Multitasker TUBE

I was lucky enough to receive a pre-release of the new Multitasker TUBE with the Expansion Kit.  This tool is the first of its kind that I’ve seen that fills in a gap between multi-tools and a dedicated AR-15 tool.




First of all what is the Multitasker TUBE.  It’s a portable multi-tool to be used specifically on the AR-15/M-16 weapons platform.  It was designed to be a portable tool that will fit into your pocket and a supplemental tool if you own any mutli-tools.  The length of the body of the tube is about 5 1/8”.  



The main body is made up of 6061-T6 aluminum, CNC machined and hard anodized.  The pocket clip is specially heat treated spring steel which can be used as a flat screwdriver.  The scraper tool and the A2 sight tool bit are both 420 stainless with a black oxide finish.  



The Multitasker TUBE comes in 2 options.  First option is the standalone TUBE, street price of $35 (MSRP $45).  The second option is to purchase it with an expansion kit as shown in this review at a street price of $50.  In my opinion this is an extremely reasonable price for such a versatile tool.

Let‘s start off on taking a closer look at the TUBE.  The finish on it is flawless.  It screams out quality when looking at and touching it.  Even the seams where the cap & body screw together, they align up perfectly.  



The cap has a push head that can be used as a starter for breaking down the AR-15/M-16.  Just take the tube and push it in the stubborn takedown pin and voila, you have a starting point on gripping the takedown pins to break down your rifle.


Taking off the cap exposes the ¼” magnetic bit holder attached with a 4 prong A2 front sight adjustment tool.  The ¼” magnetic bit holder is the standard size to fit most bits and has a strong enough magnet to keep bits from falling out.  The ribbing in the center of the tube allows a positive grip when screwing/unscrewing a screw.    However you have to be aware that the lower cap of the tube will unscrew off while twisting counterclockwise if you are not holding the main body of the tube.



The cap itself can serve as a flat head screwdriver as well as a take down pin punch.



Taking off the lower side cap of the tool exposes the scrapper screwed into a 8-32 male thread.  The scrapper can be hand unscrewed off to attach the dental pick or even an OTIS cleaning kit cable.  Wait a minute.. a OTIS cleaning kit cable?  Yes, that was an unexpected but pleasant surprise since I have an OTIS 5.56 cleaning kit sitting in my closet.  The 8-32 male thread is the right length to positively hold the OTIS cable on one end.  The case has extra loops that can accommodate a couple of the OTIS cable attachment accessories, but I’ll discuss about that later.






The expansion kit consists of the Multitasker case and a set of hex driver bits.  If you look at the case, it has 2 extra loop holes and pockets to hold other tools such as the OTIS cable and attachment tools.  The case itself feels sturdy.  The workmanship is very good, except for the velcro area which is slightly crooked.  It doesn’t affect the performance of what it was intended but it’s noticeable to the naked eye.  However I did receive a pre-release so I can’t say whether the production models will display the same symptoms.  As stated, it doesn’t affect the form or function of the case and will do its job at holding the OTIS cable in the case.



I believe one nice improvement to the case would be to add some method to carry the case on a belt or MOLLE attachment.  In the mean time I can wear the TUBE in my pocket, or throw the whole case into my range bag.
The hex bit drivers that come with it looked like they were selected to fit most of the standard fittings used in most AR-15/M-16 accessories.  The bit holder holds the bits in pretty tight, so I don’t expect to have them fall out easily.  

The following bit drivers were included in the set:
Phillips Head: #1
Flat Head: 3/32, #5
Torx Head: T10,  T15
Hex Head: 3/16, 9/64, 1/8, 7/64, 3/32






There are a few accessories I am adding to my personal kit:
1.  A long hex wrench bit to remove the bolt holding the grip in place.

2.  Parts from my Otis Kit such as the pull cable, brush, and patch holder.. and throw the kit back in the closet.  Here’s a size comparison of the case to the Otis case.


3.  Brownell’s Needle Nose Oilers filled with lubrication like CLP, and some solvent.  Apparently the case can accommodate two of them.


Talking with the owner of Multitasker, he has taken great care of making sure that the tool met high standards of quality.  I’ve had interesting conversation on how he changed minor details to improve the performance of the tool.  This included changing angle and shape of the dental pick, to selecting higher quality of metals to keep the tool to be durable.  Kudos.

I would definitely approve the Multitasker TUBE for purchase since it fills in a gap that no other multi-tool company has ventured, or at least from what I’ve seen.  If you have a multi-tool already, this is the item for you to supplement its capabilities.  At a street price of $35 ($45 MSRP) for the Tube, and street price of $50 ($60 MSRP?) the Multitasker TUBE is worth purchasing whether or not you have a multi-tool in your collection.

Where can you get it?  I’m guessing Brownells would be the first place to look when it gets released..  You try to guess what makes me say that..


