One turning tool is the major downfall of making the sparrows a complete edc kit, that and the lack of a medium or deep hook. Riv and swick are the only viable edc kit. But man sparrows knows how market and make things look good and even comes with a cool factor. I love sparrows branding but at the end of the day utility matters most.
Man huge thank you for this review, saved me from disappointment with sparrows. Been looking for a comparison betweeen the escort, swick ect. Amazing video and very in depth break down! Definitely going with the swick 😊😊💙
Great review, nothing wrong with giving your honest opinion, it is what it is, thank you for sharing, having fun watching videos with playback speed turned up today
Another good option would be the Southord JPXS-6. Basically a clone of the Multipick Jackknife. The Southord is only ~$42 and ditches the key extractor for a short hook. So another good option for Timothy. I'm probably going to be picking one up, myself. I really like my Slim Pickins but ergonomically the Riv Pick doesn't really do it for me. That and the riv pick and the turning tools tend to want to not lock into the folded position. Working on figuring that part out. Trygn to find the right stack up of fiber washers and tension to make it optimal. Mostly a pain in the ass because I added a lock bypass tool into mine as well which bulked out one end a few thousandths.
No! You didn't do Sparrows dirty, you're just opening peoples eyes. I found out on my own about their practice locks, I will never again buy practice from them. You did teach me about the materials companies are using for their picks. The only thing I would buy from Sparrows is their cases. I will say I do like a few of their pick profiles like their Monkey Paw and the Offset Hybrid. Oh, they do have nice art work. I would like to find a source for quality lock pick material so I can make my own. Thank you for the honest reviews.
Love the break down and comparison. I went with the Swick for my first (and only) jackknife tool. Was considering the Sparrows as a backup and just assumed it would be smaller and lighter than my Swick. You saved me over 100 Canadian pesos there. Thank you! Looking forward to more comparison type videos. Would love to see one on turning tools! I want to like Sparrows because they're Canada-based but their stuff has been letting me down a bit.
Great breakdown of the terminology right in the front end, and differentiating the Covert Companion from the rest of the pack. Incidentally I just got my Riv Pick, it's everything I want for EDC insofar as picks and rakes go and wonderfully small and light. I just wish I could figure a way to attach a turning tool to it other than using a rubber band or buying the Slim Pickings, but I'm working on it, including making my own custom turning tool from bike spokes (wipers are too thin for my liking) because I think there's still huge amounts of room for improvement in turning tools (I'm refusing to call them tension tools personally; compression /= tension) Sadly, I think Sparrows has a swing and a miss with the Escort. How did they get it so wrong? Even their one turning tool seems unnecessarily wide, (ETA you just said this as I was typing lol) but they wouldn't be the only ones in the industry doing that. The biggest downside is, Sparrows is still a good company that supports the art, and the bottom line is, this is going to hurt them. I know we all want to see them do well as a company, but whoever is designing their stuff lately seems more concerned with engineering sleekness than functionality.
I made it to the end of the video and you don’t have to say anything funny, you said enough in your review and comparison on this Sparrows jack knife thingy. This was an awesome review! I fucking love your videos. You are blatantly honest. You are thorough like none other and I mean that. You print out their own words from their website and read their statement about the product and then you give us honesty. You will call them out on their bullshit when necessary. You didn’t just open it up, say a few words that are already fucking obvious, like “it’s black and the picks fold out” and then proceed to make the viewer watch YOU pick locks before giving a lame closing statement. I don’t think you could have been more thorough. I don’t! Great video man! Keep up the good work my friend.🤘🏻😎
@sandman_locksport AFAIK He only does limited runs of the curved turners and maybe an occasional jackknife. Think he is focusing more of car restoration these days.
@@TequilaDave yeah thats what i hear, but he was willing to take $50 of my money for a pre order, and not return my messages for weeks on end. he needs to get out of the business completely and stop advertising and taking everyones money. in his defense, the product will be available end of january so well so. until then, hes a prick via messenger. im not impressed.
@sandman_locksport There was always a couple of months wait as everything was made to order. They were always good to me so hoping your order goes through.
The swick is actually cheaper than the Escort at $89 and has far more options, extremely well thought out and good steel. The size of the single tensioner and only 3 low profile hook options (short hook, half diamond and offset hybrid) which leave you stuck the minute you need a medium or deep hook were huge red flags when it was debuted. The Riv-pick is probably the most limited of the tools you showed but the two hook profiles are far more useful than what the escort offers and actually feeling like a real pick in hand makes it by far the most useful of all the options.
