Poll: What is the worst MT Bottle Opener? With GAW !

Yadda · **Reply #30 on:** July 09, 2016, 07:47:13 AM

Too many bad openers to just vote for one. The Crossgrip knockoff BO looks like a vestigial afterthought and work like one. The Plierench E-F Angle driver was advertised to open bottles back in the 1920's. People had low expectations in those days and this opener didn't raise them. Finally, although functional the opener on the Leatherman Style CS is more than a little frustrating to use.

kaput · **Reply #31 on:** July 09, 2016, 08:08:26 AM

I'd like to try the rambler if won. Please!

Bad bottle opener story? I struggled trying to get a cap off a blue moon with a lighter when someone said let me see it. Thinking they'd nicely take the cap off with a bottle opener of sorts... And they just twisted it off, it's a twist off. Shoulda known, blue moons owned by Budweiser right?

pretty embarrassing trying to use a bottle opener on an undeserving foe and/or beverage.

Thanks

Tomcat_81 · **Reply #32 on:** July 09, 2016, 10:55:38 AM

Any thoughts on the Swizas?
I've heard some people complain about them, but I don't touch them myself...

dks · **Reply #33 on:** July 09, 2016, 01:33:08 PM

Who complained about the Swiza bottle opener?

Aberdrew13 · **Reply #34 on:** July 09, 2016, 02:52:53 PM

Here's the Buck 350 vs the Leatherman Micra.

dks · **Reply #35 on:** July 09, 2016, 02:54:40 PM

mini tool, really bad...

Etherealicer · **Reply #36 on:** July 09, 2016, 02:56:33 PM

Quote from: dks on July 09, 2016, 01:33:08 PM

Who complained about the Swiza bottle opener?

IIRC we both found it working but not good or great... but then, opening a bottle is a task so easy even a classic or a BIC lighter can do it.

dks · **Reply #37 on:** July 09, 2016, 03:14:16 PM

I have no idea who that IIRC bloke is, but he sounds wise...

Tomcat_81 · **Reply #38 on:** July 09, 2016, 09:36:13 PM

Quote from: Tomcat_81 on July 09, 2016, 10:55:38 AM

Any thoughts on the Swizas?
I've heard some people complain about them, but I don't touch them myself...

Phew, and here I am, unable to find the threads and video I was talking about - someone, I'm quite sure it was here on the forum, tried to open a bottle and simply couldn't hook into the small notches. And there was a Youtube-Video complaining about the same issue... Can't find it at the moment, but I keep on looking $:-\$

TazzieRob · **Reply #39 on:** July 10, 2016, 01:35:39 AM

Quote from: Yalius on July 09, 2016, 04:25:17 AM

Can't understand the hate for the standard LM combo. It bites nicely into the cap, doesn't ever slip, has plenty of leverage... never ever takes more than one try. Works a lot better than the Vic one. The Vic is too short and tends to just bend the crimped portion of the cap rather than actually lifting it.

You must be one of the the exceptions here. I find the opener on my Vic Cadet very easy to use, even the one on the Rogue works fine if you make sure to engage it in one of the protruding "petals" of the crimp.

Huntsman · **Reply #40 on:** July 13, 2016, 06:11:40 AM

Hey – Thanks all for taking part and for your stories so far – Love ‘em

There is definitely a theme here - As opposed to ‘saving the day’ - like we MT people always want to do, we have caused ourselves some considerable embarrassment.

The great thing about these polls is that they can surprise you
Three surprises for me here:

That the LM regular BO is the clear winner so far – I have never had any problems with it – I will retry it following this poll.
That the LM Squirt is not the clear winner – As to me this is a truly terrible BO - I can never get it to work with less than three pulls, often more, and it always rips the cap to shreds. Maybe you have not experienced the Squirt! I think LM should completely redesign, or ditch, this tool. I am going to test it out again
And Danilo’s worst BO was my best one – Weird!!

Here’s a pic of a Squirt attempt at opening a bottle - This one took four attempts.

My embarrassing story was during the Squirt challenge last year. As per the rules the Squirt was the only MT on my person. We were having drinks after work, and what I was dreading happened, I had to open a bottle with the Squirt. Fortunately my colleagues were relaxed and a little well-oiled and not scrutinising my struggles too closely, so I got away with it. I actually even scored a point or two as they were fascinated by the handy wee tool, and had a little play with it.

A few other comments:

We should have gone straight to Def of course, for the answer to this poll - as the world expert on BOs. His two proposals are truly terrible. Putting a blade where your thumb goes on the Timberline is extraordinarily, in fact unforgivably, bad design.

And you can see just by looking at the ‘Mission Critical’ (ha ha), that it would never work

– Although I wondered if the top loop would work??