Here are other photos of the Multitasker TUBE.



I'll add more info to this post as can find more free time to look at it.


(Sorry for the cray colors of the photos.  I'm testing out a new camera.)

Moderators: If this can be moved into the New AR Products Section I would appreciate it.

After shooting one of my tactical rifle events, I left my dirty Young Manufacturing BCG sitting around for a couple of days before I decided to try out the Multitasker carbon scraper.   In all fairness, the chrome BCG was fairly easy to clean with just a towel, but as any owner of the Y/M BCG knows, the bolt still builds up an decent amount of carbon.  After taking 2 minutes of using the scrapper against the carbon, I was pretty much able to get it looking clean without very little effort.



Photo of my dirty BCG.


Photo of BCG after wiping it down with only a towel (+1 for chrome).


Photo of dirty bolt.


Photo of bolt after wiping it down with only a towel.  You can see some of the carbon that wouldn't come off easily.


Time for scrapping.


After 2 minutes of scraping and a quick wipe with CLP and towel, the bolt came out pretty clean looking with very little effort.


Only thing I think I wish this tool can clean is inside the bolt carrier.  Unfortunately the scrapper is not the right shape to scrape the base of the bolt carrier, but I have another tool to save me time to clean that area.  

nice review, looks like it's worth the money.

for the price of ~$50-60 I'd like to see it say "Made in USA" rather than china

I'm going to have to take a look at the scrapper again for cleaning out the interior of the carrier.  Apparently I was told I was using it incorrectly so I'm going to give it a try again.

$50 seems to be very reasonable for this product.  I'd expect close to $75 for US made.  Seems there would be a decent amount of machining going into it.

Appending to my review which I thought to mention:
The Otis case is much larger than the Multtasker TUBE case for the reason, it has solid aluminum rods, lens sprays & cloth, chamber cleaning brushes, Gerber multitool, and a few other items.  Most of which I don't use so I throw the case in the closet typically.  I just wanted to mention that so it is known that the review is not a comparison of the Multitasker TUBE with expansion kit to the OTIS kit.  They are of 2 different worlds.


BTW Thanks Stick..  I have to agree with you, it's a great little kit.. which also surprised me how versatile it can be with the expansion kit.

Just thought to provide a update.  

I talked to Shane and after looking at my review, he is possibly planning on adding a elastic band to the case to hold an needle nose oiler bottles.  I don't know if this will be released or not, but it might be something to look forward to later as he gets more input for improvements on his tools.  
I swear he has ideas running 1000 mph in his brain.  

New Info:

The TUBE was again upgraded to have 2 O-rings to help seal the caps in place when fully closed.  I thought that was a very nice touch.

Also the Multitasker TUBE is now going to be offer in 2 colors.  Black and FDE.  For those FDE fans.. it's a really awesome color.

Mutitasker TUBE in FDE








Since my photo setup isn't complete, and the color is a bit off.  I took some known color references from Magpul and Surefire FDE.




Guess who might be carrying this TUBE?

I just thought to mention that I just decided to try the TUBE to remove and install an AR pistol grip.  It won't work as a removal tool since the cap will screw right off as I tried to unscrew the screw, but it will work as a tightening tool if the pistol grip's screw ever gets loose.  However, it might be a bit of a work to hold on the exposed part of the tube sticking out of the grip since it's a smooth surface, and approx a little more than an inch of grip area.

Note that it works on Ergo SureGrips and Magpul MOE/MIAD pistol grips.

I found a way to make it work even for the pistol grip..  Something really simple.  I'm adding one of these to my kit, a 3" magnetic bit holder.  I pulled one from my DeWalt kit to try out.. but unfortunately the base is not attracted to magnets so it won't stay in place.  3 inches is long enough to get the tool out of the pistol grip to allow me to have a positive grip with the TUBE.  This will way better with the Ultralight and Series 2 since they have a more positive grip area.  Now it's time to go to the store to find which brand is magnetic and add it to my Multitasker kits.

Just wondering, were you ever able to clean the inside of the bolt with it?

I haven't had a chance to retry since my BCGs are relatively clean right now. This weekend I can tell you since I have training coming up.  Shane believes it can so I'll retry it.

Thanks very much, that would be very appreciated.

Where can you purchase the tool from other than Brownells.

Well after shooting 600 rounds through my suppressor, my chrome BCG is extremely filthy..  
I tried out the scrapper and it works great for all the curved sections on the bolt.  As for the carrier, the scraper did a decent job at scrapping the bottom and chipping out the build up carbon.  Remember, I was running suppressed and it builds up carbon like you wouldn't believe so it's thick and clumped together.  Any case the scrapper only cracks of the spots where the tool contacts.  It can't be fully flush to the interior base of the carrier, but it's definitely good enough to break off carbon as it's scrapping.  It won't be a perfect clean, but to be fair, I don't think there's any other company that makes a scrapper that can get it perfectly clean.  After using the tool, it's in my opinion to let the carbon build up there until it gets thicker so you can chip it off rather than have it light and just keep scrapping.  Since I'm not a Material Engineer, I'm not sure whether the the scrapper will scrape metal off of the carrier.  I don't think so, but i"m not an expert.

