The Ubiquitous Chinese SOG Toolclip knockoffs: Many Models Reviewed

[ChopperCharles]

Here are pics of the drivers, as well as two shots showing how the scissors block the serrated blade.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Finally, here is a comparison with the old version of the Roku tool. I'm not sure why they changed to child scissors or moved the scissors from a thoughtful, intelligent spot to a retarded one. Your guess is as good as mine on that. In these shots the new model from Amazon is on the top, and the old model I picked up off of eBay is on the bottom.

Charles.

[Poncho65]

I never knew that there were this many different vatiations of this type of tool Have you picked any of the better brands up of these yet I would love to see how a real Toolclip stacked up or one made by CRKT 

All great stuff CC

[ChopperCharles]

I'll get a ToolClip eventually, but honestly that's the tool I want the least. The ToolClip and the close copies of it have three cutting blades, a bottle opener, and a file stuffed into three tools. That tool combination isn't really very useful. There are more useful tool combinations in the copies... but the scissor-type plier jaws are just sub-par. I've only gotten a few of these tools with really good plier heads: The Swissgear and the "Deluxe Multi-Purpose Plier." Everything else is middling in comparison.

I'm interested in the Al-Mar tool, but it's really pricey. Really beautiful as well, but you know, it doesn't have a great tool load either. I don't know of any CRKT fixed-head plier multitool like these. The one I'm currently interested in is the Russian Ratnik 6E6 multitool. Two saws, big blade, one hand opening blades, awl, pocket clip, barbed-wire/hard wire cutter, liner locks (I think), and an actual useful length T-handle phillips driver.  It's more of a camping/hiking/wilderness based multitool, instead of an emergency roadside repair type multitool.

That said, I have about 6 more plier tools in my possession, and a few more on the way. There's another new type that I'll be reviewing soon, which has a completely different plier head and is of considerably higher quality.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Oh, one other thing. The Mountain Crest tool with the interesting combination tool? That looks like a copy of the Aitor combo tool. The Aitor appears to have a small wood saw instead of a serrated edge, but otherwise it appears  very similar.  I wonder how big the tool is on the Aitor.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Well, the fourth was fun, and now it's back to "work"   Today I have an iMounTEK 13-in-1 Multi-Tool. This comes as a set with a pocket knife and aluminum flashlight, and is currently in production and available for sale on Amazon for $17.29 and and eBay for $12.99.  (sale links posted below, and are valid as of July 2018). This comes with a sheath for all three tools, and it's not bad.

Product links:
https://www.amazon.com/iMounTEK-Stainless-Flashlight-Screwdriver-Corkscrew/dp/B00W2GE64G/
https://www.ebay.com/itm/331912770672

Jaws: B

The jaws operate SMOOOTHLY. The spring opens the jaws almost all the way, and leaves the cutters open very far. There is no side offset either. Things aren't perfect though. The teeth almost line up, but not quite, and the back of the jaw meets first. This means the the tips don't come together, and the pliers cannot pull out arm hairs.  The tips are also not square with the sides of the pliers, and are filed at an angle. Not a huge big deal, but points are dinged for this.

Cutter: A-

HO-LEE-SHEET! These cutters actually cut. They cut the 24 gauge wire, the 18 gauge speaker wire, the 16 gauge with the extra-thick insulation, and the 12 gauge. All stranded wire, all cuts. Zip ties are cut easily as well. They get a few marks off, however. The cutters are machined, and they come to a nice point. That's good. There was a burr on the cutters that I had to take off with a file. That was bad. They cut everything fine as long as I didn't use the area with the burr. (The burr area wouldn't cut the 24ga). After filing the burr off, the I could cut 24ga anywhere in the cutter. BUT, after cutting the 12ga wire 10 or 15 times, the cutters were dulled and wouldn't reliably cut the 24ga super-thin wire. Maybe one out of three tries would be a clean cut. However, all other wires and zip ties still cut fine. I'd say these are good cutters. 24ga is difficult for this style of cutter and this level of precision.