To Outback – The Manager is not explicitly mentioned as the tool is the standard Vic 58mm opener, which is in the list. Is that OK?

We’ll run this a little longer – But if no further interest I will summarise the ‘ins’, close and announce a winner.

Shuya · **Reply #41 on:** July 13, 2016, 07:57:22 AM

Gerber Flik. Crappiest MT ever with ant-sized tools. I regret buying it.

TazzieRob · **Reply #42 on:** July 13, 2016, 08:01:36 AM

I've been thinking, is the fact that we have so many problems with Bottle Openers / Cap Lifters that the technique of simply levering off the cap is slightly flawed? If you push the tool towards the bottle as you lift, should this not help prevent tearing the cap?
Haven't had a chance to test out on a crown seal beverage since I thought of it

Fortytwo · **Reply #43 on:** July 13, 2016, 04:46:28 PM

I want to add the 74mm Victorinox to the list, such a nice size and no BO available, for shame.

ThePeacent · **Reply #44 on:** July 13, 2016, 09:15:18 PM

Quote from: dks on July 09, 2016, 03:14:16 PM

I have no idea who that IIRC bloke is, but he sounds wise...

IIRC stands for"If I Recall Correctly"

For me the worst offender is the Micra.
I had to open a "Douchese de Bourgogne" bottle today during meal time, just before taking this pic, and decided to wait for the frustratingly slow waiter to come with a bottle opener so as not to do a mess and have my sister laughing at me again t a public cafe...happened before with this tool.

That and the tweezers are what really spoil the Micra, an excellent, unrivaled keychain tool otherwise
Squirt (voted that) is equally awful IME

Smashie · **Reply #45 on:** July 13, 2016, 09:18:43 PM

Squirt I've struggled with, but nowhere as near as much as the Juice which should be on the list

sLaughterMed · **Reply #46 on:** July 13, 2016, 09:20:07 PM

Quote from: Smashie on July 13, 2016, 09:18:43 PM

Squirt I've struggled with, but nowhere as near as much as the Juice which should be on the list

Ive never had any problems with the Juice bottle opener. Cans on the other hand, are just horrendous.

Smashie · **Reply #47 on:** July 13, 2016, 09:24:16 PM

Quote from: sLaughterMed on July 13, 2016, 09:20:07 PM

Quote from: Smashie on July 13, 2016, 09:18:43 PM
Squirt I've struggled with, but nowhere as near as much as the Juice which should be on the list
Ive never had any problems with the Juice bottle opener. Cans on the other hand, are just horrendous.

I've not tried it on cans, but after a few bottles the juice just doesn't seem to work anymore

Huntsman · **Reply #48 on:** July 13, 2016, 11:42:15 PM

Flik, Juice and Micra added

LM seems to be taking quite a bit of stick on this!!
Will probably announce winners over the weekend

strmliner · **Reply #49 on:** July 14, 2016, 02:48:50 AM

Quote from: sLaughterMed on July 13, 2016, 09:20:07 PM

Quote from: Smashie on July 13, 2016, 09:18:43 PM
Squirt I've struggled with, but nowhere as near as much as the Juice which should be on the list
Ive never had any problems with the Juice bottle opener. Cans on the other hand, are just horrendous.

Yep, I agree with slaughtermed on this one!

And while the Gerber keychain tool line is very bad as BO's, the LM Squirt is atrocious!

Dragon Lord · **Reply #50 on:** July 15, 2016, 04:51:24 PM

In for the rambler please.

The worst is the LM regular I think, That's not a dedicated bottle opener is a can opener, why do LM claim that's a bottle opener

The story: Once in my work they organized a party and I'm know as the "knife guy" so when the beers came out they ask for a bottle opener and all stare at me, So I ofcourse have to say I'll open them, so when I realize that day I didn't bring a SAK have no other choise to use my LM REV, I try 5 times to open the cap and make a hole on it with the can opener and decide to open it with the table:

https://youtu.be/fEeHVmtspKg

Outback in Idaho · **Reply #51 on:** July 15, 2016, 09:20:54 PM

Or... how to chew up cheap table edges with a beer bottle.

Padre · **Reply #52 on:** July 15, 2016, 10:02:35 PM

Sorry to be a bit negative here, but please try to understand what I'm going for here.
I don't consider Leatherman "bottle opener" even a bottle opener.
Its for cans. It looks like it and feels like it.
Leatherman just claim that It can open bottles and call it bottle opener.
But it is not.
Still IT CAN open bottles in a pinch. But I find the handles (or any object) better for bottle opening.
Usually I use my lighter for this, or Leatherman Brewzer.

