Walmart's Ozark Trail Ot Knife Multi Tool 8 Function (Lynn's $5 MT Challenge)

[Lynn LeFey]

This tool review is part of a challenge. What is the best MT I could find for $5 all in, tax and shipping included. Here's a link to the main thread of Lynn's $5 MT Challenge, so you can see all of the contenders.
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,75094.0.html

The name listed on the Walmart website for this thing is "Ozark Trail Ot Knife Multi Tool 8 Function". I am going to call it the OT8 throughout. Because I don't like typing stupid search-engine-friendly names.

OT8, you are!

This is also the first time during this challenge where I could link to the actual product on a web site. As of the date of this writing, these are available in-stores at Walmart. These are listed at $3.87, and with tax, mine came to a total of $4.22.

Here's a link to the Walmart website. I'm not endorsing this thing, just providing links.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-Ot-Knife-Multi-Tool-8-Function/288691859

Okay, so what are we looking at here? The tool is 3oz (86g) and comparable in weight, thickness, and tool selection to Victorinox Climbers or Super Tinkers.


It's probably inevitable that this tool will get compared to both a Victorinox AND the Coghlan's 7-Function Army Knife. Link to my 31-day test of that knife here...
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,62289.msg1158915.html#msg1158915

So here are the three in comparison.


Initial impressions on this thing are surprisingly good.  It's MILES better than the $1 Dollar-tree SAK knockoff (link below).
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,75095.0.html

I think from the looks of it that it will compare well with the Coghlan's, linked earlier. The tools all have good 'snap' and reasonable retention in the open position. The flathead/caplifter even has the 90 degree halfstop. There is slight side-to-side play in some of the tools, but it's minor, so I have some hope that the peening of the pins isn't terrible.

I've started off the challenge with the first two tools having good split rings on the lanyard. The split ring on this thing is pretty terrible. Blade testing will be along shortly, so stay tuned.

[Lynn LeFey]

The blade.

There is a small amount of side-to-side play, and the retention of the blade in open position is 'alright', not as good as most new legitimate Swiss Army Knives.

Is it at least paper cutting sharp out of the package?


Yep. Both regular printer paper and thin receipt paper. There was a small bit of the blade that seemed hesitant to cut the receipt paper, but out of the box, this is pretty sharp.

Next, I took it against an aged piece of Ash, whittling the end of a piece, then tried to see if I could make curls for firesticks.


Complete success. It is 'pretty good' at those tasks.

The next task was more 'real world'. I cut up an amazon delivery box, something I figure a lot of knives are doing these days. I cut the box into a LOT of little pieces here.


Huh. It did this quite convincingly. At the end, there were a few moments of 'hesitation' in its cutting, but still did the job.

I did all that cardboard to see if the edge held up. So after the cardboard, I took it back to the paper. Same result, with maybe a little more hesitation in cutting the receipt paper.

Blade: COMPLETE win (at least for short term, and moderate duty tasks)

And I'm going to go on the record to say this thing is already worth $4.22 as a pocket knife.

[Lynn LeFey]

On to the scissors testing



For those who've never read any of my stuff, I kind of made a rating system for multitool scissors. Here's the thread.
https://forum.multitool.o...ex.php/topic,36798.0.html

Here's a summary of the scale:"The materials tested were paper, corrugated cardboard, T-shirt, The seam portion of old khakis (4 layers thick), suede leather, PETE plastic bottle (as a stand-in for blister packaging), Cardboard box (non-corrugated), heavy gauge screw-on plastic lid (from a container of ‘country time lemonade’, about 1mm thick), and 550 paracord. I scored these in one of 4 categories: Fail (-1), Barely Adequate (+0), Pass (+1), Pass with distinction (+2)"

The OT8 scissors passed with distinction paper, passed T-Shirt, suede leather, PETE, non-corrugated cardboard. They were Barely Adequate for corrugated cardboard, khakis, and 550. They failed heavy plastic.

Total score: 5
That score is just slightly less than a new Wingman, or a used Victorinox 55mm or 91mm. And that's right handed.