BTW I had a ton of people asking for a Metal version of our Tool and we always said no. The Escort and it weight shows why we don't want to do it. As you have it in your hand when picking every g counts. we made sure to remove as much material where possible.
Do you have everything for the covert companion even like the screw drive and nano scissors if u do could you do a video about putting it together I know you can kinda do it any way you want but can you show how you put yours together that would be a good video
@sandman_locksport ok thank you for the response even if u don't have them I don't either but it could still be a cool video of how u put your together idk it's a idea thanks for the content much love
Please can you review the lockmaster next. Im just getting into locksport and i like what it offers to a beginner (price, tools, etc) cheers for another great unbiased video 😊
It’s great. Are you based in the UK? I ask because you said “cheers”. If so, I would recommend the Lockmaster for your demographic. Cheaper shipping and faster shipping than ordering from America.
@sandman_locksport I am indeed from the UK, I'm waiting for it to be stocked again by uklp. Just bought the valyrian euro set from law lock tools as that was advised to me on discord as a great set and from the uk so currently waiting for that to be delivered. Also noticed you didn't have a cheap h&h jackknife? (Similar to multipick) That would be for little Timmy at around £/$10 😂
I didnt think the video was terrible! (Made it to the end lol) i enjoyed the review style and dont mind you putting your opinion along side the facts presented! Will definitely keep this in mind for future purchases! Cheers!
Yup! welcome to locksport. This tool sucks. I dont need 6 tools. I need one quality one in the end. The grav pick was released almost a year after this video, so you are comparing apples to a$$holes. I also stated the grav pick is a fidget tool. It doesn’t replace my favorite jack knife pick. buy what you want. i own them all. 15 or more different jackknives, and this is the worst.
If you want to add a pocket clip to the Slim Pickens you can replace the 'case' with a standard KeySmart Rugged model, with the clip. The CI EDC frames are made by Keysmart and are interchangeable. Edit to add: one of the keysmart options is a titanium frame as well.
Awesome video, thinking I'm gonna have to pick up the Riv pick from CI. I have to ask, though, on the back of the escort, there are two small screws side by side. Are those meant to be taken off to install your own pocket clip?
Great video as always. I’m new to the sport. I’m not too budget constrained but don’t mind paying for quality. I’ve watched many many videos including yours. I started with CI genesis and quickly added the echelon. With some other tools I mostly ordered from CI and the quality is there. I have the Companion and slim pickings. Well made with some room for improvement but CI is a level of quality and all around service that Sparrows does not reach. Sparrows has a lot to offer but I find their tools to be just a notch under CI and I’ll add that Sparrows shipping is unacceptably slow for the price. Admittedly I’m new and I don’t know what I don’t know but I’m a new “big Tim” entering the market and Sparrows leaves me doubting and underwhelmed and CI instills confidence in quality and service. Perhaps it’s intangible and perhaps I’m too picky, pun intended, but CI is my first go to when looking.
I agree with @JBesq, Sparrows doesn't seem too have the same 'quality' as CI. Also, I too have the Genesis while seriously contemplating buying the Echelon or even Slim Pickings. Any advice, @Sandman_locksport?
It is if I have to carry it in my pocket, or actually pick a lock with it. yeah, it does matter. it feels like im picking a lock with a leatherman tool in my hand. but if you like it, that's all that matters in the end. buy what makes you happy. i paid for it, so made a video on why it sucks.
Fair judgement of the covert companion being a multi tool. But I’d say in the slim pickings version makes it the same as a jack knife. Just my 2 cents. Take it with a grain of salt.
Construction at least residential.... usually uses a builder's key, that any subcontractor has... if not, they have tools to get in the house. When i worked construction, i would opt to use picks 1st, just for practice, but a lock keyed to be a builder's key, is basically 4 of the deepest cuts on a kwikset key, and one cut, 1 or 2 above that... pretty boring. Can use a zip tie, or any rake. But yeah, see your point lol.
I 've already made up my mind for my top Jack Knife picks. The Custom Covert Instruments Slim Pick 'ins EDC Cybersec Riv pick & turning tools set. 2. The Multipick Jackknife toolset, and last not least. 3. The Swick because I need more spice in my life. Tell me something Good.
I think we should increase our price haha. Well, great video. The Patant pending of Sparrows is interessting considering the locking mechanism is similar to ours.
IMO jackknife style pick sets are nothing more than novelty items. The fact of the matter is that the body of such tools makes them extremely unwieldy to say the least. (And because this, a small set of traditional picks (such as Southord’s MPXS-08) would be a far better (and less expensive) choice for EDC purposes.)
