HPC KGB Mini Belt Pick Set, quick review

[ChemicalRobot]

So I ended up purchasing one of these and it arrived today! Here's a breakdown of my experiences with it thus far.

It came in standard packaging with a fancy HPC sticker on the front.

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The case is of good of quality as I had hoped. It's genuine leather and I'm thinking it may be nicer once it's broken in a bit more.

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The set fits quite well inside the case. One thing to remember is to keep the tension wrenches at the top since they are thinner and there's less room there. This will create more room for the picks.

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This set is TINY. It contains a short hook, a reach tool, a rake, and a key extractor. I compared them to my other picks and they are the exact width of SouthOrd Slimline. The picks are rather sharp right out of the box. I'm thinking I'll need to smooth them out a bit. The tension wrenches are nice but I can already see that slick-looking black coating wearing off.

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Here are some close-ups of each pick:

short-hook.jpg

ball-reach.jpg

rake.jpg

extractor.jpg

Overall the set is fine, but I don't know whether it's worth $40 as advertised. I'll probably have to break it in and get more used to the picks before I can say, so I'll wait on that. It fits quite comfortably on a belt and I'll probably have it with me when I'm in a situation where I can't have my larger set.

[the lockpickkid]

Great review, thats alot of money though, would work as a good backup set, but I am wondering if the shortness of them is going to hamper how well they work.

[magician59]

Good honest review. I might agree about the length of the picks. I have a few short picks in my collection. They really remind me of the days I was picking locks with bent paper clips.

[ChemicalRobot]

They really remind me of the days I was picking locks with bent paper clips.

Hah! I hadn't thought of that, but yeah it does have a similar feeling.

[loki]

Nice first photo. If the USSR and the "cold-war" were still existing, that picture, with "KGB 1" and the "Made in USA" would be even more meaningfull.

[ChemicalRobot]

TWO WEEK FOLLOW-UP REVIEW

I don't use it much. The tension wrenches are sub-par, in my opinion. This may be because I'm left handed so it's hard for me to angle TOK. The picks themselves are more bendable than I'm used to. I'm guessing this is so they can bend around your waist without breaking. I usually have it with me on my belt still, but my better tools aren't far off. It's a great conversation starter and gets comments like "ooh you're like a spy!" I guess this was HPC's intention with calling it KGB-1.

Would I buy it had I known how it would be? Probably not. $40 is a lot for so little.