Plier Wrench, 'Jeep HO7' or 'Cretaceous' (Lynn's $10 MT Challenge)

[Lynn LeFey]

This tool review is part of a challenge I was given. What is the best tool I can find, with shipping and tax included for $10. Here's a link to the main Challenge, so you can see all of the entries.
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,75705.0.html

I purchased this tool brand new for $8.14, shipping included, on ebay.

What do we have here? I guess 'Plier Wrench' is the best name for this tool...


If you get the 'Jeep H07' or 'Jeep Cretaceous' branded one, you can pay up to $19.97. I will be honest in saying that I don't honestly know if there is a difference in build quality from the generic version, or the branded 'Jeep Cretaceous', but I really suspect there isn't.

The tool weighs 154g (5.4 oz). It's made mostly of stainless steel, except for a plastic insert that both forms one of the handle surfaces and acts to hold the three hex bits that are included with the tool.

The tool has a pocket clip on the back side.


The pliers are held closed by a small locking lever. The springloaded pliers' outward force or gravity are all that hold the locking lever in place. The blade has a thumbstud, in theory allowing one-hand opening.

The tool is compact, and feels solid. The pocket clip feels less solid. Finish on the tool is matte/beadblasted, except for the blade, which seems to be painted black.

Testing to commence shortly.

[Lynn LeFey]

I would generally start a review by testing the most prominent feature of that tool. Knife for knife-based MTs, pliers for plier based MTs, but there's something I have to take care of first.

The plastic insert into which the hex bits are fitted doesn't keep the hex bits in place. Any rattling or turning of the tool risks losing the bits. So... we have to employ the age-old solution of... duct tape.



I kind of feel like i'm immediately off on the wrong foot with this tool. Let's hope things improve.

[Lynn LeFey]

Elsewhere on the boards, the tool was previously reviewed here...
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,42161.0.html

and here...
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,50652.0.html

It appears that the tool has been manufactured in a range of qualities. Buyer beware.

[Grant Lamontagne]

It is interesting that you need to hold your screwdriver bits in with duct tape- you need another tool to pull the ones out of mine.   

It's been suggested that this is an excellent companion tool for a SAK, and even more so in my case since I need a screwdriver to pry the screwdriver bits out.   

Def

[ThePeacent]

I hope I do not hijack your thread Lynn, fi so I'll edit this out. 
I've had three different versions of these tools, and now own two.

The larger one has a solid foldable Phillips and Flathead instead of the 3 drivers, and is noticeably heavier than this one, blade locks and is larger (still same crappy black paint coating though)



it's also stronger, has a differently placed pocket clip (much better) and opens wider.  I prefer this one better



I have one like yours, and gave away the other small model. Neither of them had the problem of the loose bits and the plastic insert held them securely every time, I've carried them for a few days straight on some months these past 3 years   



mine has the problem of the lock, which unlocks very easily unfolding the tool in your pocket, and the spring makes the gripping end of the pliers to open very wide and snag in the pocket. This has happened quite a few times, making it very hard to unclip as the handle gets trapped   



Unfortunately I've had trouble with this last one, the big one, because the wrench opened slowly in my pocket walking outside and the piece finally unscrewed (as if you opened the head wider than its limit opening width) and fell out, never to be found again   



so now my favorite, the big one, lacks the wrench function and is pretty lame, because other functions are easily surpassed by other tools I have 
I also favored the front screwing position of the bits in your model as opposed to the 90 degree angled drivers, folding perpendicular to the tool's length

looking forward to your review! 

[Lynn LeFey]

Well... Uhh...

I guess that's covered then, huh?
I'll just...

I dunno... Sit over here?

 

But seriously. I'm not trying to hog the spotlight. Anyone is free to add as they'd like on these tool reviews. And it's nice to have the additional perspectives. 

For more reading on the tool, Grant posted a link in the main '$10 MT Challenge' thread for another review on this tool, 'Cattleman's Cutlery Tool aka the SpyderGuppie!'
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,24809.0.html

And now... on with the review.

[Lynn LeFey]

The pliers.

So... finally... we're talking about the tool in hand.

Alright, first issue, The pliers, when locked closed, aren't all the way closed.


There's maybe an 8th on an inch, or a milimeter or two, gap. The problem is, the handle of the plier at this point is flush with the spine of the knife blade.

If you want to close the tool ALL the way, you have to press the handle of the pliers beyond flush with with spine of the knife. Realistically, this probably won't come up much, but it is annoying.

I would call the precision to which the jaws are formed 'good enough'.


It did a fine job of grabbing the small self-tapping screws in my house's ductwork, although I found it easiest doing it nose-on.


