Southord Pen Type Plug Spinner

[shaothegreat]

Even thought I really didn't need it, I had to take advantage of Southord's 30% (or whatever it was) sale this past July, so I bought one of their pen type plug spinners. Before passing judgement, I decided that I would test it on many different locks, trying every possible technique. My conclusion - this thing DOES NOT WORK! I haven't been able to spin squat. I've tried it on knobs, deadbolts, padlocks, cylinders... etc... I always set the plug back as close as possible without dropping the pins... I am using it as per the instructions included. I have tried it on over 40 locks with absolutely ZERO success. It seems well made and it appears to function as intended, it just doesn't work. Does anyone here have any experience with this particular model of plug spinner? I'm a bit miffed at the moment that I pretty much threw $30 down the drain... Maybe I can get a refund (it's been over a month)??? Any advice or insight would be appreciated.

Thanks...

[thelockpickkid]

well I had never heard that southord made a pen type plug spinner, so I googled it, and found a picture of one, I have one that is exactly the same, it is made by A1, It is the best I have came across, it fits great in my hpc kit and everything, I had an hpc and it sucked. Are you sure yours is Southord brand? Whats it doing? I have never had problems with mine, but I swear it is an A1 brand. I wouldn't buy another Southord tool if my life depended on it personally, they just are not good quality tools.

[shaothegreat]

Yes, it is definitely a Southord branded product (came sealed in a plastic bag with a Southord instruction card). I theorize that it doesn't it generate enough speed create the centrifugal force (?) necessary to keep the pins from resetting. If you could post a video on Youtube of getting your A1 branded spinner to work, I would greatly appreciate it.

[thelockpickkid]

I have not been able to post youtube videos for some reason, I think my camera is messing something up I will try to do it around noon though, (it's after 7 am now) I will show it in action for ya.

[shaothegreat]

Appreciate it! Does ANYONE else have experience with the Southord pen type plug spinner???

[Eyes_Only]

I don't have this particular spinner so I can't help much there........but,

I have tried the little HPC Flip-It, the original flimsy black spinner and the thin Rytan tool that looks similar to the SouthOrd one and they all sucked.

This is where I'm glad I didn't cheap out cos years before I bought the Dino Plug Spinner and that is the best tool I've ever used. Very strong spring force, you can better adjust the tension to suit your needs and during the two years I worked as a locksmith I never came across a lock that needed spinning that this tool failed on. This thing is powerful and built like a tank. If you go back in the market for another spinner I'd recommend this one and you will not be disappointed.

[Confederate]

I prefer HPC's FlipIt tool to anything else. Some of the techs I work with have had theirs for a long, long time now so they're very durable. I used to always borrow theirs when I could but a service call the other day finally swayed me to get my own.

I had a lockout that involved a mortise lock. For those not familiar with mortise locks, a majority of them incorporate the bolt and latch in one unit. To retract the latch and bolt (if a lockout feature is present), you usually have to turn the key a few revolutions - one to retract the bolt and the other to retract the latch.

Unfortunately, I did not have a plug spinner on my truck so I had to pick the lock 3 separate times which meant what should have taken a few minutes took nearly half an hour.

So, plug spinners aren't just for those times when you can't pick a lock one way or it picks one way easier. A lot of times they can be used to turn hard tasks into simple ones.

[Eyes_Only]

It definitely make a simple lockout call go faster.

[andrew270681]

I have the southord pen style plug spinner and ive found it to be quite good. Make sure you turn it 1 to 1.5 turns or it wont have enough force.

Good luck

[Moosekace]

I'd have to say I'm with andrew270681 on this one. I have the same style and as long as you give it at least a 360 turn and make sure you hold it as if you were clicking a pen and keep your fingers away from the tip so it's free to rotate.

[thelockpickkid]

I made a youtube video when I was bored one day, I was picking a kwikset. I used my A1 Spinnakur plug spinner on it. This is the best plug spinner that I have ever used, it look just like the Southord from what people tell me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNeXfV3n-s

[loki-aka]

I have the Southord model. It works O.K.
However, I think it would berform better if it had more spring force.

I'll have to setup a test cyl and do a matchup between the Southord vs. the Goso gun-type.
Just dry-firing the Goso, I get the impression it delivers greater turning force- maybe too much.

[Eyes_Only]

The one from GOSO is "ok", it'll do the job but my main problem with the GOSO version is that most of the tips it comes with seems to have been designed for use with car locks rather than pin tumbler locks on buildings because all but one was small enough to fit into a Schlage deadbolt keyway, everything else was either waayyy to thick or needed to be grinded down to a workable thickness.

But if you're on a budget its still a pretty good way to go. Although it's no where near the quality of my DINO gun spinner IMO.

[Moosekace]

I have the Southord model. It works O.K.
However, I think it would berform better if it had more spring force.

I'll have to setup a test cyl and do a matchup between the Southord vs. the Goso gun-type.
Just dry-firing the Goso, I get the impression it delivers greater turning force- maybe too much.

That's my favorite thing about it! I can easily adjust how much force it puts out by increasing the number of times I rotate the tip. More rotations=More force. I'm not sure exactly of the increase, maybe one of our local engineers could help us out.

[Nismo-san]

i have the pen style southord spinner, i have problems from time to time, but discover turning it more than suggested for more turning force helps greatly