Like some scissors I've tested, they're a bit less useful lefthanded. There, they are barely adequate for T-Shirt, fail Khakis, and 550.
Total score left-handed: 2

The score of 'passed with distinction' for paper was on writing paper, receipt paper, and wrapping paper, and was given because they easily did 'push cuts', where you could just get long running cuts through sheets of paper without having to work the jaws of the scissors. I can't stress enough how good these things were with paper.

Another issue is that with many inexpensive tools, and a few expensive ones that use an external spring, the spring will slide out from under the blade and poke you. It never happened with this.

Overall, I am absolutely BLOWN AWAY at how good the scissors are on this tool for this price.

Scissors: WIN (for light, everyday tasks)

[ReamerPunch]

Definitely worth its price if the blade and scissors are this functional.
 

[Lynn LeFey]

Yeah. I hope this is a pretty standard version of one, not that I happened to luck out with an exceptional model. A decent SAK knockoff that's available pretty much anywhere (at least in the U.S.) would be pretty neat.

On with the show.

Cap lifter...

Fail.

Wait... What?

Yeah. I had to pull a cap 14 times with this thing to get it to pop.

How? How does this happen? Great blade, great scissors, and you can't do a f'ing CAP LIFTER? 

Looks like rounding of the hook that catches the edge of the cap is the issue, ala...


So... Not too hard to remedy. I just used a file to flatten the rounding. Like this (hope you can see the difference)


And now it pops bottlecaps with the best of them.

No, I'm not guzzling a ton of beer to make these test threads. I have a cap crimper. I used it to reset a new cap on the bottle I was drinking, to try a second time, making sure it wasn't a fluke and that it had genuine issues. Also used it to reset another cap for testing AFTER the mod.

The cap crimper doesn't press the cap edges as far down as industrial machines, so they're bit easier to pop, but it's in the ballpark, and way cheaper than buying a pop-top bottle for each test.

[ReamerPunch]

No, I'm not guzzling a ton of beer to make these test threads. I have a cap crimper. I used it to reset a new cap on the bottle I was drinking, to try a second time, making sure it wasn't a fluke and that it had genuine issues. Also used it to reset another cap for testing AFTER the mod.

Those are so handy, no wonder they put them on multi-tools. 

[ThePeacent]

OK so you got it to open caps, but  how does it work as a driver, which I use 10 times more than as an opemer on my SAKs?   

[Lynn LeFey]

I tend to do all my driver testing at once, flat and phillips. So, I implore you to be patient.

[Lynn LeFey]

Okay, so I'll get this post done ASAP for The Peacent.

Drivers.

The big flathead driver combined with the cap lifter.

First, it has a 90 degree halfstop...


Or, maybe 'almost 90 degrees'. which might be explained by the 'almost 180 degrees' full open. Weird.


In any case, I have a house full of flathead screws in the hardware, so I tested all I could. It slots nicely, turns fine. This is my favorite screw to test, the ones holding faceplates onto light switches and outlets.


This did fine on those, and on much tougher screws on door hinges, etc. Nothing SUPER hard, but some pretty 'actual work' size screws. That said, none of these screws were stuck, or offered huge resistance. There is a slight play in the tool, probably from not-great peening, and I'd be very reluctant to try heavy duty screw duty with this. I'd also worry that the not-quite-180-degree open would be more prone to collapsing shut under heavy force.

Large flathead: Win for light duty.

The small flathead. Okay (sigh)... Um... It is a complete fail out of the package. The tip is VERY rounded and has not been tapered to be narrow enough to slot into any screw. Worse than that, the stamping process of making it bulges up the metal at the tip, making it actually a little THICKER than the stock it's pressed from.


Fifteen minutes with a whet stone, and i have something a bit more useful.


It will slot into smaller screws now, and does an alright job on light screwdriver duty. After a LOT of work.

Small screwdriver coupled with can opener: COMPLETE FAIL (out of the package)

Phillips Driver.

I have a number of different phillips screws holding my kitchen cabinets together. This is where I tend to test phillips drivers.


It did fine on the screws farthest left (holding on cabinet handle), and center (holding hinge to door). It was reluctant turning the screw holding hinge to frame. Those frames have to be some kind of hardwood, because that was one difficult screw. The driver wanted to cam out of the screw, and required a good deal of pressure. It succeeded, but I think that was the upper end of its ability. I will NOT be trying it against a woodscrew in the wood bench I go to for hard testing. As with the flathead, the slight play between layers from poor peening makes me think this tool would get torn apart with serious use.