Tools: C+

Standard complement of tools. However, there were burrs on the screwdriver tip of the serrated blade. There is significant play in the tools, especially the main blade. That's more of a peening problem though. The drivers are decent - the phillips bordering on good, the small flat head less rounded than others. But also a little thicker than it should be.

Sharpening: C

The main and serrated blades aren't sharp at all. The blade on the bottle opener is. One of the two notches is sharpened, but only a thin sliver. Suitable to cut or strip very thin wire. Almost useless, but not completely.

Peening: C

The plier rivets are peened well, and not too tightly. The backspring rivets aren't peened at all on one side, and one is already pulling through. The tool pivot rivet has about 1mm of space between the bottom of the peen, and the body of the tool. It desperately needs to be peened more, to keep the tools from having side-play.

Sheath: B+

I like the sheath, more or less. I'd prefer a small sheath just for the tool, as this is rather big and bulky. It is however constructed well, and of thicker than average nylon. If you want to carry a plier tool, pocket knife, and flashlight, this is the sheath for you. It fits a 3 or 4 layer wenger, a 3 layer Victorinox, and a small 2-AA maglite if you don't prefer the light that comes with it.

Other Things of Note:

The laser-etched metric ruler is a really nice touch. The notch for the handle latch isn't machined well, but it's deep enough that it works fine at least. Now on to the other tools.

The pocket knife is absolute garbage. It's so poorly peened that the tool isn't straight when you look at it from the end. It's a parallelagram. Absolutely the cheapest, lowest quality China army knife I've seen. I thought the Sheffield version was bad, but this takes the cake. Every blade super thin, so much side play in the tools that I could easily pry enough to pop the rivets. The knife blade is sharp, that's the only good thing I can say about it.

The flashlight is a poor copy of a Maglight. It takes 2 AA batteries and uses a standard wheat bulb. If you drill the reflector out carefully, you can fit a standard Maglight LED conversion kit in there. You only need the LED bulb part. The copy doesn't have a replaceable reflector, which is why you have to drill it. The conversion kit button made for the maglight does fit this flashlight, but it comes with a button so you can choose whether to keep the original or not. I would replace the O-ring at the top -- it's too thin to provide much resistance to the reflector housing, and it may easily come off otherwise.

With a LED upgrade and a new O-ring, it works well enough. It won't ever "feel" like a quality item, but it's free and good enough to stash somewhere for emergency use.

Overall: Sorta "meh" tentative buy for the DIY-er

Yeah, the peening isn't good and the blades aren't sharp. The jaws aren't perfect... but they open smoothly and easily, the spring opens them almost all the way, and the cutters actually cut. If you want to take the time to peen the tool properly, and then take even more time to sharpen the blades, then sure. It's cheap and it comes with a free flashlight and a free hunk of worthless metal in the shape of a pocket knife. The cutter is better than the sheffield, and it has a ruler. The tools are worse than the sheffield. Jaws are about the same. Honestly I'd hold out for something better, but if you're a DIYer and want one this wouldn't be a bad pick. It's WAY better than the Grand Way. That said, I wouldn't buy it again.


Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Note, I went ahead and peened my copy. You can whale away on the phillips pivot rivet and the tool pivot. Just work the tools as you peen the rivet to check the play and tightness. Use the serrated blade to check for side play. The main blade will always have a hint of side play, as the tang is a few thou thinner than the backspring. If you peen it too much, the main blade backspring will jam and the bottle opener will be impossible to extract. You can just hold the serrated blade in a vise and wiggle it until the pivot loosens up a bit.

DON'T over-peen the front backspring rivet, closest to the jaws. Peen it until it is good enough to hold the tool together, and no more .Peen this one too much and the plier jaws will tighten up. After a proper peening and lubing the tool feels a lot better to use. Still needs to be sharpened though as the main blade just kinda tears paper instead of cutting it.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Another Two-fer thursday. Why don't I do these on Tuesdays? It rolls off the tongue so much better... but Thursday is when I have the free time. So you'll have to live with it!