Note that the only comparison I have to scrappers is manually picking and the Mark Brown Custom's AR-15/M16 Carbon Scraper.

K thanks for that, I will probably pick one of these up because of your review.

No problem.  It's a great tool, you won't be sorry to have it.

I actually used the cap as a screwdriver to adjust my sights on my Eotech during my Carbine 2 training class.  (I was testing out a old Eotech 553 I had to see how good it was)  Any case I had grabbed the TUBE and clipped it to my pocket, did my shots and as I was about to use my TUBE.. I immediately thought.  Damn I forgot my flat head bit.  Thank goodness the flat head is built in.     This shows one disadvantage of the TUBE.. you can't carry the bits with the tool unlike the Ultralight or the Series 2 which both come with an belt/molle clip-able pouch.  After that happen the next day I just clipped the Ultralight to my belt and called it good.  I didn't need pliers so the Series 2 stayed in the range bag since I wanted to stay light on my toes for the training.  Just keep in mind what you want it for.  If it's benchrest or home office the tube is great.  Also it's probably more ergonomic for scrapping than the Series 2.

Seriously it's a really nice tool.  I personally like the FDE.  Black is extremely nice too.  I'm kind of going FDE because my gear is heading that direction.  Kind of tired of just black.  Both have a good finish on them so you'll be happy with either.  
Funny thing during my class.. I felt someone tugging at my pants and I looked to my left and I see a bearded guy's hand trying to snagging my TUBE out of my pocket.  WTF Costa, give it back!  Chris just wanted to take a look at it.  He had to give it a good pull to get it out of my Vertx pants so it just showed me it had good spring retention in the clip.  Never thought of mentioning that until that happened.

I think I read an earlier story on this Very Clever maintenance tool. Super Design, nice looking, etc....

If I recall, It's too bad that the fellow caved-in and had it made in CHINA!

For that reason alone, I will not buy one. I know, my loss, but that country is doing more to actively steal from us and generally screw the US than any other country on planet Earth right now. "F" 'em

.......................

We were also fortunate enough to get our hands on the Multitasker Tube, Multitasker Series 2, Multitasker Ultralight, and the Expansion Kit for Multitasker Tube for testing and evaluation.  These are so well made that it's tuff to descibe just how well machined they are.  While disassembling the Tube the maching is so precise that you cannot even see the seam that seperates the different sections of the tube.  Great review Ryo!!!  We're having alot of fun with these tools and looking forward to seeing what they can do. Amazingly well built!

Paul

[quoteIf I recall, It's too bad that the fellow caved-in and had it made in CHINA!

For that reason alone, I will not buy one. I know, my loss, but that country is doing more to actively steal from us and generally screw the US than any other country on planet Earth right now. "F" 'em
][/quote]

You are correct!  Designed in the US but manufactured in China.  I realize that may discourage a small number of you from considering or purchasing a Multitasker Tool but keep in mind that when you're a one man operation funds are very limited and sometimes to produce the same product here in the states you (consumer) would be paying $300 for a tool like this.  It's unfortunate but it's the way of the world.  When possible I always try to keep my money on US produced products as well but I can't think of any manufacturers producing what Multitasker Tools is currently making.  I think Shane's (owner of Multitasker Tools LLC) commitment to our country and its returning war vets has been made very clear by Multitasker Tools being an industry partner and proud supporter of Wounded Warrior Project.

You are correct!  Designed in the US but manufactured in China.  I realize that may discourage a small number of you from considering or purchasing a Multitasker Tool but keep in mind that when you're a one man operation funds are very limited and sometimes to produce the same product here in the states you (consumer) would be paying $300 for a tool like this.  It's unfortunate but it's the way of the world.  When possible I always try to keep my money on US produced products as well but I can't think of any manufacturers producing what Multitasker Tools is currently making.  I think Shane's (owner of Multitasker Tools LLC) commitment to our country and its returning war vets has been made very clear by Multitasker Tools being an industry partner and proud supporter of Wounded Warrior Project.
[/quote]



Sad fact is that lots of things made nowadays are not 100% US made.  Whether it's made in China, Europe, Thailand, Taiwan, etc..

Shane was kind enough to send me some samples of his tools....I'm pretty impressed!

Great pics Triple Bravo!  I like that St Michael patch!  

Thanks....the patch came from Paul of Loess Hills Tactical.

Here's the group shot...