SOG Specialty Knives and Tools over the years has made an assortment of multitools for different trades and recreations. One area they dabbled in is fishing multitools. The now discontinued Blacktip was very popular with users and was a collaboration with West Marine. The Blacktip was based off the PowerAssist tool and included a fish scaler, a sharpening groove and some standard tools.
Years later SOG has decided to try their hand at another fishing tool. This time around it's not based off a current model, but a completely new design. The SOG Aegis MT takes its name from their popular folding knife and the similarity ends there.
SOG Specialty tools and knives has been a multitool industry leader for decades. They may not have come up with the original multitool; but they have pushed the limits in temps of design and originality. 2017 was a good year for the company with several tools hitting the market. SOG went with some highly original designs like the Baton and Sync series but stayed true to their heritage with the Power Grab.
The Power Grab is what I could call an evolutionary design of the Power Lock series of tools. The Power Lock has such a following and it's clear why it's one of the companies best selling tools. The Power Grab is a full size multitool that is designed to handle tasks that most of the smaller guys cannot handle. With the Power Grab they went back to the drawing board and size is about all this tool and it's brethren have in common. Let's take a look and see what they got right, sets it apart from the pack and needs work.
While some manufacturers chose to either not release new tools for 2017 or simply chose to release some mediocre offerings, one company has single handedly delivered a host of new offerings. At SHOT Show in Las Vegas SOG introduced a host of new tools that were both innovative and forward thinking. The tool we will be looking at today is the SOG Poweraccess.
Multitools have been around for a long time and even before Tim Leatherman came out with original PST the multitool had a purpose; it was a pocket tool box. For years companies have made multitools a jack of all trades and cram as much as they could into a tool so someone didn't have to go back to the tool box unless they really needed too. That's the reason we love multitools, they are our constant companion that can tackle any task.
Things have changed over the past few years and there is a trend developing to meet a niche or demand in the tool market. Companies are releasing minimalist style tools that feature a basic set of tools and leaving out stuff that they feel a person would not use on a daily basis. I'm not sure if the design changes are because of culture or city/urban life but they they seem to be a hit with people concerned with needing a multitool no matter what their profession.
An often-overlooked entry into the keychain size MT market is the SOG Crosscut. I was talked into buying one from ‘Sharper Image’ or some such mall shop many years ago, and as overpriced as it was, I would have paid it again. The original Crosscut was an absolutely excellent tool. It has been replaced by the Crosscut 2.0, with only a few refinements, and a fairly major drop in build quality since production switched from the United States to China. While it’s not what it used to be, it’s still an excellent option for keychain carry.
What kind of people would write collect and review multitools? Quite simple really- we are designers and do-ers, outdoors types and indoor types, mechanics, doctors, problem solvers and problem makers. As such, we have, as a world spanning community, put every type, size and version of multitool, multifunction knife, pocket knife and all related products to every test we could manage in as many places and environments as there are.