They just say that it is a bottle opener to make one more tool in to make the tool sound better than it is,
and don't get me wrong, I love Leatherman. It is my choice over anything else.
I carry it every day. Even today I used my Wave over dozen times.

But this comparison is also not fair because of that.
Victorinox's have separate tools usually.
Physically larger "openers" (like Skeletools) are of course always better.
That is why I wont vote (and that is why I have to logout to follow the poll

).

By the way, who else really loves that wire stripper in the base of the so called "bottle opener"?
It has become one of my favorites in the Wave! Nobody ever gives it credit.
Have you ever stripped a wire with it? Go and try! Its really effective. Roll the wire just a little on the cutter, and slice, like you would with a knife, then turn the wire 180 degrees and slice again.
Always perfect cut with no force. Of course if you strip really large cable, then you'll need more force.

sLaughterMed · **Reply #53 on:** July 15, 2016, 11:51:39 PM

Quote from: Padre on July 15, 2016, 10:02:35 PM

By the way, who else really loves that wire stripper in the base of the so called "bottle opener"?
It has become one of my favorites in the Wave! Nobody ever gives it credit.
Have you ever stripped a wire with it? Go and try! Its really effective. Roll the wire just a little on the cutter, and slice, like you would with a knife, then turn the wire 180 degrees and slice again.
Always perfect cut with no force. Of course if you strip really large cable, then you'll need more force.

I do! Is my favorite part of the can openert, and the main reason the can opener gets to stay on my mods

Huntsman · **Reply #54 on:** July 16, 2016, 01:10:18 AM

Quote from: Padre on July 15, 2016, 10:02:35 PM

But this comparison is also not fair because of that.
Victorinox's have separate tools usually.
Physically larger "openers" (like Skeletools) are of course always better.
That is why I wont vote (and that is why I have to logout to follow the poll ).

Hi Padre
Thanks for your comments - I kind of agree with what you say - but not really

And I don't understand the paragraph above.
Surely the point of a multitool, and every tool on a multitool, is to cram as much functionality as possible into the smallest space possible, but still keeping the tool operational and effective.
It is quite common for tools to double up, or triple up, on function.
I could say to you that Vic do not have a dedicated BO !! It's a screw driver, or I could say it's a pry bar.

And all this is kind of touching on the reason for my poll!
Sometimes I believe the MT designers get it wrong, and cram in too much functionality - so that a function is not effective, and/or just design a bad function in a tool !! .... And possibly the manufacturer should not claim that function!
I certainly believe this is the case for the LM Squirt !!

And my personal view on the LM Wave etc 'can opener'.
Yes it is more of a CO than a BO - But I believe it works OK as a BO. Lots of people here think it is a pretty bad BO.

So come on vote

PS. I love the wire stripper too - although I only discovered it was there about 6 years after owning my Wave !!

And I have not used it a lot - Need to remember to use it more...

...... and this also back up my arguments above !! ie another function crammed into a tool
...... But this time a well designed effective one!!

Huntsman · **Reply #55 on:** July 18, 2016, 10:32:17 AM

OK Folks - Time to wrap this one up.
Thank you for all your stories and taking the time to comment and vote.
And as I suspected too many good stories, too many good people - So impossible for me to decide on the prize winners - So there will be a draw!!

Below is my list of those taking part in the GAW and their preferences.

Please check the list and make sure I have this correct.
There have been a few people who posted here - But did not declare - 'I'm in' (or out!!) - so your names are not in the list
Not surprisingly, nearly everyone is going for the Rambler - I cannot imagine a 58mm SAK (or any SAK for that matter) without scissors.

The GAW will be open until midnight MTo server time on the 19th July - To get any further partakers and corrections into the list.
I will announce a winner sometime on the 20th

Zoidy or ano mod - If you do catch this post please can you update the 2016 Pub Crawl post with the closing date - Thanks

Huntsman · **Reply #56 on:** July 20, 2016, 06:09:13 AM

Hi Folks

Time to annnounce the winners and also a nice (hopefully) surprise.
I actually have two Ramblers - I was saving the other one for another occasion
- But what better occasion than giving to MTo friends in a GAW draw !!
So there will be two Rambler winners.
This brings me to one unexpected side effect of a GAW - You have to select a winner

......... Oh no, I want everyone to win - Waaahhh

Anyway .........
Sea Monster wins the Rally - by default - as he was the only one who did not express a preference for the Rambler!!
Was that smart game play

And the Ramblers go to ..................... Zoidy and pfrsantos.

As always - Winners, please PM me your address

Thanks again to everyone for voting, your comments, opinions and for your great stories - They all made me smile
I may do a little wrap up post on the bottle openers shortly