My first SOG arrived, a
Pocket PowerPlier, Model S44-N.
In my
earlier thread, I asked why SOGs aren't more popular here. The response, in a nutshell is that folks thought the inside tools were more of an afterthought and that quality was not as good as it could be. Some folks even said they are below Gerber's level of quality.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
+ Fit and finish are first-rate. Better than Leatherman, equal to Victorinox. There are no rough or unbroken edges on the tool where the hand touches left over from stamping, like Gerber and Leatherman have in some places. Fit and finish on the pliers head and on the handles are particularly good.
+ Plier operation is silky smooth and not too high-effort. Much easier than a new Leatherman or Vic, but not hanging loose either.
+ If you want a precision tip on your needlenose, this is the MT to get. Nothing else even comes close, not even the PST, which had a pretty fine tip.
+ The pliers head is slightly angled, kind of like the box end of a combination wrench, so that one can either approach one's work flat, or at an angle. This also allows the pliers head to dodge all the internal tools. Brilliant engineering detail.
+ Factory sharpening job. World class. Leathermen come sharp and with a nice shallow grind angle, but they're coarsely ground. Gerbers are not dull, but not really sharp either. SOG is on par with Victorinox: very sharp, and a decently fine finish too.
+ Adapatability. Lots of folks with other brands of MTs wish for small changes here and there in the tool set. They can either live with what is available from the factory, or learn to mod and void their warranty. With SOG's PowerPlier and PowerLocks, we don't need to make that choice. Simply order the tool you want from SOG, and replace the tool you want with the one you don't want. All you need is an allen wrench.
+ 1/4" drive ratchet. No one else has this. They should. This is every bit as useful as Leatherman's bit driver. Maybe more so, since it doesn't require custom sockets either. If I were to pack this in my bicycle tool kit, for example, I could pack a few choice metric sockets and a few metric allen drivers, (the kind that are built into sockets) No need to round off the fasteners with the gripper of the plier head.
+ Flat screwdriver tips. Reasonably sized and properly ground. (sharp corners) Not overly-polished. See how SOG differentiates between what is nice to have polished and what isn't? Victorinox polishes everything, and hurts the usability of the screwdrivers in the process. Leatherman and Gerber don't polish anything. (which is not a problem, but doesn't give that "Oooh, nice." impression either.)
+ Aesthetics. World-class. It just looks nice. Aside from the polish where appropriate, take the holes drilled through the handle as an example. It looks nice and probably saves a fraction of an ounce of weight, but it doesn't hurt comfort either.
+ Geared pliers head. Here's a compact MT with sheet metal edges similar to the original Leatherman PST, which were often-criticized for being uncomfortable to squeeze hard on. With this pliers, even though it is compact, it is pretty easy to apply the same force as a much bigger MT with rounded-over handles would, due to the gear reduction. I'm not concerned about reduced opening width. It seems like by the time I'd open the head far enough for that to be an issue, I'm beyond the capacity of the tool anyway.
+ Sheath. Nicest in the business. It has a plastic belt clip that can be removed deliberately without having to un-thread the belt. This is nice when using the toilet, for example. Yet it is aggressive enough, and hooked on the inside, such that it wouldn't come off accidentally. Velcro feels industrial grade. Outer nylon is rugged and thick, inner nylon is smooth and finer-grained. The bottom line here is that on any MT that is not designed specifically to be pocket carried, a good quality sheath should be included. The only thing I'd change would be to have a snap or magnetic closure instead of Velcro.
- Gear-guarding. They need to extend the parts that cover the sides of the gears, like they did on the PowerLock. When opening the pliers, one has to be mindful that they can pull in one's flesh. Doing that would also make it more comfortable to use the screwdrivers, as those gears do tend to end up in the palm of the hand.
- Blade clumping. I don't mind when screwdrivers clump together a bit tightly, as it is easy to fan them out and put the ones I don't want back. But when something clumps tightly right next to the blade, one has to be very careful when fanning them. I suspect this will loosen up with use over the years.
- Blade grind. On a combo edge blade, I don't mind so much if the serrated part is chisel-ground, but for cryin' out loud, do a proper grind on the plain edge! (like Gerber does, at half the price!)
- File. It's good, but they didn't cut the whole length of it. Why the hell not?
= Phillips. The tip is 3D, which is good, but it's also #1, which is not so good. If I use it in #2 heads, I'll strip the screw heads, driver tip, or both. I guess there are some people who see more #1s than #2s, but not me! Why '=' then? Because since it is 3D, I can grind down the tip a little and it will fit #2.
= Can opener. Really? Are we still pretending this is useful on a compact, fine point, pliers-based MT that doesn't have a saw? Let's not. It's only an '=' because I can swap it for something more useful at my leisure. If you do like can openers, it looks like it would work as well as Victorinox's, since they mostly copied it. (they extended the fine flat screwdriver a bit, and ground it differently)
= Not reasonably one-handed opening, as SOG advertises. At least not out-of-the-box. The pliers doesn't need break-in to be easily-usable, but it takes some fiddling to get the handles apart enough to butterfly them open. I trust it is a break-in issue, hence the '=' instead of '-'. If they made it loose enough to open one-handed from the box, then the pliers would loosen up over time and the shear-type wire cutter would not work.
Overall: It has that nice compact and smooth feel that the PST had. (with the exception of the exposed gears) It's about the same size too. It's pocketable, and the geared plier head is no gimmick. It IS powerful. Use common sense when squeezing with the very tip.
I can't wait to get some hours on it so I can write a proper review.
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