This second review is of a tool that looks like it may have lineage from the Ubiquitous Chinese Plier Tool, but it actually doesn't. It's the Fury Tactical Spike, currently sold on Amazon for under $15. This tool is actually smaller than the Chinese Plier tools, with a completely different plier head, and it's a singly layer with two liner locks. At first glance it looks like it may share lineage, but it doesn't at all.  Because of this, I'm posting my review in a separate thread in Cheap and Cheerful, and posting the link here: https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,77919.0.html

I've also attached a pic comparing it to the Sheffield tool, so you get an idea of scale.

Charles.

[gerleatherberman]

Great reviews, Charles! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them so far.

I would like to see you review one of those monstrously silly hammer-plier tools though(if you don't mind, of course).

[ChopperCharles]

So, today I'm playing with my Lansky sharpening system, and I set the thing up with one of these multi tools. The serrated blade on most of these tools cannot be sharpened on the lansky system. Neither can the scraper blade on the bottle opener. The angle of attack for the serrated edge is far greater than 30 degrees, and the angle on the bottle opener scraper blade is 45 degrees. I checked all of them, and the one with the narrowest angle is the Swiss Gear. They're all larger than 30 degrees, most of them appear to be 45 degrees.

Charles.

[gerleatherberman]

You'll find that to be a common thing with softer(cheaper) blades.  The edges of those cutting implements would roll too easily if they were the same angles as some of the more expensive tools.

[ChopperCharles]

Well, it's interesting you say that. Some of these tools do appear to have pretty soft, poor blades. But some of them are made out of pretty good metal as well. This is pretty easy to tell by judging the file on the back of the serrated blade. If it's deeply cut and aggressive, and works to file down mild steel, then it's a pretty good bet that the tool is made out of a good metal that was properly heat-treated.

I'm checking my tools now. The Coast  (yet to be reviewed) and SwissGear have the best files, followed by the Sheffield, the NJ Transportation multi-purpose plier, and the Ruko. The worst of the bunch are the Barlow, Alltrade (yet to be reviewed), and Bench Pro (from memory).  Everything else appears to be in the middle. Not too good, but not too bad either.


Charles.

[gerleatherberman]

Hey now! Don't diss the Bench Pro. I bought that from you. 

Looking forward to a list of tools ranked on their tested metal quality. You make a good point that the file is a great indicator of a tool's metal hardness. But, with that said, I can't ever tell if the cut depth of the file indicates the hardening process. Just recently, we reviewed the SOG PowerAccess Deluxe and the cut of the file was poor, yet the metal was tempered properly.

[ChopperCharles]

Right, but it's pretty easy to see. If I file some mild steel or cast iron with the file, and there is visible damage to the file afterwards, then the metal is not properly hardened. Same deal with the blade or the saw. Sharpen the blade until it can cut receipt paper, then cut up a bunch of cardboard. If it can still cut receipt paper afterwards, it's of good quality. If it can only cut regular paper, it's acceptable. If it can't cut either, it's a poor quality blade. And the wood saw... if I can't cut all the way through a 2" stick before the teeth are worn so the kerf is no longer wider than the blade, then the saw is junk. (For models with a saw blade)

That said, there is no sense to test each and every one. I'm only going to test the ones that are otherwise keepers, and  made decent scores in my reviews.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Today I have an Alltrade Model 170079 for review. This is one of the best examples of this tool I've come across to date. Good riveting, good toolset, good sharpening, good jaws, and decent cutter.

Jaws: A

The jaws open extremely smoothly, and the spring opens them almost all the way. The needle-nosed tips are rounded and thiner at the ends, like a good needle-nose should be. The tips are precise, angled correctly, and can pull out arm hairs easily. The pliers feel and work really well. That said, there is evidence the pliers were tighter in the past, as there is wear on one of the jaws from the side plates.

