Gear Infusion Everrachet Review
The pry-based multitool market has been oversaturated since its inception. Even the best of these tools aren’t that useful, aren’t that different in design, and aren’t that compelling. The form itself is rather boring. So waiting for a pry-based multitool (as opposed to a knife-based multitool like a Victorinox or a pliers-based multitool like the Leatherman; I used to refer to them as one-piece multitools, but many now have multiple pieces like this one, hence the switch in nomenclature) to be compelling is like waiting for a cargo ship to look sexy. As a result I haven’t spent much time or energy researching these items. However, my Gear Gremlin, who can be seen on my weekly YouTube videos, is obsessed. He is also obsessed with Taylor Martin videos and found this gem watching one of them. This is the first review of an item that he discovered. It is quite good for what it is. And so the question is this—is the Everrachet capable of passing the EDC utility test, something very few of these tools do? Is it better than the Gerber Shard, my standard bearer pry-based multitool? Let’s take a look.
Here is the product page. There are two variations—key clip and non-key clip. There are two materials used—titanium and stainless steel. There are also a host of screens and prints on the design. Here is a written review. Here is a video review. Here is one of two review samples, purchased with my own money (story on that in the review):
Quick Review Summary: Actually better than you think, but still not great.
Design: 2
Some of the pry-based multitools out there have become these gaudy, almost comically overdesigned doohickeys, like they are props from 1970s sci-fi TV shows that have to depict what hand tools will look like in the future. They look functional, but they really aren’t. The best of these tools are simple, paired-down stuff. Some of the Atwood tools, are, in my mind, the high water mark for pry-based multitools. The Shard is a pretty good tool. And the Everratchet is in that same league. Even though it includes a bit, the entire tool is both small and intuitive. You know how to use it and how to hold it, just by looking at it. That makes it something different from, say, some of the more outrageously overwrought hunks of steel out there. The ratchet mechanism is for real—it does exactly what it says and it is quite good. The fact that Gear Infusion was able to do that without adding weight, parts, or volume is incredible. That alone makes the tool worth a 2. The fact that it has that feature and remains super focused tells you this is one of the better pry-based multitools out there.
The reason I have TWO Everratchets is simple—I have a Gear Gremlin. He is excellent at using stuff—his knives look like he took them to a war zone—but he is still not quite perfect at keeping track of stuff. So the first one grew legs and walked off. Then after ordering a second one to complete the review, I found the original, hence the TWO Everratchets. As a finders fee for discovering the Everratchet and helping test it for the review (he has insisted on opening every capped drink opened at home for the last month), I have gifted his favorite to him,
Fit and Finish: 2
The entire tool is well made with excellent machining, good finish on edges and surfaces, and, in the case of the printed version, clean, crisp printing. The real test of a pry-based multitool is the prybar itself. You want a thinly ground tip with a clean, precise ramp. Here you get that. And while they have a titanium version, as with all pry devices, you should opt for the stainless version. It is less likely to deform or get dinged when prying steel things like nails or large paper clips.
Theme: 2
The Everratchet is really built around the ratcheting bit holder and for good reason. This is supposed to be a pocket screwdriver that happens to pry and open bottles. In that role it works pretty well. Obviously it is not as good as a real screwdriver, but for something that can easily live in a coin pocket, its not bad. More importantly, the theme is correctly chosen. If you have three tools to make it through a weekend and they are knife, a pair of pliers, and a screwdriver, you’ll do pretty good most of the time, so making a pocket tool that does one of these three things pretty well is a good idea if you have decided to make a pry-based multitool.
Grip: 2
There is both jimping and some o-rings and the combination of the two make for a great little tool in the hand. Interestingly, the positioning of the bit actually helps with grip giving you more to hold on to when using the cap lifter. The Everratchet is pretty darn nice in the hand, among the best pry-based multitools I have ever used.
Carry: 1
It certainly floats around in the bottom of your pocket but so do all other reasonably sized pry-based multitools. The problem with all pry-based multitools is that without a clip, they tend to get pokey or ding the crap out of the other things in your pockets. Hence the 1. But given the weakness inherent in these designs, the Everratchet is among the best of these tools. The o-rings do provide a bit of a bumper.
Materials: 2
Years of experimenting with EDC stuff has proven to me that pry tools NEED to be stainless steel. Something other than stainless is a failure. Titanium is just too soft for even pretty light duty prying. I have had a titanium pry ding pretty severely with just a metal staple. Not great. Here with a stainless steel, a good bit, and the o-rings, the Everratchet has all the stuff you need and are looking for.