Phillips driver: Pass (for light duty.)

Flathead as pry tool...

I have one benchmark test I do with flatheads for pry tools. I try to pry open a crusty paint can.


How did the OT8 fair?

Mmm....

There are TWO things that could go wrong with this test.
First, the pin holding the tool together could stretch, loosening the layers.
Second, the metal of the screwdriver itself could permanently deform.

BOTH happened.


So...

OT8 as moderate duty pry tool: FAIL


The tool is okay for light duty flathead and phillips work. Anything else is going to wreck it pretty quick. So far, from all the things I've tested, THIS has been the thing that REALLY separates a real Swiss Army Knife from this tool. This thing just isn't up to even moderately hard work. If you don't ever demand that of it, you'll be fine.

[ThePeacent]

hahah thank you   
There was no need to hurry, it's just that I care much more for the flathead and driver capability than I do for it's bottle opening use,
and this one looked like it would be no good   
Pot steel, flimsy pins, weak construction like 90% of the cheapos. Like you said, it's what makes a real SAK different 

It wasn't   

[Poncho65]

Except for the pry test it seems the OT8 did rather well then Not what I was expecting but the pry test would eventually wreck it beyond use so not that great either Great testing Lynn

[Lynn LeFey]

Thank you. Almost done, but yeah, pretty thorough, I think.

If it's for light duty, it's a pretty excellent little knife. Try anything adventurous, and... not gonna be happy.

[Lynn LeFey]

The Can opener.

Works.



I'm not sure there's a lot of waxing poetic to do here. I did a quarter of a can, to figure out how well it worked, and it was fine. It functioned. I didn't have any rim jumps or problems puncturing the can. Neither did it feel like a miracle of our age. Worked, worked ok.

Can opener: Pass

[Etherealicer]

Except for the pry test it seems the OT8 did rather well then Not what I was expecting but the pry test would eventually wreck it beyond use so not that great either Great testing Lynn

I think that is the problem, durability and reliability.

Lynn, may I suggest another test? Drop it 10 times from medium hight (e.g. a table) onto a hard surface. This to check how well it maintains structural integrity.

Oh, and thanks for all the hard work.

[ThePeacent]

The Can opener.

Works.



I'm not sure there's a lot of waxing poetic to do here. I did a quarter of a can, to figure out how well it worked, and it was fine. It functioned. I didn't have any rim jumps or problems puncturing the can. Neither did it feel like a miracle of our age. Worked, worked ok.

Can opener: Pass

so I guess it's not a can't opener then.
Good

[Lynn LeFey]

Lynn, may I suggest another test? Drop it 10 times from medium hight (e.g. a table) onto a hard surface. This to check how well it maintains structural integrity.

Great idea. I'll save it for last, and do the drop test in my basement, on a concrete floor.

[Don Pablo]

Lynn, may I suggest another test? Drop it 10 times from medium hight (e.g. a table) onto a hard surface. This to check how well it maintains structural integrity.

Great idea. I'll save it for last, and do the drop test in my basement, on a concrete floor.

Drop a Victorinox too. 

[Lynn LeFey]

Lynn, may I suggest another test? Drop it 10 times from medium hight (e.g. a table) onto a hard surface. This to check how well it maintains structural integrity.

Great idea. I'll save it for last, and do the drop test in my basement, on a concrete floor.

Drop a Victorinox too. 

I will certainly get to that. I won a lot on e-bay with a Vic Tourist. Don't think I'm going to treat it more kindly than the OT8. In fact, it might get treated much LESS kindly, assuming that it can take more punishment.

ON WITH THE TESTING!!

As requested, I dropped the knife from about 3 feet. I did this on the same end for every drop, 10 times onto our basement concrete floor.

The effect was minimal scuffing of the scales. At least brand new, the plastic seems to have a good ability to take some abuse without cracking.


And that's it.

Oh, wait... one more thing. As a celebration of what feels to me like an actually decent tool for under $5 new... We will see if it's up to the task of opening a bottle of wine.