It also did well on 3/8" bolts holding the shelves in my basement together


It started to get very iffy versus 1/2" nuts (sorry for the blur)


The handles, which feel fine under very moderate force, also became a lot less fun under the heavier force required to get a grip on the larger nut.

Next, I tried cutting 12-gauge solid copper wire with the hard wire notch in the wirecutter.


It didn't go well. And this was soft copper.

So, then I tried the same 12-gauge wire versus the regular wire cutter.


And there you go. It did the trick. Not easily, but it did it. I din't think I'd trust these cutters versus wire coat hanger, which is my 'hard' test, seeing how iffy they were with just copper.

While messing with the copper wire, I tried gripping it hard with the pliers, and they worked pretty well.

Usually, tools on MTs get pretty severely compromised when integrated into a package of other tools. In this case, it almost feels like every other function was just kind of glued onto a small set of pliers, with no compromise made. I don't know how useful they are versus needle nose, but they seem very robust. While they have short handles when compared to a full size multitool, they also have short jaws, so the grip strength ought to be very good.The pivot joint looks ridiculously over-engineered. This, coupled with the short jaws, makes me feel like this is not a pair of pliers you need to worry about breaking on you.

Pliers for turning small bolts: pass
Pliers for gripping: pass
Wire cutters: marginal pass

[Lynn LeFey]

Now things take a turn for the worse.

The adjustable wrench.

Again, I apologize for my bad photography skills, but here's a look at the jaws of the wrench.


As received, there was something that goes way beyond 'flashing' mucking up the lower jaw.

And I'm PRETTY sure your adjustable wrench should adjust THIS much.


Well... I guess the GOOD news is, you can get a bolt of literally ANY size between the jaws of that wrench.

Just so you know, that little 'feature' is going to come back and kick me in the butt pretty soon.

Another 'positive' of the lower jaw coming off is I can get a good angle of the terrible grind on the TOP jaw as well.


While it was apart, I took the lower jaw out into the garage, and knocked that big bur thing off the tool. Now it's pretty flat.

Okay. It LOOKS like garbage, but how does it actually WORK?

I had a VERY hard time getting it to adjust to the size of the self-tapping screws in the ductwork.

I had a much EASIER time getting it to adjust to the 3/8" bolts on my storage shelves. Given a choice between this and the pliers, I'd go with the wrench at this size of bolt.


Then I moved on to the 1/2" nuts holding the treads of my basement stairs together.


Yeah, nice. WAY better than trying the same thing with the pliers. So much so that I started checking all of the nuts on the stairs, to see if they needed to be tightened. And...

And on the third nut I was tightening, I put maybe 2 pounds of force on the tool, pulling a nut tighter, and the bottom jaw popped off the tool completely. 

And I was thinking 'Well, I broke it'. No. It didn't break. The tolerances are just bad on this tool. When the jaw is open wide, it can wiggle in the track pretty severely. The worm (the threaded piece used to adjust the lower jaw) is ALSO kind of rattly, and between the two, the teeth in the jaw can skip over the worm, and just... WANDER OFF!!! Wheee!!!!

So... (sigh)

Wrench: Most marginal pass ever
Don't try it on anything smaller than 1/4" or larger than 3/8" nuts and bolts. So... VERY limited usefulness.

[Lynn LeFey]

The blade.

No.

Fail. Smurf this.

The blade has the most significant amount of side to side play I've ever seen, in any MT I've ever tested. Second, When open, it's not quite completely open. There is a sloppy play, and only under force will it settle at it's full stop. Opening the blade one handed, via the thumbstud is not smooth, and requires an amount of force that would make any sane person nervous. In theory, you're not going to have your thumb slip off the stud and interact with the blade edge, but I wouldn't put that to a test.

The grind, like the... what...last THREE tools I've tested, is also uneven. As it came, it would not cut regular paper. I spent 40 minutes aggressively taking material off with a lansky stone, to get it to take an edge. Once I got it to receipt-paper cutting sharpness, I started cutting cardboard to test edge retention, and I had to stop, because this blade simply does not feel safe to use. Between side-to-side and open-closed 'drift' there is no sense of control, and I will be honest, I'm not going to the hospital with a gash from testing a garbage MT.

Fail. Smurf you, crappy blade. FAIL!

Congratulations, your blade is worse than the Camillus Mil-K Demo knife.

Also... apparently, I'm on a hot streak of picking tools with bad blades. 

[Lynn LeFey]

There are moments when I'm testing inexpensive multitools, and I have little flashes of joy, finding something surprisingly good. It's a great feeling.

