Or...From China With Love...
This post's purpose is to say thanks to all the fine members of this forum who have selflessly taken the time to share their experiences with various multi-tools so the rest of us can make informed decisions.
This post is also to share my recent buying experience, but it's mostly to say thank you to those who spent their money so the rest of us didn't have to.
I've been toying with the idea of purchasing a multi-tool for a long time. Years, really. However, as a fellow whose occupation is deeply embedded in the IT fields it's not something that would be crucial or extremely helpful in doing my job. Still wanted one to play with, though, and keep nearby...just in case.
Like them or hate them, arguably Leatherman and Victorinox are at the top of the multi-tool food chain and they have price tags to match. I gifted an original Leatherman Wave Limited Edition to someone for Christmas eons ago and his sone is still using it to this day with it showing no signs of ever slowing down.
But am I going to spend $100 to $130+ on something I'm going to use sparingly? I can...but I'd rather not if I can get close to that level of experience at a fraction of the price.
As everyone here well knows, there is a literal ocean of cheap multi-tool choices out there. And as everyone here also knows, most of them are crap.
A year ago, maybe more, I heard of Bibury. The Chinese company that is trying not to be a Chinese company. Based in the UK this company has some sort of weird Chinese/Western civilization hybrid 'thing' going on. Okay.
None of their stuff at the time really impressed me so the search for a multi-tool got put on the back burner. Recently, though, I became aware of their 'new' stainless steel 19-in-1.
Product pictures looked good. The Amazon product page verbage, eh...not so much. If you are based in the UK then why not pull some kid off the street and hire them as an intern to write your ad copy for you? But I digress.
All right, stainless steel. That's good. It's not as good as the stainless steel used in Leatherman products, but their tool isn't being sold for Leatherman prices, either, so that's an acceptable trade-off. Especially for me as I won't be pushing a multi-tool to the limit every day.
Let's talk about that pricing. $59.99 isn't too terribly bad, but it is priced quite a bit higher than their other tools. But...there's a discount. A seemingly ever-present discount of 30 or 35 percent. Seems that Bibury is engaging in the same pricing practices that American chains like Kohl's and the like engage in. Price your stuff high and then offer that discount to make it appear to the customer they are getting an exceptionally good deal.
Meh...that's a bit deceptive to me, but it is what it is. However, as irritating as this practice is, if one is patient and times things correctly one can game the system to turn the tables on the merchant and get an extraordinary deal (Editor's note: This sentence is called foreshadowing. Read on.).
Oh, there's also that knife juggling discount code. All told, that gets the price down to around $30. Not too bad. That gives me something to seriously ponder.
Fast-foward to December 23rd. I receive a notification from the Amazon app on my phone. The Bibury 19-in-1 is the Amazon Daily Deal. Intriguing...let's check it out, I think.
Okay, there it is plastered on the front page. Normally $59.99 and marked down to $29.99. When something I've been eyeballing drops to half price it gets my attention.
Oh, wait. There's that knife juggling code tht those fine fellows over at MultiTool.org keep talking about. A 30 percent discount would put that right around $21. That's no-brainer territory. Let's do it.
Add to cart. Go to checkout. Add knife juggling code. Discount applies and...(Remember that foreshadowing?)... The discount isn't calculated off the sale price. It's calculated off the regular price.
The result is one stainless steel multi-tool sitting in my cart priced at $11.99. Sold!
I've since learned that the knife juggling code expires at the end of the year so it must be fate that this worked out the way it did.
At that price it's costing you money if you *don't* buy it.
I received it yesterday. Nicely boxed with a list of functions and their support email in plain sight. First thing I notice is that the the finish on the metal fastener on the sheath is scuffed/worn from transit. Not a big deal as I'm not a huge fan of the belt clip and plan to replace the sheath if I keep this thing.
Removing the tool from the sheath I see it is shiny and heavy. Some might complain about the weight, but the way I see it is that people are going to buy this thing for two reasons: 1) it's stainless steel; and 2) it's got 19 tools. Both of those factors are going to add to the heft. There is no plastic or cheap, thin metal on this multi-tool at all. Of course it's going to be a little heavy.
At this point, all of you know the rest about this tool, but I will address some of the things I read in this forum about this particular Bibury tool.
Fit and finish is within tight specifications. There's no wiggle or things misaligned.
The pliers open wide and the jaws line up perfectly on the tool I received. No spring-load feature, but I knew that going in and as plier usage will be sparse for me I don't consider it too huge a minus.
The knife and saw blades are sharp. One poster I saw mentioned the teeth on his saw were rounded. The teeth on the unit I received are razor sharp.
Speaking of the knife blade, I am able to open it with one hand, but I have large hands and there was some resistance. However, I'd prefer resistance pulling the tools out rather than have them flopping around loose.
I had no problem sliding each tool out into its locking position for use. Each tool locked firmly and was easily unlocked to put back into the storage position.
I *did* receive the driver bit with mine. Someone said there's was missing from the box. However, it was rolling around loose and fell into my lap the first time I opened the tool.
Overall, everything that was supposed to be sharp was razor sharp. Everything that's not supposed to be sharp isn't.
Granted, when you play the Chinese game you spin the wheel and take your chances. You could get something extremely awesome, extremely terrible, or something anywhere in between due to their quality control standards are often not up to snuff.
The proof will be in the pudding, though, so I won't know how well I actually like this thing until I have used it a few times, but I like it and I will be keeping it.
I feel that anyone who sees it isn't going to think that it's 'only' forty bucks that it usually goes for and most certainly not the twelve bucks I paid for it.
Thinking back to that Leatherman Wave I gifted all those years ago, this tool would give it a run for its money.
Oh, one last thing...Bibury claims to have a lifetime warranty on this thing. I'll be looking on with great interest the first time someone tries to cash in on that claim.
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