Its not just the weight of the sparrows thats too heavy, the $95 is a bit heavy. I've dropped more on a lock pick set but I don't want to blow $100 on a keyring, a heavy keyring. The Multipick is just as good, maybe better and its about $50.
@@Dat808boii I like it as well but the price can't be justified especially as Multipick have a similar "Jack knife" for less than half the price of this tool. They would make great gifts but again so does the Multipick and I think the Multipick comes with a hole as well.
Great comparison. Sparrows jack knife is definitely overpriced. If it was at least half the price Id get one. Its not that I cant afforded the Sparrows jack knife. But its just over priced for its capability’s, even if they came out with expansion picks for it, The handle it self is just over priced. It looks like theres two small screws on the side pacifically therefore a pocket clip. For the price you’d think they would have thrown the clip on there to at least look like they were trying to justify the outrageous price.
One turning tool is the major downfall of making the sparrows a complete edc kit, that and the lack of a medium or deep hook. Riv and swick are the only viable edc kit. But man sparrows knows how market and make things look good and even comes with a cool factor. I love sparrows branding but at the end of the day utility matters most.
I agree!
Man huge thank you for this review, saved me from disappointment with sparrows. Been looking for a comparison betweeen the escort, swick ect. Amazing video and very in depth break down! Definitely going with the swick 😊😊💙
I love how you breakdown things in the beginning! Looking forward to future videos.
thank you.
Great review, nothing wrong with giving your honest opinion, it is what it is, thank you for sharing, having fun watching videos with playback speed turned up today
Thank you
Once I saw their ad with one turning tool I knew it was going to be trash. Thank you for confirming!
Thank you for the amount and variety of content you are putting out. Hope you’re feeling better!
Thank you
Another good option would be the Southord JPXS-6. Basically a clone of the Multipick Jackknife. The Southord is only ~$42 and ditches the key extractor for a short hook. So another good option for Timothy. I'm probably going to be picking one up, myself. I really like my Slim Pickins but ergonomically the Riv Pick doesn't really do it for me. That and the riv pick and the turning tools tend to want to not lock into the folded position. Working on figuring that part out. Trygn to find the right stack up of fiber washers and tension to make it optimal. Mostly a pain in the ass because I added a lock bypass tool into mine as well which bulked out one end a few thousandths.
Great video: Now I know what jackknife pick set to buy.
No! You didn't do Sparrows dirty, you're just opening peoples eyes. I found out on my own about their practice locks, I will never again buy practice from them. You did teach me about the materials companies are using for their picks. The only thing I would buy from Sparrows is their cases. I will say I do like a few of their pick profiles like their Monkey Paw and the Offset Hybrid. Oh, they do have nice art work. I would like to find a source for quality lock pick material so I can make my own. Thank you for the honest reviews.
Love the break down and comparison. I went with the Swick for my first (and only) jackknife tool. Was considering the Sparrows as a backup and just assumed it would be smaller and lighter than my Swick. You saved me over 100 Canadian pesos there. Thank you! Looking forward to more comparison type videos. Would love to see one on turning tools! I want to like Sparrows because they're Canada-based but their stuff has been letting me down a bit.
Great breakdown of the terminology right in the front end, and differentiating the Covert Companion from the rest of the pack.
Incidentally I just got my Riv Pick, it's everything I want for EDC insofar as picks and rakes go and wonderfully small and light. I just wish I could figure a way to attach a turning tool to it other than using a rubber band or buying the Slim Pickings, but I'm working on it, including making my own custom turning tool from bike spokes (wipers are too thin for my liking) because I think there's still huge amounts of room for improvement in turning tools (I'm refusing to call them tension tools personally; compression /= tension)
Sadly, I think Sparrows has a swing and a miss with the Escort. How did they get it so wrong? Even their one turning tool seems unnecessarily wide, (ETA you just said this as I was typing lol) but they wouldn't be the only ones in the industry doing that.
The biggest downside is, Sparrows is still a good company that supports the art, and the bottom line is, this is going to hurt them. I know we all want to see them do well as a company, but whoever is designing their stuff lately seems more concerned with engineering sleekness than functionality.
Definitely getting a Swick
Good review
Thank you
How do you purchase the slim pickings because I can’t find it anywhere?
google covert instruments slim pickings
@@sandman_locksport thank you! I was just searching, “slim pickings jackknife lock pick”. Adding on the “covert instruments” found it!
You do a really good job. You do some of the best reviews and videos I’ve seen.
Thank you!
