Tubular pick recommendation

[gostone]

Looking to buy a decent tubular pick, are there any suggestions as to what would be best?

looking for quality and versatility

[Bioniccreeper03]

I just got the Southern Ordnance 7&8 Pin picks and i don't like them at all the fingers on mine stick so i put a little 3and1 oil and it didn't help the Hpc looks the same but maybe they work better I've never tried them tho but i rate the southord picks a 4/10

[UWSDWF]

amatuer - SO... works well fairly sturdy but won't for use as a lockie
pro - HPC nice looks long lasting but not nessicary for hobby

[Romstar]

With the exception of the Peterson tubular, or the ProLok tubular, I would say your best bet are the HPC tubular picks.

They are durable, they work really well and the price is decent.

Romstar

[gostone]

If I was to get one pick, which would be the best?
The Peterson Tubular looks interesting but unwieldy. I think it's about $300.00, not too bad, I guess considering it's versatility

[Romstar]

If you are going to go whole hawg, then I would say get the Peterson. It will do both the 7 and 8 pin locks, and when you mail in your registration card, you can get a free tip that will allow it to do another type.

The rest of the tips can be purchased to adapt the pick to almost any tubular style lock.

The cost is the big issue with this pick.

The price for the HPC 7 and 8 pin picks together from lockpicks.com is $199.95, and they can't be reconfigured like the Peterson pick.

The SouthOrd aren't much better at $144.95 for the two picks.

It really depends on what you want to do, and how much you want to spend.

Romstar

[Spike666]

I actually like my hpc. my friend has the southerd which takes more torque to get the right tension. another locksmith i know uses the peterson, which i cannot say i have used but i will this weekend .

[jimmysmith]

I own a southord tpxa-7, the tubular lock pick you guys are talking about. I have not had the chance to use a diffrent make of the tool. but mine has NEVER failed me. and when i say NEVER it means never. works every time.....i dont have the 8 pin.....But i would like one.......does any one know if they make a 4 pin tubular pick?

[dab]

most tubular picks will do harleys to cam locks, but when you see ace 2 locks it's nice to have the peterson

[keysman]

I am not sure this company (Custom Security Products) is still in business, but they made a very nice pick. Lots of accessories to do the 7pin L-R-C, 8 pin, 8?pin Segal ,9 pin?, 10 pin Van locks, something called pin -in- pin and possibly a few others .

I have no difficulty picking standard ace, and then using the pick to duplicate a key.
Average time to pick .. 30 seconds or less.

I have not had much luck with AceII , but then again I haven’t tried much either. I have spoken to several lockies who use this pick regularly to pick Ace II.

I see these ( CSP) pick kits around from time to time .. prices vary widely.. from $150 for the single pick to $400+ for complete kits with all accessories .




If anybody is interested PM me and I will let you know the next time I see one for sale.

[jimmysmith]

never has to much of a problem picking tubular locks with my southord tool. ... I have even opened ace II with it..

for me its the greenwald locks that stump my tool a little.


PIC

Large pic changed to link,

[Nasydave]

The greenwalds take a pretty high tension, but some are quite reluctant to open.

[Eyes_Only]

The Ace II uses variable spring tension on their pins so I find it very taxing to use the SO picks on them. "Lockpicking for the New Millenium" DVD showed a mod where you remove the reset washer so it would make it easier to manipulate each finger individually but with a variable spring it's still kind of a challange.

[Z5]

I've only used the Southord one and I know I'm biased but I've never had a problem with them and the success rate is very high.

[katahdin]

I have the Southord model as well and have mixed feelings about it. When it works, it works great and usually opens the lock in less than a minute. However, when using it on the more advanced locks such as the ACE II, I think there is a fair bit of luck involved. I have eventually been able to open most locks with it but its practical applications are somewhat limited. It would make a decent hobby pick though.