Deployment/Accessibility: 1
The cap lifter stinks. Its too squashed and narrow to really get into a cap and pull it off a bottle. While not the main tool, the cap lifter is probably the most used implement on any of these tools.
Retention: 1
The options here for hooking the Everratchet to your keys aren’t great, but they are functional. Ideally these tools would have either a pocket clip or a hole that would allow them to function as a pry while clipped to a keychain. There are other tools designed this way and it strikes me as kind of stupid. But then there are class of pry-based multitools that have NO way to attach the tool to your pocket or a keychain and those are outright failures.
Tool Performance: 1
A pry this small doesn’t do a lot, other tha pull staples (which the Everratchet does quite well). They also borked the design of the bottle opener so its not great either. But the driver bit—oh my, its probably the best I have seen on a pry-based multitool, and it is rightfully the namesake of the tool.
Tool Selection: 2
You got the bases covered here. Tools that offer more often stink at everything. I’d rather a tool with two or three really good functions than a doohickey covered in notches that supposedly does everything.
Other Considerations
Fidget Factor: High
There is a ratchet mechanism that both works and provide audible and tactile feedback. How cool is that? Perhaps this is actually one of those “haptic” feedback fidget toys in disguise.
Fett Effect: Low
Its stainless steel with no coatings. Eventually it will have that burnished pocket worn feel to it, but that’ll take a good long while.
Value: Moderate
This is no where near the most expensive pry-based tool out there, but the entire market is RADICALLY overpriced for what you get. Given that, the $25-30 price tag isn’t outrageous. Its not great, but not offensive. The Shard’s $8 price tag looks pretty reasonable right now.
Overall Score: 16 out of 20
The Everratchet is actually pretty good. Its not better than the Shard but it is not worse either. More on that below. The design here is quite clever and unlike a lot of huge clunkers out there now, the Everratchet is pretty small. Stuffed in a coin pocket next to a Four Sevens Mini Mk. 3, the Everratchet isn’t bad at all. But I am still not convinced on the utility of these designs. This is clearly one of the best out there, but it is the same price as the much easier to carry and much more useful Victorinox Bantam, which does everything this does in a more convenient form AND has a knife blade. The Everratchet is among the best of these tools, but that is damning it with faint praise. After all, someone has to be the smartest of the Kardashians (and it looks like it is the one that struggled passing the “Baby Bar” something I have never heard of even though I have been a lawyer for 20 years).
After dipping my toes back into the pry-based multitool market after years of not paying attention, I am not convinced that I was wrong to ignore the entire market segment. While I like the Everratchet and probably will carry it on a semi-regular basis, especially when I am wearing jeans, I am just not convinced that any of these designs are worth it. These are D-tier EDC items, in the same tier as something like a lanyard bead, where they have some modicum of utility, but will never pass the EDC Test. Of course there are scads of items out there that are in the EDC F-tier, utter pocket garbage like spinners, “haptic” fidget toys (which apparently replaced spinners), “knucks,” worry stones, and challenge coins. I reviewed exactly one spinner, became so infuriated at myself that I wasted money on stupid trash that I vowed NEVER to review them again. I don’t think pry-based multitools are in that category, but I am not too worried if I miss the latest designs for a decade or so. And even if I do, my Gear Gremlin won’t and so I’ll pay attention osmotically.
Competition
There are scads of pry-based mulitools out there and the vast majority of them are either insanely overpriced or so simple they look like they were made by kindergarteners that were allowed to play in the scrap steel from their Dad’s machine shop. Very few represent real, design-first tools. The Everratchet is in that category, but its weak cap lifter holds it back a bit. As mentioned above, I like it about the same amount as I like the Shard. It is clearly not as polished as an Atwood tool. The problem comes, of course, when you compare it to the Bantam. This tool is so light, so capable, and so eye-pleasing that it makes carrying or purchasing ANY pry-based multitool difficult. They probably weigh the same, have the same volume, but the Bantam offers a better cap lifter, a better pry tool, and a slightly worse driver. AND it throws in a very good knife for free. This is, of course, why Victorinox tools are so beloved—they are compact, every single implement works incredibly well, and they are cheap. In the end, they just dunk on every single one of the pry-based tools out there.
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