I made it to the end of the video and you don’t have to say anything funny, you said enough in your review and comparison on this Sparrows jack knife thingy. This was an awesome review! I fucking love your videos. You are blatantly honest. You are thorough like none other and I mean that. You print out their own words from their website and read their statement about the product and then you give us honesty. You will call them out on their bullshit when necessary. You didn’t just open it up, say a few words that are already fucking obvious, like “it’s black and the picks fold out” and then proceed to make the viewer watch YOU pick locks before giving a lame closing statement. I don’t think you could have been more thorough. I don’t! Great video man! Keep up the good work my friend.🤘🏻😎
FYI The Mad Bob's carbon fibre jackknife comes in at 15.3g including tensioner.
When I can buy one, I’ll review it. So far their company is the worst I have dealt with.
@sandman_locksport AFAIK He only does limited runs of the curved turners and maybe an occasional jackknife. Think he is focusing more of car restoration these days.
@@TequilaDave yeah thats what i hear, but he was willing to take $50 of my money for a pre order, and not return my messages for weeks on end. he needs to get out of the business completely and stop advertising and taking everyones money. in his defense, the product will be available end of january so well so. until then, hes a prick via messenger. im not impressed.
@sandman_locksport There was always a couple of months wait as everything was made to order. They were always good to me so hoping your order goes through.
Great review. Very thorough. 😀🐈⬛🐾🐈🐾👍
The swick is actually cheaper than the Escort at $89 and has far more options, extremely well thought out and good steel.
The size of the single tensioner and only 3 low profile hook options (short hook, half diamond and offset hybrid) which leave you stuck the minute you need a medium or deep hook were huge red flags when it was debuted.
The Riv-pick is probably the most limited of the tools you showed but the two hook profiles are far more useful than what the escort offers and actually feeling like a real pick in hand makes it by far the most useful of all the options.
I 100% agree. I made sure to cover all of that in this video as well.
@@sandman_locksport I know, I watched it. I was just adding to the pile on lol.
BTW I had a ton of people asking for a Metal version of our Tool and we always said no. The Escort and it weight shows why we don't want to do it. As you have it in your hand when picking every g counts. we made sure to remove as much material where possible.
Do you have everything for the covert companion even like the screw drive and nano scissors if u do could you do a video about putting it together I know you can kinda do it any way you want but can you show how you put yours together that would be a good video
I don’t have those in my companion at this time. I have no intentions of adding them.
@sandman_locksport ok thank you for the response even if u don't have them I don't either but it could still be a cool video of how u put your together idk it's a idea thanks for the content much love
How is it 80g that is quite the accomplishment. Maybe it feels nice to pick with.
Nope. It’s like trying to cut a steak with a spoon.
Glad i got my riv pick before they sold out as it seems ci doesn't re-stock often
i think they just have a ton of customers. i think they told me they have 10k orders each week. i think its hard to keep in stock
@@sandman_locksport ok that would be hard to stay on top of haha
Please can you review the lockmaster next. Im just getting into locksport and i like what it offers to a beginner (price, tools, etc) cheers for another great unbiased video 😊
It’s great. Are you based in the UK? I ask because you said “cheers”. If so, I would recommend the Lockmaster for your demographic. Cheaper shipping and faster shipping than ordering from America.
@sandman_locksport I am indeed from the UK, I'm waiting for it to be stocked again by uklp. Just bought the valyrian euro set from law lock tools as that was advised to me on discord as a great set and from the uk so currently waiting for that to be delivered. Also noticed you didn't have a cheap h&h jackknife? (Similar to multipick) That would be for little Timmy at around £/$10 😂
I didnt think the video was terrible! (Made it to the end lol) i enjoyed the review style and dont mind you putting your opinion along side the facts presented! Will definitely keep this in mind for future purchases! Cheers!
Thank you
Im new to lockpicking. Seems pretty hard for me to find unbiased reviews. You hate this escort but gush over the gravpick what only has one rake?
Yup! welcome to locksport. This tool sucks. I dont need 6 tools. I need one quality one in the end. The grav pick was released almost a year after this video, so you are comparing apples to a$$holes. I also stated the grav pick is a fidget tool. It doesn’t replace my favorite jack knife pick. buy what you want. i own them all. 15 or more different jackknives, and this is the worst.
Severely disappointed with my sparrows junk. Hands down SWICKKKKKKK!!!! I love the SWICK. (Apparently). Thanks for the vid! Go Army!
Thanks for watching. Go Navy!
If you want to add a pocket clip to the Slim Pickens you can replace the 'case' with a standard KeySmart Rugged model, with the clip. The CI EDC frames are made by Keysmart and are interchangeable.
