafford. 

What about Grylls? Can't stand that guy.

[glorn]

Blade edge retention..

I'd love to see the Engage and Sidekick cut paper, then cardboard, then do some feather stick work, then back to paper. Maybe rope as well. Or a tomato or food prep in general. Perhaps dress some small game. (kidding)

Like this? 
(Image removed from quote.)

Yes, perfect. Now heat up the skillet. 

[Lynn LeFey]

Blade edge retention..

I'd love to see the Engage and Sidekick cut paper, then cardboard, then do some feather stick work, then back to paper. Maybe rope as well. Or a tomato or food prep in general. Perhaps dress some small game. (kidding)

You got it!

I started off first of all, getting both blades to the same sharpness. Out of the box, the Sidekick is sharp enough to cut very thin receipt paper. So, I pulled out my sharpening rod thingy (that there's a technical term!) and spent ten minutes bringing the Engage up to the same level of sharpness. Keep this in mind... when I got this tool, it was not very sharp. I expect the blade on ANY MT to come sharp. At least sharp enough to cut normal writing paper. That's not that difficult, and the Engage couldn't. So, it took time to get it to match the Sidekick.

First test, both cutting receipt paper.


Great, now we're apples to apples testing.

Next, ten passes each through double layer corrugated cardboard. Sidekick's cuts on left, Engage's on right.



This... is not looking good for the Engage. HOWEVER, let me be fair. The cutting is spread out over the length of the Sidekick's blade here, and by necessity all on the tip of the Engage, due to its straight blade design (and stuid fat handles). So... maybe it's a bit unfair.

Feathersticks:

First the Engage...


Next the Sidekick...


The first thing I notice in this is that I'm bad at making feathersticks. In all honesty, they did about the same, here. The only difference is that the Engage was causing the stick to rotate while cutting for some weird reason.

Next up, because those last cardboard cuts weren't really necessarily representative of cuts using the entire blade length...

Each tool got three more passes all the way through the cardboard. Engage's cuts on top.


While they both made the cuts, I can definitely feel the Engage's edge beginning to drag.

Final cut test, back to the receipt paper.


With GREAT coaxing, I got the Engage to cut the receipt paper, then it began to tear. The Sidekick is still cutting the paper cleanly along the entire length of its blade, but not as willingly as on the first set of cuts.

In every test, I preferred the ergonomics of the Sidekick. I tried the Engage both closed and with one handle folded away, and no matter what I did, it just plain sucked cutting with that stumpy- stupid little blade. The fact that it didn't lock and has virtually no retention made it a bit scary at times. In addition, plunging the blade of the Sidekick into double-layer cardboard was almost effortless, where I had to REALLY watch what I was doing with the Engage. The position of an inside folding blade of the Engage also stinks compared to the outside folding Sidekick.

HOWEVER!

The blade WILL take an edge, and has reasonable edge retention, IMO.

Marginal pass, but only for VERY light work.

[glorn]

Nicely done, thanks! 

What interests me the most in this is not how bad the Engage is, but how perfectly decent the Sidekick is. And given that they are the same price online more or less, it shows the value of the cheap LM.

Engage on Amazon  $27.00 USD plus shipping
Sidekick on Amazon $35.60 USD free shipping

Elsewhere the Engage is $32.00 USD plus shipping

[Lynn LeFey]

Right now, you can buy the Sidekick at Home Depot for $25. Wait until near/after Christmas, and it'll likely drop to $20.

I keep trying to tell folks that the Sidekick/Wingman are THE best entry level tools for the money. I'm not saying they're the best, but the best FOR THE MONEY. If you could buy a Sidekick at $20, drop another $10 on a firesteel and flashlight, you'd beat the smurf out of the Engage.

I got this Exotac nanostriker Fire Rod Refill to put in an altoids survival kit. It works the same as the ferro rod that comes with the Engage. This doesn't have the handle, but I didn't really need the handle. I wanted something small to fit in a kit. Costs $5
http://www.gpknives.com/exotacnanostrikerrefill.html

I'm sure you can get a great little flashlight for $5 on Deal Extreme, or go buy a bag of 10 Fauxtons off Amazon for $5.

I might have to sharpen up the blades on a couple other of my cheapos to run the same edge retention tests to see how they do versus the Engage. It might turn out that the Engage comes in a (distant) second to Wingman/Sidekick overall, but I'd have to test other cheapo tools to know for sure.

Also, a note. The Husky MT used earlier... they no longer carry it at Home Depot. It used to be there for $10. I guess they got tired of dealing with the 'lifetime warrantee' when it broke, because it has serious issues.
http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,36537.msg586830.html#msg586830

So, folks, keep those test ideas coming!!

[Lynn LeFey]

Drivers, files, and pry tools...

I decided to test the flathead screwdriver's ability as a pry tool. So, I went into the basement and found some old crusted-shut paint cans.

