At the risk of repeating myself as I'm sure I already do, I like SOG.  I have a sentimental love for them.  I find them consistently good with the likes of SureFire (okay, I don't like the G series with that crap tailcap), Eagle and Jones Tactical.  SOG also has my thumbs up with their readiness and promptness to answer all of my questions.

Manufacturer: SOG
Item: PowerAssist EOD (Black Oxide)
Price: $122.00

At the risk of repeating myself as I'm sure I already do, I like SOG.  I have a sentimental love for them.  I find them consistently good with the likes of SureFire (okay, I don't like the G series with that crap tailcap), Eagle and Jones Tactical.  SOG also has my thumbs up with their readiness and promptness to answer all of my questions.

Getting back to basics with serious tools for those of you who are part of our demolition crowd, today we're going to check out the SOG PowerAssist (PA) EOD in Black Oxide.

In the box is a very brief description of the tool...very frank.  The tool comes in a nylon pouch that has a J clip to hook onto your gear.  The clip will fit belts or loops up to 1-3/4".  The clip is rivited  and also passed under webbing.  Loos like you could remove the clip permanently and although not the standard MOLLE sizing, you could mounted with a TacTie or MALICE clip.  I really like that this has the nylon pouch and not the leather one.

Yes, the Black Oxide finish is less discrete when you're "doing bad things to bad people" (we miss you, Logan), but it also serves double duty with grip texture.  Once you get your hands wet, more often than not, you lose a lot of grip on those polished tools.  The Black Oxide somehow enhances your grip, even when wet.

The obvious main feature is the pliers.  As I stated in my review of the Power Lock EOD, it's excellent.  I don't have a dynamometer to do measurements, but the pliers seem to grip better than my Leatherman Wave.  Effortless is a bold statement, but it really does seem to take less effort to cut say a wire hanger than with the Wave.  I like the taper at the tip of the nose.  The opposinhas a blasting cap crimper.

(PowerLock Left - PowerAssist - Right)

In my eyes, one of the 2 major features is the Compound Leverage (CL) (other feature being the PA).  The best way that I can describe CL is think of your old physics class.  You know how you can lift more weight with multilpe pulleys as opposed to just one?  In a sense, the CL is like that in that instead of having a single axis point like with a regular pair pf pliers, CL uses multiple pivot points to create, in effect, roughly twice the gripping power as say a Leatherman Wave.  Do I buy into that?  Absolutely.  Part of the CL action are gears which are readily visible on the PowerLock.  A nice advancement and progression is that on the PA, the gears are now protected...preventing "mechanical" damage from drops.

As you can see, the toolset features are similar as the general with the exception of the C4 Punch.  When opened, they lock positively and safely in place.  To close it, you have to depress the lock on the back.  My first reaction was that it'd be much harder to do compared to the PowerLock.  In reality, it's a non-issue.  Depressing it is easy, yet I really don't see it disengaging on it's own.  At the same time, even with gloved hands, I was able to actuate the release with no problems at all.

Now for the second major feature, the PowerAssist.  Going on email I've received, it seems like half of you liked the Gerber DET and half of you absolutely hated it.  The biggest argument being that with the DET and the one handed opening feature, "you don't want to make a lot of movement as when you open the DET".  That's pretty obvious.  If you're a trained Demo Tech, you're not some idiot that would make such movements.  Anyhowl, for those of you who voiced those opinions, the PA is your solution.  The PA works with the serrated and straight blades individually AND you can use with with just your finger and thumb.  Starting with sliding the safety lock to OFF.  Pushing up on the spring loaded PA Lever raises the blade about a 1/4".  From there, you push up on the thumb stud on the blade about an inch.  From there a spring takes over to snap it completely open. To close it, Push the PA Lever and fold the blade down and slide your safety ON. Keep in mind that I did oil it so that it would function better.

Another feature that I like is the inclusion of measurement markers on the side of the tool.

I'll admit that I'm biased when it comes to SOG.  Still, look at the pictures.  Better yet, look for a retailer in your area.  You'll find that SOG makes an excellent product that's well make and with a great feature set.  Don't like the feature set?  They'll sell you the parts to customize it to your liking.  At $122 and a lifetime warranty, ans especially great deal.

In loving memory of Damien Joseph
02.11.65-08.28.09

(Discuss Here)