I mentioned in this thread that I would inevitably compare this to the Coghlan's 7-function Army Knife. Well... how do I think they compare? If I had to pay the same for both, i'd chose this one, and I was relatively happy with the Coghlan's. But halfway through a month of using that one, I had to take the scales off and repeen it. I DID loosen a pin on this when I tried to pry with the large flathead driver, but nothing serious. The BIG difference is the Scissors. This tool is worth it for the blade and scissors alone, both of which performed very well, incredibly well for a tool in this price range. Everything after that is gravy, in my opinion. And mostly, it did everything it was supposed to do. Just don't pry with it.

[Alan K.]

I've paid more for less capability.  What's next on the list Lynn?

[Lynn LeFey]

I've already started the review on the (hilariously terrible so far) PST Knock-off.
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,75161.0.html

[ThundahBeagle]

Lynn, may I suggest another test? Drop it 10 times from medium hight (e.g. a table) onto a hard surface. This to check how well it maintains structural integrity.

Great idea. I'll save it for last, and do the drop test in my basement, on a concrete floor.

Firstly, I had the Coughlans version as a kid, before production went to China. It had both the corkscrew and the Phillips head, along with the awl on the backspring. Worked fine for me for years. I think today's are much worse. When I finished high school, I bought myself a Super Tinker.

Secondly, that Super Tinker lasted almost 25 years before I dropped it from some height (maybe 30 feet) to the hard black top below. And got run over by a truck before I could get down to it. Cellidor was shattered, and the tracks were so bent in, that I couldn't open some of the tools at all.

[Lynn LeFey]

I'm pretty sure there aren't many scale materials minus stuff like micarta that would survive a 30-foot drop. Horn, wood, and cellidor are all good materials and durable enough but they have their limits.

The 'run over by a truck' is a real bummer. This can kill the best of MTs, depending on the angle it's at when run over, and the size of the vehicle. 

[Lynn LeFey]

Forum member Mikekoz started another thread on this tool. I'm cross-linking to it for reference.

"Walmart does it again!"
http://[url=https://flic.kr/p/21Aza2P][img]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4734/38459922485_4833aa3410_z.jpg[/img]

[mikekoz]

Except for the pry test it seems the OT8 did rather well then Not what I was expecting but the pry test would eventually wreck it beyond use so not that great either Great testing Lynn

I think that is the problem, durability and reliability.

Lynn, may I suggest another test? Drop it 10 times from medium hight (e.g. a table) onto a hard surface. This to check how well it maintains structural integrity.

Oh, and thanks for all the hard work.

    I think my parents did this to me when I was a kid!! 

[Lynn LeFey]

I thought this was very interesting.

As of this writing, the Walmart website has these listed on sale for $3! 

These might be the best SAK-knockoff I've seen in a while, and are ABSOLUTELY worth $3 plus tax.

[chrono]

I thought this was very interesting.

As of this writing, the Walmart website has these listed on sale for $3! 

These might be the best SAK-knockoff I've seen in a while, and are ABSOLUTELY worth $3 plus tax.

It is $2 now

[Lynn LeFey]

Weird. It's listing at $2, but when you open the item, it still shows $3.

[ReamerPunch]

It's nice at $3, but I'd still pay $5 for the Aitor. 

[Lynn LeFey]

Okay, a couple points of interest.

First, a slightly different version of these knives is now a permanent stock item, it seems. They have gray or gray/green scales. I couldn't tell in the lighting in-store. They're selling for the regular $3.87 plus tax. I have not tested to make sure the new one performs the same as the red scaled version.

Second, and this one is IMPORTANT. The older, red scaled one is now on clearance for $1 plus tax. I picked up the last one that my local Walmart had just a few minutes ago.



This knife is an extremely good value at $1.09.

These are now in-store only items. They won't ship them. if your local store has them, then that's great. If not... look at another store.

This is one of the best deals on a basic MT I've ever seen.

[Blackbeard]

I found a $1 one in the clearance aisle, last one in the store I guess, saw some gray ones near knife cabinet. At $1 its ok I guess, scales were scuffed from package, corkscrew off center and rubbing, scissors too. I threw it in the car to keep it out of my sight lol, Victorinox need not worry.