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Snowflake multi tool buying guide

Updated: 24 October 2026

You are on amazon.co.uk with several flat plates in the basket, and every title says 18-in-1 or 19-in-1 as if that number were a size. This guide is the short list of lines you can check: named openings, the printed weight, whether the price is for one plate or two, and whose reviews you are reading. You should be able to ignore a function count you cannot verify. The rows, scores and captured prices are on the [snowflake tool comparison](/hub/hand-tools/snowflake-tool). A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Peter F. wrote this on 22 October 2026 from those listings. We did not weigh a plate or run a lab test.

You are on amazon.co.uk with several flat plates in the basket, and every title says 18-in-1 or 19-in-1 as if that number were a size.

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On this page

Read the openings, not the badge

The 18-in-1 badge is a seller's count of cut-outs on one plate, not eighteen loose tools. It can mean a bottle opener, a Phillips notch, a flat notch and hex shapes on that steel. On most rows the millimetre sizes are not printed, so you cannot match a 5 mm bolt before you pay. TRHDFW's number-of-items line says 18 while the bullets describe one multi-tool. Zodazoqa, B0FWJJM6Z4, prints Allen openings at 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 mm, and outer hex from 7 to 13 mm, with inch labels that repeat some metric sizes. It is also 1.0 from one rating with no review text, so the list is an example, not a recommendation. A list that starts at 3 mm will not have 2 mm or 2.5 mm. How that short arm compares with a real L-key is on snowflake tool vs Allen keys.

Weight, size, and how many pieces

Reviewed weights sit near plates people have held. Hinshark says 80 g, and the silver ASIN is 7.5 cm square with a matching folded-size line. BGS 85880 says 90 g. FYHJNC and TRHDFW print 50 g. Vnuipofa prints 17 g and CVNRCLP prints 10 g, with no review under either line. Keep them as printed. Zodazoqa prints 20 g and, in a bullet, 2.3 ounces. Kelamayi is £6.99 in the saved listing for two plates, about 6 cm across, with 140 g for the listing as recorded, not per piece. That is not a single next to BGS at £5.09. The black-and-silver Hinshark says 1 item and 2 pieces, and its dimensions are 15.5 x 8 x 2.2 cm against about 5 x 10 x 2 cm. What 80 g feels like on keys is snowflake tool keyring.

Steel, finish, and whose reviews they are

Stainless on a material line is a word, not a grade. Only the BGS Amazon text names one, 2Cr13, with a sand-blasted finish. Do not copy it onto the other plates. A ToolTeam sheet for 85880 does not repeat 2Cr13. One UK buyer of the silver KTHZI plate said that colour looked sharper-edged than another. That is one review of four. Hinshark shows 4.6 from 5,330 on silver at £7.99 and black-and-silver at £10.79, and the 50 UK texts match. Count that sample once. BGS is 4.5 from 63, and none of the 30 texts is marked United Kingdom. Kelamayi is 3.1 from seven. Zodazoqa is 1.0 from one rating with no body. FYHJNC, