Fiskars Jeep multi tool... broken bit holder door. Is this common?

[ChopperCharles]

I snagged a brand new Jeep multi tool off eBay, and when it finally arrived from Australia, low and behold the door that holds the bits was broken. Is this common with this tool? The door doesn't seem to be made out of a very robust plastic... yet still I thought this would fair better than 15 seconds of handling, and opening the door twice.

Charles.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I can't say as I am familiar with that particular Jeep branded multitool, but I will say that in my experience, Jeep branded multitools tend to fall into one of two categories:

Unauthorized branded tools- These are almost exclusively terrible, occasionally getting good enough to be almost passable.  They are usually crappy tools that are not authorized by Jeep, but someone has put a universally recognized brand on them so that people will overlook how terrible they are and buy them anyway.

Authorized branded tools- Mostly authorized while Chrysler was foundering in helps of generating additional revenue streams from their only successful property, and not usually much better than the Unauthorized tools, if at all.

I honestly would not be surprised to see that it was terrible and broke within the first ten minutes.

Def

[ChopperCharles]

This is one of the official Jeep tools, and it's made by Fiskars (Gerber). It has the same scissors, bottle opener, file, and can opener as a Gerber MP600. The pliers are very similar to the Paul Chen shears tool, also made by Fiskars/Gerber. I guess I should have posted this in the Gerber section.

Charles.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I  that case I would contact Gerber and see what the options are.  Their customer service is excellent.

Def

[gregozedobe]

Charles, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I very much doubt that tool was made by/for Fiskars or Gerber, it looks like a (very) cheap knock-off of the Gerber Multi-lite.  I also have grave doubts about any official approval by Jeep. Sorry to hear of your experience 

[MMR]

Charles, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I very much doubt that tool was made by/for Fiskars or Gerber, it looks like a (very) cheap knock-off of the Gerber Multi-lite.  I also have grave doubts about any official approval by Jeep. Sorry to hear of your experience 

I was actually googling around like a moron trying to find anything about the Jeep tool the OP posted about, as it looks like the lovechild of a victorinox and gerber MT, which had me thinking it was a joint-venture between victorinox and gerber, which would have been interesting to say the least.

At least from the pictures I can find of the Gerber multi-lite, I would have to agree, the jeep tool OP posted about looks like copy / knock-off.


With that said; as just a “truck tool” for the occasional light repairs while on the road, I’m sure it would do the job just fine. Those victorinox-style pliers look ideal for pulling fuses for instance  and it has a bit driver as well.


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[ChopperCharles]

Ah well, that sucks. I thought it was a gerber.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

So, I fixed the door using some really tiny neodymium magnets (from eBay) and contact cement. Door closes and stays closed now, unless I drop the thing or bang it real hard while the handle is open. I used it today for a few tasks. The screwdriver and bits are pretty good. I removed electrical box face plates and switches, I tightened hinges and a doorknob, and I tightened the screws that clamp electrical cable in the box in the wall. I used the scissors to cut out a small label for my breaker panel, and I tried cutting paracord... with success. Not a one-slip dealio like Victorinox scissors, but pretty much the same as my MP600 scissors. The tool feels solid and I can put plenty of torque on the drivers. There's space in the handle for 6 bits total, though only four bits come with it. I have four in the handle and one stored in the driver, and then I put Wenger tweezers and toothpick in there as well. The extra bit is a torx bit that works to tighten the pivots of most of the knives I have. It uses the standard small electronics bits. It comes with 4 double-sided bits, but single sided bits fit in there just as well.

Really, the screwdriver is the shining star of the tool. The scissors are good, the clip point blade is decent, the bottle opener works and has a flat driver on it, and the file is decent. Not near as good as a Gerber file, but it will work and it's nicely aggressive. It's stainless, not the good file material, that's all. The can opener is in the wrong position, so it has to be used left-handed. Still, it locks on well and works just fine. The pliers are a little smaller than Victorinox pliers, and almost as thick. They're not as robustly built, however. Bending a thin metal coat hanger works fine (like a coat hanger from the dry cleaners), but that's about the limit of their ability. They're just about perfectly sized for pulling out fuses, however.

Overall, a decent tool. The problem is the plastic the door is made of has aged. It's turned yellow, and is brittle. So all the door latches will all fail eventually.

The price I paid was good. I got a partial refund for the broken door latch, which made the price even better. But the shipping from australia was killer.

This is going to be mounted on the roll bar of my Jeep, along with the other jeep tool I have - the Master Cutlery WM-JP03B multitool knife.

Charles.

[MMR]

Good to hear that it is a useful tool and that you seem happy enough with it.


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