Then, there are moments when I get legitimately angry knowing that it's completely legal to sell dangerous feces to people. I am a grown adult, who has what I'm guessing at this point amounts to extensive experience using potentially dangerous tools. But this thing could be given to someone with a lot less knowledge, and serious injury could happen. And that makes me legitimately angry. Like I want to find the smurfer responsible for this and punch them in the face.

And WHEN I get like that, it's hard for me to pull my focus back in and finish a review. And for that, I apologize. But there's more to review.

The drivers.

The tool has three bits, standard flathead, phillips, and small flathead. The bits are held in a small plastic insert that also acts as one handle grip. As already noted, there is no retention in mine whatsoever, and 2 of the three bits will slide out if the tool is shaken slightly.

The bits are not standard size hex bits, but smaller. Good luck finding replacements at a reasonable price.

They slot into one of two locations on the tool. Here's a pic of the Philips in one, and the flathead in the other.


I was so mad from the blade issues when I started testing the drivers, that I didn't stop to take photos. But... yeah, they work great. Minus the fact that there's nothing holding the bits in place, the tool performed great. with the bits in the nose of the plier, there could be some issues of reach in tight places, but I didn't encounter it, even on the screws for door knob plates. I have a bench with 3" wood screws in it that I use as the 'tough' screwdriver test, and when set in the side of the plier head, this tool knocked that test out of the park. You can get AMAZING force on this thing, both downward into a screw, and rotational.

Screwdrivers: Pass

I have concerns as to how robust those bits are, and how hard they'd be to replace, but as received, they're quite good.

Others have discussed how theirs had magnets to hold the bits in place, and I think such a small change would be great.

In fact, I think a lot of small changes would take this from being a pretty iffy tool, to being a pretty amazing tool.

However, with all functions reviewed on this, I'm going to say that not only is this tool not going to win, but I strongly recommend not buying it. If you can find a better made version, it might be great. I'd recommend just getting a little pair of $5 pliers and a used Swiss Army Knife instead of this thing.

[King_Gorilla]

Lynn, Peacent, I am curious about what you thought about the potential of the design of the tool. 

I have only ever used the small "jeep" version of this tool.  I did not encounter the same quality problems that Lynn showcased here.  My bits are almost held in place too tight.  Difficult to get out sometimes.  I have only carried this tool throughout the day on a couple occasions, but the plier lock on mine never popped open. 

For me this was a terribly frustrating tool because I LOVE the idea of it but hate the results.  I think the adjustable wrench and pliers combo is so useful.  I LOVE how they made the two magnetic bit drivers on the head of the pliers.  But for all the good,  I feel like it is way too small to be useful.  the wrench is tiny.  the blade doesn't lock,  and making the bits smaller than 1/4 inch was just stupid. 

But I've never used any of the bigger ones.  So I was wondering what you both thought.   

[ThePeacent]

Lynn, Peacent, I am curious about what you thought about the potential of the design of the tool. 

I have only ever used the small "jeep" version of this tool.  I did not encounter the same quality problems that Lynn showcased here.  My bits are almost held in place too tight.  Difficult to get out sometimes.  I have only carried this tool throughout the day on a couple occasions, but the plier lock on mine never popped open. 

For me this was a terribly frustrating tool because I LOVE the idea of it but hate the results.  I think the adjustable wrench and pliers combo is so useful.  I LOVE how they made the two magnetic bit drivers on the head of the pliers.  But for all the good,  I feel like it is way too small to be useful.  the wrench is tiny.  the blade doesn't lock,  and making the bits smaller than 1/4 inch was just stupid. 

But I've never used any of the bigger ones.  So I was wondering what you both thought.   

with some improvements I think the design is good and worth exploring.

I never had an issue with the drivers in all these years, they didn't fall out or wiggle, it just bothers me the non-standard size, but they work well and won't fold on you like the ones on the bigger version, and they're better placed and more versatile   



what I did have were problems with the opening of the pliers in my pocket while clipped, both in the large and the small models
It was (is) a real bummer and awkward, and happens quite often



sheath carry prevents that most of the times. I also think there should be some lock, tab, flap or securing system of the wrench part so that it doesn't unscrew and maybe fall out and get lost like mine did 
Also, it is remarkable the bad ergonomics both of these have in both blade and pliers mode, the non rounded body and metal parts don't help either

Needs refinement, but has potential 

[Lynn LeFey]

Needs refinement, but has potential 

That about sums up my feelings as well.

I hear people say stuff like "magnetic bit holder" and i think, yeah, that would be an improvement over mine.

This is one of the instances with good design, bad execution. I still think there's room to improve the design, but at its heart, it seems like a VERY good idea.

Sad that mine was such a piece of garbage.