Sparrows Wizwazzle Set - My Impressions

[Josh66]

First, I guess I have to say that these are the first mass produced picks I've used, so I don't really have anything to compare them to. Before now, I've used strictly homebrew picks.

First impressions - the hooks are pointier than I'm used to. The rakes work well. And the tension wrenches are better than I'm used to using.

It comes with 18 wrenches - 6 styles, and 3 widths of each style.

The finish of the picks is obviously not going to be as good as a hand polished homebrew - but I wouldn't expect that from any mass produced pick. There were no burrs anywhere. It wouldn't take much to get them polished up as good as my homebrews though - not sure if I'm going to do that or not at this point. If I did, it would be purely for aesthetic reasons - as they are now, they are 'smooth enough'.

As far as how good they actually work, so far they're great - but I haven't really put them through the paces yet. I'll update this thread as I go...
I was worried that the 'dipped' handles would be too flexible - that isn't the case. They do flex, but they are rigid enough that it isn't an issue.

11 picks and 18 wrenches for $80 seems like a fair price to me. Not to mention that they come in a nice case. The case does have room to add a few other odds & ends too.

[C185]

Nice review. I also picked up the Wizzwazle set a few months ago and do not have anything negative to say about them, they are splendid.

[Josh66]

Thanks. I think it will take me a while to get used to the hooks - they do work good, they're just 'different' than what I'm used to. I think what I'm used to using is more commonly called a 'lifter' than a hook.

In case you (whoever is reading) don't know, these are the homebrews I'm comparing these picks to:





Those are my two favorite picks. Are the sparrows picks 'better'? No, but I didn't expect them to be, and that's not why I got them. For what they are, I'm very pleased with the Sparrows set so far.

[C185]

Those "homebrews" if you can call them that.... look amazing!

[Josh66]

Thanks. Those are some of the newer ones - each new one has been coming out better than the last.

My first ones, I would describe as 'crappy', lol (they do work well, they just aren't pretty) - these, I'm happy with.

I think I'm going to make a few more this week or next week.

More about the Sparrows picks - the rakes are great. The hooks - I'm still getting used to them. They're a lot pointier than I'm used to using - I'm used to the flat spot on my home made picks. I've been finding it hard to stay on the pin with the Sparrows picks. I'm sure this is something that takes some time to get used to - to sum it up: they work, but I'm faster with my own picks. If I had learned on picks like this, things might be different.

[raimundo]

commercial picks are generally not finished and overlarge and made to be used as pin prybars. they tend to leave gouges inside the keyway and on the pins. sparrows is blatantly ripping off my design for the bogota rake but they are making a poor attempt at copying.

[atticRR]

I have scrupulously followed raimundos guidance in making the bogata and it is so smooth at opening locks. When i get a new lock i use this right off the bat, when im having trouble with an old lock, back to the bogata just for confidence reasons. I would be very interested to feel the difference between mine (or an original raimundo!) and a commercial one, i'm sure its night and day.

i also think its a shame he gave the community these rakes and now the idea is making commercial money. To much of a good thing i suppose.

[Josh66]

Raimundo, I can appreciate your frustration at your design being produced commercially - but at the same time, I think everybody knows that nobody makes them like you do.

When I placed the order, I wasn't expecting the ultimate in craftsmanship. I think they (the commercially made picks of your design) are probably "good enough" as a general rake - but I wouldn't expect them to match those made by you. And that's not even mentioning all of the added 'features' of your picks - the nested design, no need to carry a separate wrench, and the attention to detail that you only get from a hand made product.

I know it's not really the same thing - but if I think about it from a software perspective it doesn't seem so different as if you created the design and made it 'open source' - nothing about it being open source stops anybody else from making (and selling it). It's more like 'here is this awesome code, go use it'.

I hope this doesn't offend you, but the only way you really could have prevented others from copying your design would be if you had patented it. But then people would still do it anyway, and legal expenses would start to rack up if you chose to fight it... Anyway - enough about that.

I've seen your picks, and hope to own a set made by you one day. I don't consider the ones made by Sparrows (or anyone else) to be remotely the same thing.


I understand that this is all very personal for you, and I didn't intend to bring any of that up when I made this thread.




Overall, as a commercially manufactured pick set, I think this set is about as good as I expected, and the price seems fair. The picks are not quite the same profiles that I'm used to, but I also don't really have anything to compare them to. The finish is not as good as I'm used to, but for what they are I'd say it's about right. You're not going to get 'hand made quality' for commercial prices - that's just a fact.

[blate]

I think this is a great starter kit... though most of mine have broken. But my technique sucked

One very notable point about this set -- you get like 8 picks and 17 tension tools. I was initially like, "WTF?", but came to realize that selecting the right tensor is at least as important as having the perfect pick. This lesson, alone, was worth the purchase price.