Edit to add: one of the keysmart options is a titanium frame as well.
Awesome video, thinking I'm gonna have to pick up the Riv pick from CI. I have to ask, though, on the back of the escort, there are two small screws side by side. Are those meant to be taken off to install your own pocket clip?
I doubt it. Nothing in their product description says so, nor from their marketing. But who knows.
Great video as always. I’m new to the sport. I’m not too budget constrained but don’t mind paying for quality. I’ve watched many many videos including yours. I started with CI genesis and quickly added the echelon. With some other tools I mostly ordered from CI and the quality is there. I have the Companion and slim pickings. Well made with some room for improvement but CI is a level of quality and all around service that Sparrows does not reach. Sparrows has a lot to offer but I find their tools to be just a notch under CI and I’ll add that Sparrows shipping is unacceptably slow for the price. Admittedly I’m new and I don’t know what I don’t know but I’m a new “big Tim” entering the market and Sparrows leaves me doubting and underwhelmed and CI instills confidence in quality and service. Perhaps it’s intangible and perhaps I’m too picky, pun intended, but CI is my first go to when looking.
I wholeheartedly agree. Thanks for watching.
I agree with @JBesq, Sparrows doesn't seem too have the same 'quality' as CI. Also, I too have the Genesis while seriously contemplating buying the Echelon or even Slim Pickings. Any advice, @Sandman_locksport?
Great video glad you convinced me to not get it because it did look kinda cool but it seems not great
Is weight really that big a deal to you? I love how it feels in hand.
It is if I have to carry it in my pocket, or actually pick a lock with it. yeah, it does matter. it feels like im picking a lock with a leatherman tool in my hand. but if you like it, that's all that matters in the end. buy what makes you happy. i paid for it, so made a video on why it sucks.
@Sandman If you want the 3d file printed send me a message and ill print it for you and mail it.
Thanks. 3D file of what? I made this video 6 months ago
@sandman_locksport sorry the case for the SWICK.
Fair judgement of the covert companion being a multi tool. But I’d say in the slim pickings version makes it the same as a jack knife. Just my 2 cents. Take it with a grain of salt.
Construction at least residential.... usually uses a builder's key, that any subcontractor has... if not, they have tools to get in the house. When i worked construction, i would opt to use picks 1st, just for practice, but a lock keyed to be a builder's key, is basically 4 of the deepest cuts on a kwikset key, and one cut, 1 or 2 above that... pretty boring. Can use a zip tie, or any rake. But yeah, see your point lol.
I 've already made up my mind for my top Jack Knife picks. The Custom Covert Instruments Slim Pick 'ins EDC Cybersec Riv pick & turning tools set. 2. The Multipick Jackknife toolset, and last not least. 3. The Swick because I need more spice in my life. Tell me something Good.
Not bad at all!
Each set has a place and a purpose in my set of things. 🤔
I think we should increase our price haha.
Well, great video.
The Patant pending of Sparrows is interessting considering the locking mechanism is similar to ours.
Do you ship to the USA?
@@Dat808boii we ship worldwide.
Bought it 😂
It’s ok. I spend money on overpriced dumb things too sometimes. To err is to be human.
@@sandman_locksportyesssir 🤝
IMO jackknife style pick sets are nothing more than novelty items. The fact of the matter is that the body of such tools makes them extremely unwieldy to say the least. (And because this, a small set of traditional picks (such as Southord’s MPXS-08) would be a far better (and less expensive) choice for EDC purposes.)
Its not just the weight of the sparrows thats too heavy, the $95 is a bit heavy. I've dropped more on a lock pick set but I don't want to blow $100 on a keyring, a heavy keyring. The Multipick is just as good, maybe better and its about $50.
It's not a heavy key ring because there's no hole to put it on a key ring
@@Dat808boii so it's not even a keyring it's just a paperweight!
@@Sh311Sh0ck3d lol 😂 exactly! this could have been so much better I like the design
@@Dat808boii I like it as well but the price can't be justified especially as Multipick have a similar "Jack knife" for less than half the price of this tool. They would make great gifts but again so does the Multipick and I think the Multipick comes with a hole as well.
Great comparison. Sparrows jack knife is definitely overpriced. If it was at least half the price Id get one. Its not that I cant afforded the Sparrows jack knife. But its just over priced for its capability’s, even if they came out with expansion picks for it, The handle it self is just over priced.
It looks like theres two small screws on the side pacifically therefore a pocket clip. For the price you’d think they would have thrown the clip on there to at least look like they were trying to justify the outrageous price.
Say it… say SAWC…. Lol