CAT 13 in 1 multitool and pocket knife set

[Grant Lamontagne]

I found this on sale at Princess Auto the other day while I was looking for something else- that's the way it is at Princess Auto- go in intending to buy one thing and come out with an armload of junk.   

Naturally, I love the place, and I managed to curtail my spending enough that the only extra I came out with was this CAT multitool and knife set for $25.

The knife itself is remarkably tiny, and while it looks like it should be a one handed opener, it is too small and too tight to really be successful at it.  It is, however quite sharp, so if you decide to get one and try to work it in with many attempts at opening it, please be careful where you put your fingers.

And when I say tiny, I mean really tiny, even in my relatively small hands.  This is it next to a Spartan, and you can see it is dwarfed by a standard 91mm model. 

On a side note, isn't it hilarious that we use a SAK as our universal unit of measurement, rather than, say ACTUAL measurements?   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

The knife itself, other than the "not really OHO" function is not bad.  It's what I like to think of as Tradesman Quality- it's definitely not a Benchmade, but it's good enough for most tasks and if you accidentally lose it in a wall it's more of an annoyance than a serious concern.  You can also do all manner of horribly unspeakable things to it and not worry about ruining a good knife.

The frame lock is surprisingly robust for such a small, cheapo knife, and overall the thing reminds me a lot of a marginally lower quality version of the Skeletool KB.

Not great, but not bad.  As it turns out, this was perhaps the majority of "value" to be had for $25.

The multitool was very pretty, with the 2 tone handle design and prominent logo, but was exactly what I expected it to be.

I had sort of hoped that CAT would have at least tried to get a version with some kind of fancy implement or function inside it, but other than the colors, this is as generic and boring as cheap Chinese tools get.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

It's hard to be disappointed when you spend $25 on a tool (especially when it's $25 CDN, which is about $18.25 USD at the current conversion rate, but here we are.

The "good part" of this is that it has a liner lock for the main blade, serrated blade and saw.  It isn't anything special, it locks well enough (but I'd still count my fingers before and after each use, just to be on the safe side  ) and they are recessed so the likelihood of disengaging it accidentally is minimal.

However, so is the ease of disengaging it intentionally.

The liner locks are so recessed that they are quite awkward to get to, and forget trying to access them with even the best fitting work gloves on.  Of course, you'd have to take your gloves off to pull the tools out anyway, so maybe just leave them off until such time as you are finished working.   

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

There's not really a whole heck of a lot to say about this tool otherwise.

It's rather bulky, being about two Spartans wide, and in fact, is so wide they needed gigantic spacers to make the plier head fit.  This of course puts the plier head WAY off center from the handles, which isn't great.

Also, the plier head is sprung, which I personally hate.  I know some of you like it, and so that's not really a negative so much as a personal choice.

The inside tools are exactly the same as every other cheap, generic tool on the market- I honestly don't know why I am bothering to review it as we have all had this tool, in whatever form, at least once!

For the few of you that haven't had the pleasure, the handles are so fat and awkward that even f the internal functions were any good (barely passable is the term I often use) they would be very awkward to use since the handles are difficult to hold. 

I could at least appreciate the size if the space was there for a reason, but mostly it is spacers on top of spacers and there really is no real reason for it to be this bulky.

All in all, I'd say pass on this set- but if you see the knife for $10 or less, well, you could do a lot worse!

Def

[PitCarver]

I really appreciate the review, Grant.
As I've entered the Senior status I've become less tolerant of some of the things I would have used in the past.  My first impression of a multi tool goes straight to the Phillips driver.  If it doesn't appear that it's up to the task it stays in the store.
I'm with you on the spring pliers.  I hate them.  I learned from my Pop how to hold a set of pliers and get them to do what I need them to do.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yeah, I have never had a problem opening and closing pliers, but then as my father ages I see how things like spring pliers help him.  His hands aren't the greatest after 80+ years of working with them, and I can appreciate why some people like things like spring pliers.

For me though, it has seemed like spring pliers are mostly reserved for the cheap tools and the gimmick tools like the LM OHT.

I guess for me it's more of an associational problem versus an actual, functional one.

Def