After a great deal of waiting, I finally got mine. I'll do a full review later, but initial impressions are... well, it's unique, useful, but awkward.
The first is the pivot opening design. It's held together with a magnet instead of a catch, and the magnet is worthless at keeping it closed. It also attracts metal shavings, which are everywhere in a machine shop.
The second awkward design point is that it only flips open half way, at a 90 degree angle, and then is stopped. You have to depress a spring-loaded lever to allow it to open all the way. I'd have preferred it to open all the way by default, and then use the lever to lock it in the 90 degree position.
The screwdriver/bitholder can be plugged into several different locations. All of them equally awkward to use. The worst is, to get access to the bits you have to separate the two sides, then extract the bits. (The plier handle locks them from falling out). BUT, once you've got your bit selected, the LEAST awkward way use the unit is to reassemble it and close it up and use the centered bit driver holder place. So it takes a very long time of fiddling before it's ready for screwdriver tasks. Which makes it more awkward than just using one of the offset holes and living with rotating a giant tool awkwardly around a pivot that's not at the center of the tool.
The pliers fold up in use. Usually they fold ever so slightly, so that they will no longer close all the way without stopping to fix the handle. They can't be used for prying or pulling out nails, because the heads just pivot.
The wrench works very well on big bolts, but it can't be used at an angle. Most wrenches have an angled box end for a reason. Access and clearance is often limited. This design is less limited than most, but it's largely for use on bolts that hold fences or railings together or something, vs anything motorcycle or automotive. The wrench would be wonderful on a motorcycle if it was big enough to handle common axle bolt sizes (19mm, 24mm, 27mm, 30mm), but it is not.
The pocket clip is in a bad position which makes using the wrench slider more awkward than it should be.
Overall I think it's an interesting design, but a lot of wrong choices have been made for actual usability's sake. I do think it can be the lions share of a basic motorcycle tool kit, especially if you add a few rails of metric allen bits and metric bitdriver bits from 8mm to 14mm. Then a couple larger wrenches. It would take up less space than the same number of sockets, socketwrench, screwdriver, pliers, and allen keys, plus you'd have a knife and a saw and a few other useful tools. And as an emergency kit, the awkwardness can be forgiven for the compactness. As an EDC this fails on too many levels IMO.
Charles.
Donations
Community Links