Cutter: A-

These pliers are used and though everything appears to be in very good shape, the cutters have seen better days. There are chips and nicks on the blades. However... they still cut wire. They cut the 12ga wire like it's made of butter. The 18ga speaker wire is also cut easily. The only thing that gives these pliers pause is the 16ga with the extra thick insulation. I wonder if this tool was new and the cutters not so abused, if it would manage the thick insulation as well. These cutters make short work of zip ties, cutting both normal and small sized ties with a good snap.

Tools: A

This is one of the 5-blade multis, and it's the best one of this type I've found so far. The backsprings are very powerful, and lock the tools open with a solid snap. There is no chance a tool is going to close on you. The exception are the scissors, which has a relatively weak backspring. It still works well, and the scissors aren't a tool that one needs to worry about folding up. There was a little side play in the tools, but it was far better than most of these plier tools I've reviewed. The main blade has a half-stop, which has already saved me once from trying to close it with my finger in the way. The file is not particularly aggressive or deeply cut, but it can file mild steel without being damaged. So tool hardening is quite acceptable. The small flat head has rounded corners and is a little too thick. A quick touch up with a file, however, turned into a much longer project, because the tool is so hard. It took a lot longer to file the corners and the profile correctly because it's harder metal than I expected. This is good!

Sharpening: A+

The blades in this tool, with the exception of the scraper blade on the bottle opener, all look unused. The main blade and serrated blade can both cut paper very easily, with no hint of tearing. The scraper blade has some nicks and damage to it, and is not sharp enough to cut paper. The angle of the single-sided scraper blade is 25 degrees, which is far better than the 45 degrees on most of these tools. Because it's 25 degrees it was easy to touch up on my Lansky. There are two wire stripping notches sharpened - one on the bottle opener and one on the serrated blade.

Peening: A

Peening on this tool is very good. The tool pivot rivet needed a little extra peening, but everything else was done right. And even the tool pivot didn't *need* it, the tool play was quite acceptable as it was, I just wanted it a little tighter, so I hit it a couple of times with a hammer.

Sheath: A

I prefer a nylong sheath, but this faux-leather sheath is actually pretty nice. It's not as abrasion-reistant as a nylon sheath and my fear is it will not like being worn on a belt regularly, but it's thick and protective the ultimate duty is to protect the tool, and it will do all of that well. It is only suitable for vertical carry though, unlike the nylon sheaths which can also be worn horizontally.

Other Things of Note:

I bought another Alltrade tool which appeared to have been run over by a vehicle. It was bent and in bad shape, but most of the rivets still held. The tool quality was still there, but the plier jaws and cutters were different. The jaws are narrower and the cutters don't work as well either. However, that may be due to the tool being run over and having most parts flex and bend. That said, you can tell the difference in photos, because the good jaws have a machined landing at the tips, so that the tips come togehter first, and the teeth don't mesh completely. The lesser jaws don't have that, and the teeth just mesh together. If you see the comparison photos later on, the good jaws are always on the right. On the run-over tool the serrations are cut weirdly (yet are still sharp), and the file is not as good. It's not aggressive at all, and it does get damaged when filing mild steel.

Overall: Buy this tool

This is the best five-blade Ubiquitous Chinese Plier Multi Tool I've tested so far, and I do believe it's the best of the scissor jaw type. The pliers are good, the cutters are good, the tools are good, the metal is good. This is an excellent version of the Chinese tool, and easily worth $10 or $15 if you can find it on the 'bay. The problem is, they're hard to find.

[ChopperCharles]

The last two pics show the two versions of the Alltrade tool I've acquired. Both are good tools, but the style on the right is the better one (and it's the one I reviewed)

Charles.

[gerleatherberman]

Thanks for the reviews, Charles!
Nice to see another one of those types of tools that can cut the mustard.

[ChopperCharles]

A couple more things to note.