The Engage's old pal the Sidekick is along for the test.

Both perfrom the task, but the smurfing Engage's driver keeps trying to close on me during the test. 


Okay, what's next... well I found some flathead screws. Uhhh... As a screwdriver, the Engage's flathead is a ... decent pry tool? Seriously. It keeps collapsing closed. IT SUCKS. But strangely, seems slightly better as a philips than the philips when tested on a wood screw.
 

Okay... Well... smurf. How is it as a PRY tool, like, a SERIOUS pry tool? So I jammed it into a gap between two boards. AND I did the same with the Sidekick's large flathead. I applied equal bend to each tool, REALLY flexing them, and...



So, heck, let's try the Sidekick's SMALL driver/file...


Uhh... OOPS!! 
So... yeah... Don't pry with the (obviously) hardened small flathead driver on your Sidekick/Wingman/Rev. Just... don't.
If you're wondering what that break at the tip was about, I grabbed the broken piece with the Sidekick's pliers, stuck the flathead in a woodscrew, and overtorqued it, snapping the very tip. Yes... I broke it TWICE.

On a related note, if you have a spare small driver/file for a Wingman/Sidekick you'd like to send me, let me know.

Also, I hope you all understand that I really am NOT taking it easy on the Sidekick here. The degree to which I've seen some of its components flex and return to shape has been AMAZING, but I should have known better with a hardened file.

So, anyway, there's ANOTHER file on the Engage. on the Fish Scaler! So... obviously, they hardened that larger one... right? It should snap like the Sidekick's, because, as a real file, it's hardened. ... ... Right?



NOPE!



This thing is made of really crappy steel, IMO.

And I was hoping to break me a fish scaler, dang it!

More insanity to come!

[Breezy12]

I love this thread so much!

seriously, keep up the great work, Lynn. I love the ideas you're coming up with to abuse these tools, and I'm impressed with how well the Sidekick is holding up!

and I do have a spare driver/file/ruler from a Wingman that I'd be more than happy to send you. I just need your new address.

[Lynn LeFey]

PM inbound. Thank you. 

EDIT: Also... the generosity I see at MTO NEVER ceases to amaze me.I break a tool, screwing around, and the very first response offers a fix.  You guys are really great! 

[Higgins617]

Lynn! You've solved my biggest Sidekick woe! That foolish file is all but useless, as is the ruler. The screwdriver tip does work pretty well for smaller screws though, well until you crack it into a prison shank

Seriously though, great job. I know this is technically a review of the Engage, but I'm absolutely loving the comparison to the Sidekick. People equate budget to low quality, and you're proving that that isn't the case at all.

Thank you for once again doing us all a service!

[Lynn LeFey]

The screwdriver tip does work pretty well for smaller screws though, well until you crack it into a prison shank

 

I seriously cackled at this. 

[Higgins617]

The screwdriver tip does work pretty well for smaller screws though, well until you crack it into a prison shank

 

I seriously cackled at this. 

Just doing my part

[Lynn LeFey]

I thought I'd make a note here, before I went to bed, about carrying this tool.

I don't like it. I don't mean I don't like the TOOL, even though that's true. I don't like CARRYING it.

I've picked it up, put it down, and hauled it from house to garage, to basement, to back yard. I've gone to the bathroom with it on my belt. It is just... annoying.

I've stuck this thing in my pocket while messing around with other stuff. It is NOT fun for pocket carry. I've slid the belt pouch on, and stuck the tool in there. Sometimes, the lip of the pouch folds while I'm trying to cram it in there, and I have to screw around with unfolding the edge of the pouch to get it in. Then, because the plier head tends to push itself slightly open, it doesn't always want to go into the sheath. When it's IN the sheath on my belt, the tool protrudes so much that it rides out away from the body enough to interfere with armswing, get snagged on things I walk past, etc.

Compare this to the much slimmer, and lighter Sidekick, which comfortably rides in a pants pocket with a pocket clip. When I say 'comfortably', I mean 'relatively comfortably, on the right side'. So, just keep that in mind. The Sidekick is desgned for right-side carry, and is somewhat annoying to try to carry left side.

I don't belt carry. Maybe folks who do wouldn't be as annoyed by the Engage's setup. But then again, I don't pocket carry either, and the Sidekick doesn't bother me. Or at least, the level to which it bothers me is trivial in comparison.

I had concerns about the velcro tabs not being big enough on the sheath when I first got this thing, and i have to say, of all my problems with the tool, closing the flap on the pouch hasn't really been an issue. Of the things I don't totally hate about the tool, the Sheath is one. It's turning out to be not too bad. The cuts in it are damage I intentionally caused, and I'm not going to fault the makers for that.

Maybe tomorrow I'll try to intentionally catch the sheath on things to see how it holds up.