Disagree all you like. You definitely could have gotten those copycat prybars a lot cheaper from the usual places where theses crappy knockoff products are sold more openly. Hell, there's probably a few cheaper listings on amazon or ebay too.
And like I said, the metal content is dubious. You don't know what it is. It could even be unhealthy for you to be touching those things with your bare hands.
You got ripped off.
edit: Yup, I just poked around a bit and right away, yes there are a ton of listings for these things everywhere. All for the same exact pry bar. There's literally no difference.
So on amazon I already found a pack of 5 for $8.59 with free shipping, which is only 40 cents cheaper than what you paid. Okay not so bad. But then over on ebay I found a listing with free shipping for the identical pry bar for $1.63 each. That comes out to $8.15 for 5 of them, which ends up being 84 cents less than what you paid. Okay, still not too bad. But then you go over to ali express and...
oh look...
In the first few results we have the same exact pry bar selling for 41 cents each.
Alright, let's throw that in the cart, and with shipping it comes out to $10.17...
...for 10 of them.
That's a little over one dollar each.
At under $2/ea for a well finished pry bar that is working well was vastly cheaper than anything locally available including Chinesium from Harbor Freight. I don't need some "super steel" to pull staples and tiny nails either. Could I find something cheaper online? Probably but, free shipping and Amazon's return policy made this a low risk purchase that in the end I was pleased with. Also, 5 is more than I really need so 10 would just go to waste in some forgotten drawer or can in my barn so, "I went slightly upscale" with my Amazon purchase. Will they be cheaper at some point? Probably but, the difference is going to be less than the cost of a common cup of coffee or a soda somewhere in most cases.
Whether it is better or worse than anything else, or more expensive or cheaper is really like barking at the moon since we can't compare our samples to make a determination of which is better or worse in function, or a better or worse 'value'. In the end, they are working for me after failing find a Dasco version at Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowes which would have been at least $12 locally if it was in stock and made in China.
While not a big fan of China or Chinese products in general, their "Sandvik" steels have served me well in cheap knives. Heck, I wish I could get Victorinox replacement blades in one of those Chinese stamped stainless steels to get better edge holding. Like it or not, right now China is effectively "sole source" for a lot of products in the general consumer retail space when you don't need or want an expensive boutique variant like the $30 Upknife version I recently bought or the Antdesigns option I'm looking at!
All this being said, I would have no problems paying $10~$15 for a similar item made from a scrap from a knifemaker at some knife show. I have a 1084 pry bar closer to a "paint can" scraper tool in hardened 1084 I got for $15 at the Texas Blade Show that is awesome for something pretty large that will take massive abuse as a prybar.
In the end, I'm not going to stress whether you do or don't like my purchase or whether I could have found something better for less than $2/ea because my time has some value too! If you can point me to a USA or EU made version (actually made in and from USA or EU materials) at a similar price or even double at my mailbox, I would buy them too! The closest I found was a $15 plus shipping cast Upknife rocket tool.
antdesignofficial.com