First, the SwissGear... sad to say, but the spring broke yesterday. I only used it a couple of times, never beat on it or anything, and the spring failed. The jaws are still amazing, and I still like the tool, but the spring-loaded jaws were the best part and now it's not as usable. So I'm sad about that.


Second, I'm pretty sure the SwissGear was actually made by COAST. I have two of their Pocket Mechanic tools now, and the similarities are striking. I'll review the Coast model later, but the short of it is Coast is also made in Taiwan, the Coast has two-piece jaws, the Coast has the thicker, bigger phillips driver, the Coast has a two-screw scale arrangement, Coast has the same higher-quality screws, and finally, Coast made a "Sport Mechanic" multi tool which had a fish scaling tool. I have no proof, but my guess is that Coast made it under the SwissGear name for K-Mart stores.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Third, I've figured out why the jaws on many of these tools are too tight. If the thickness of the tools and backsprings are not exactly the width of the the plier head (plus spacers if so equipped), then the jaws will be pinched if all of the rivets are peened tightly. This puts excessive drag on the jaws.

Now, many of the badly manufactured tools simply don't peen the two backspring rivets at all. This works well if the backsprings are narrower than the plier head. It allows the pliers to operate freely, and not bind. But at the expense of a tool that slowly works itself apart. Not good. If the backsprings are thicker than the plier head, the tool almost always has a binding or dragging, as the plier head has to be peened tightly in order to work.

For the 5-layer tools, there is often another problem. There are spacers on either side of the jaws because the 5 layers are far wider than the jaws. These spacers on most tools are just a piece of flat steel punched out on a die. They're not even machined to be flat. Many of these spacers have an upturn at the corners where they were punched out, and this can drag on the jaws even if the spacers + jaws are the same width as the tool layers.

Charles.

[Poncho65]

More great reviews Sorry to hear about the spring on the Swissgear and glad another of them is worth looking into getting

[gerleatherberman]

^What Poncho said. 

Charles,
Does Swiss-Gear or Coast still make those tools? Perhaps contacting their "customer service" to ask for a replacement would work?
Sorry if that was covered already. I would like to see you get another one to replace it with.

[ChopperCharles]

I did contact Coast about the history of these tools. I don't know what warranty Coast has, but I do know they don't currently make any tool like this. :/

Charles.

[ThePeacent]

I did contact Coast about the history of these tools. I don't know what warranty Coast has, but I do know they don't currently make any tool like this. :/

Charles.

because making a tool like this would Coast them a lot of money 

[ChopperCharles]

Ugh. There should be a perma-ban rule for bad puns!

(not that there's any other kind)

Charles

[ChopperCharles]

I just got an email from Coast. They did make the tool for the company that owned the rights to the SwissGear name back in the 90s.

I'll be posting coast reviews soon. I'm waiting for a brand-new in the packaging Pocket Mechanic so I can give a new tool a review. I also have the Pro Pocket Mechanics to add, as they're a completely different style.

Someone asked if I'd review hammer tools. Well... I'm going to be taking a couple of these tools apart and putting them back together with my own tool configuration, and posts with nuts instead of rivets. I plan to buy one or two hammer multis to get some interesting tools that are only available on the hammer multitools. I could review whatever I get before I take it apart. Otherwise, I'll review a hammer if you mail it to me. I don't want to be spending my money on those things if I can avoid it


Charles.

[gerleatherberman]

I was the one who asked.

If  can remember, I will pick up a Sheffield hammer tool at Walmart and send it your way.
The Sheffield is the best quality one I have seen. They have a hammer plier model and one with a solid hatchet hammer. The hammer-plier one seem more useful. Would make an o.k. fencing tool if you had nothing else to use.

[ThePeacent]

Would make an o.k. fencing tool if you had nothing else to use.

 

[gerleatherberman]

 

[ChopperCharles]

Today I am reviewing the Coast Pocket Mechanic . There are two versions of this tool. A spring-loaded version, and a non-spring-loaded version. The spring-loaded version has a spring identical to the one in a SwissGear. The scales, screws, and handle lock wire are also very very similar to the SwissGear. This tool is the reason I inquired with Coast as to whether they made the SwissGear tool (The answer was YES, of course!). The non-spring-loaded version has a slightly longer handle, and the handle has less of an arc. It sits closer to the body when the jaws are completely closed.

