Contender 4- EDC Gear Pocket Multi Tool Stainless Steel Tactical Keychain Wrench

[Grant Lamontagne]

Contender 4 in the Fantastic Five Dollar Challenge is this odd looking doodad:



Initially I wasn't sure if this one was going to make it as this is the unit I had to bid on, rather than Buy It Now, so there was the potential that it was going to go over the $5 limit.  This is what happened a lot in the $2 Challenge last year- I am convinced that there were some shills bidding tools up so they didn't have to sell them so cheaply.  In the end, Contender 4 cost $3.02 with free shipping, so it is well within the budget, and middle of the road as far as pricing goes.



On the surface it just seems that Contender 4 is just another multi wrench, similar to the PocketWrench or a hundred other designs.  But, that's not all.



As you can see, it seems to have another trick up it's sleeve, and that is a bolt that allows you to attach keys, similar to Contender 2 however Contender 2 is a carabiner and holds keys at both ends.  But, as you can see from the photo, apparently Contender 4 is able to handle rubber headed keys, something I am curious about with Contender 2.



Contender 2 seems uncomplicated and straightforward- will that mean it is also effective?  Or will it's lack of extra functions work against it?  And, how effective will it be at holding keys and/or functioning with keys attached?  There's only one way to find out.



I'm not sure how much I am looking forward to this one- with only wrenches, a key holder and a screwdriver end I'm not sure how much use this one will actually get in regular day to day type activities.  I tend to use knife blades, screwdrivers and bottle openers more than anything else, and I am not sure how much I like my keys being bolted together- as I mentioned with Contender 2, I wonder about the limitations of rubber headed keys, keys with rubber rings on them and especially the larger electronic keys that you need for just about every car these days.

Def

[Kampfer]

WTF!

[Grant Lamontagne]

WTF!

Doesn't meet your approval? 

Def

[Kampfer]

WTF!

Doesn't meet your approval? 

Def

That was the name of the tool this thing copied from.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I don't recall that one, but I did think this tool looked vaguely familiar.  I just assumed that it was one I had seen during last year's $2 Challenge.

Def

[Kampfer]

Wrench that fits

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tactical/wtf-mini-titanium-keychain

[Grant Lamontagne]

Wrench that fits

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tactical/wtf-mini-titanium-keychain

When it comes to things like that I always wonder if the manufacturer that was contracted for the run just decided to take the design and run with it themselves, or whether it's another manufacturer that copied it.

Either way, $15 is about 5x what I paid.

Def

[Chako]

I have this tool twice. One with the cutout in the middle, and the other, much like yours. Not very useful overall.

[Grant Lamontagne]

That was my thought as well.  Maybe if you do a lot of small engine repair or something, but then you probably have actual, proper wrenches available to you.

Honestly, I have never had much success with wrench cutouts.  They usually either seem to not have the right size for the nut, or there isn't enough clearance to use it.

Def

[Chako]

I agree. I re-checked mine. The one like yours is made from steel. The other with the cut out included is made from Titanium. Now that central piece is very daft as I can't figure any use for it at all. No edges are tapered, etc. 

[enki_ck]

The maker of the original used to spam us a bit some 3 years ago, but never actually paid up.

BottleGrenade is/was his username here.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I remember him. .... vaguely.....

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Contender 4 was the next tool in the Fantastic Five Dollar Challenge to arrive, and I have to say, I am just about as impressed with it as I was with Contender 1.  About the only up shot to this one is that not much otherwise useful metal was wasted in the construction of it.   



On the surface it looks like there are nine different wrench sizes represented in this tool, but my calipers don't see it that way.











You get the idea- there isn't a lot of variance between them, and none seem to be overly common sizes, at least not compared to all of the other wrench tools.



The good news is that it won't weigh you down very much at a whopping 12 grams.  For those keeping track, you would need two and a half of these to make up one full ounce.



Contender 4 also came with a bolt and three teeny o rings to attach keys to it.  I decided to give it a shot with three keys- just regular metal house keys with no fancy rubber bits or anything and I quickly decided that this was not ever something I was ever going to do again.  It barely held the keys and they flopped around pointlessly.

As with all of the other tools in this challenge I will be carrying and using this one to see if it can improve my opinion of it, but I have to say that at the moment it fails the basic criteria of a tool in this category, and that is the ability to be worth five dollars.   

Def

[Kev D]

If all else fails it can become a paint can opener maybe 

[Grant Lamontagne]

If all else fails it will likely end up in the drawer with all of the other useless one piece tool designs I have gotten over the years.  Some are really crappy.   

Def