Coast LED 130 micro pliers. Not bad!

[ChopperCharles]

I just got a free pair of these from coast to replace a 20 year old pocket knife that was new in the package when I bought it a few weeks ago. They replaced it under warranty with these pocket pliers, as they are the nearest thing they have to the original knife I bought. These go for about $10 on Amazon, and come in silver and black.

The tool is small, but not tiny. Larger than a PST by a fair bit. See below for a photo comparing it to two vintage coast pocket knife offerings, both of which are basically Wenger 65mm and 85mm Swiss Army knives.

The jaws are about the size of gerber mp400 jaws, but shorter. They’re spring loaded which is nice, but the cutters intrude into the gripping area unfortunately. The pivot has a little play, allowing the tips to have about 1mm side to side movement.

The tool set is not bad. Serrated and plain edged blades, flat driver/bottle opener, Phillips driver, lanyard loop, nail file, awl, can opener, and small flat driver. The tools are all outside opening, and are built well enough for a light duty tool. They all open and close with a nice snap - each is on an individual backspring like a Swiss Army knife. There are no liners between tools, but the backsprings keep nearby tools from opening. Every tool has a half stop, which is a feature I really like.

The Phillips driver is abbreviated, it’s not full sized. It’s still shaped to fit large household screws, so you can use it to tighten door jams and hinges, but it won’t take a ton of torque. Still, it didn’t cam out or strip when I tested it on some stuck screws.

Other than the two blades, the rest of the tools are pretty short. The nail file is barely usable it’s so short. The can opener is poorly placed, but can be used left-handed. The can opener also has a micro flat driver on the tip, but it is not ground and finished. Probably because the tool right next to it is the same size driver.

The LED is not particularly bright, but does illuminate close objects just fine. It’s usable in either folded or pliers position, and in pliers position it points right at your workpiece. Batteries are also easy to replace and can’t accidentally come out when it’s folded. Turning it on or off requires a solid press of the rubber button. The rubber grips are nice and keep the tool from sliding or scratching whatever you set it on. Pivots are all torx screws so you can mod or tighten as necessary.

Overall, I’ve spent more money on poorer quality tools. For $10, or about $8 for the black one on sale on amazon now, it’s really a good deal. It feels far more modern than most tools in this price range.

Granted it’s a light duty plier, but if that’s what you need it fits the bill rather nicely.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Pics of the LED illuminated and the Phillips driver in action.

Charles.

[gerleatherberman]

Those actually look pretty good for $10.

The toolset doesn't seem as robust as the older Pocket Pliers, but the form factor seems more effective. The old Pocket Piers are cumbersome to operate, with the locks being hard to manipulate at best. The scissors stay popped open and the only way to fix it is to remove the plastic covers and peen the pins. I think the new design without scissors is better. My philosophy is that if a company can't make good scissors, they shouldn't put them in their tools.

Thank you for the thoughts and overview, Charles!

[ChopperCharles]

I don’t think Coast has ever made good scissors. Some versions of the scissors in the original pro pocket mechanics were passable, but none were ever *good*. The l only tool Coast ever made, to my knowledge, with good scissors was the 65 & 85mm lines of the “coast pocket tool”. These were essentially Wenger Swiss Army knives with Coast (and Eddie Bauer) scales. You see the coast branded ones in my pics above. Coast bought tool blanks and liners from Wenger and finished them in China. Other than the darker finish and slightly more polished (and corner rounded) tools, they’re the same. Those were some good scissors. That, to my knowledge, is it.

Note that later they created a very poor copy of a Victorinox knife, which is entirely made in China and is complete junk. These have LED lights and/or a Compass built into the scales, and a cybertool style bitdriver.

Charles.

[gerleatherberman]

Ah. I forgot about some of the Mechanic tools having "Swiss Scissors"(according to the packaging on some). The Wenger-ish tools seem to be the direction Coast should have gone, but as long as people drop $5 at Wal-Mart for something that looks like a $10-$20 tool, they'll keep making them.


I know what knives you are writing about at the end of the post. I bought them from you. 

[ChopperCharles]

Yes, you did! Im pretty sure I warned you it was smurfty though!

Charles.

[gerleatherberman]

Yes, you did! Im pretty sure I warned you it was smurfty though!

Charles.

Hehe.
You've definitely always accurately described every tool I've bought.

It was just humerous that when I read the post about them and their junkiness, I thought, "Those must be terrible. Oh. Hold up. I have those". 

They are truly neat collection tools, but as you said, as users they are smurfty.