The spring-loaded version I purchased as a brand new, NOS copy in blister packaging. The non-spring version I actually have two of, purchased for very little money on eBay. (One was $7, the other 99 cents)

Jaws: A-

The jaws on both versions of this tool operate freely. The spring-loaded tool has a little bind at the very end, and the non-spring tool has wear indicating dragging in the past. These are two-piece jaws, which are stronger than the scissor style jaws. The nose is halway between a blunt-nose and a needle nose, with an extra-large inner area for gripping bolts. I very much like this nose design. It gives more gripping surface for bolts, which is awesome. I like the spring-loaded version of this best, but do be aware the spring has a limited lifespan and once it breaks it's gone forever.

The jaws on the new spring-loaded plier have some unacceptable play/wiggle to them.

Cutter: C+

The cutters on the Swissgear were great. The cutters on this tool, unfortunately, are not the same design at all. The cutters are completely blunt. They're machined, but they don't meet at an angle. The brand-new spring-loaded copy can only cut the 16ga speaker wire, small zip ties, and large zip ties. The 24, 18 with extra-thick insulation, and 12 gauge wires are not cuttable. One of the non-spring versions can cut ALL of the wires and zip ties in the test. The other non-spring version can cut everything except the 24ga.

That said, these cutters smash the wire as they cut it. This is true with most of the bypass-style cutters, but as these are very blunt they crush it more than most.

For the two-piece jaws, proper peening is critical to operation. There is too much play in the jaws of hte spring-loaded plier, which I believe is why the wire cutters don't work as well as the other two tools, which have no play at all.

Tools: B

These tools all come with a plain blade, a serrated blade with file, flat blade, and wire stripper notch, a wood saw, a bottle opener with small flat blade and wire stripper notch, and a big beefy phillips driver on the backspring. The file on these tools are all A+. They're deeply cut, the metal is properly hardened, and they can file steel without damaging the teeth of the file.

The wood saws, on the other hand, are not very good. The teeth do not extend out to either side of the blade. This means the kerf is exactly as wide as the blade, and the blade gets stuck in the cut. The Ruko has a different style of saw, and it cuts much faster with a nice wide kerf. The backsprings are all good for these tools, except the backspring for the blade. OEM packaging has the backspring screwdriver partially extended in the blisterpack, which weakens the backspring for the blade. The main blade will snap closed, but will not resist closing as well as the other blades, or other similar tools.

Sharpening: A

The blades are adequately sharp. The main blade easily cuts paper. There are two wire stripper notches that are sharpened - one on the bottle opener and one on the serrated blade.

Peening: A

Even though one of these tools has play in the jaw, the peening of all three is excellent. Same quality peen as the SwissGear. Everything is peened tightly, nothing is half-assed.

Sheath: A+

This is a VERY nice heavy-duty sheath. It's much thicker cordura, all double-stitched. "Beefy" is the word I'd use. I have three sheaths and one has been worn heavily and obviously abused, and except for some fuzzing of the nylon, is still completely structurally sound. This is a VERY good sheath.

Other Things of Note:

With all of these tools, it seems that sample variation can make or break the cutters. Even if they're machined properly, any kind of play in the jaws can cause issues with cutter operation.

Overall: A solid buy for the most part.

This really is a good tool. It's not a great tool, but it's a good tool. The saw could use improvement. The file and other blades are excellent. The jaws are great, the spring mechanism is great, and tool is assembled and constructed with a high level of quality. Just be aware that the spring in this style of tool won't last forever. If cutters are super important to you, this style is not the best for wire cutting. Two of the three worked well, though strangely not the brand-new one.

[ChopperCharles]

Pics of the two models with the nice peening.

Charles.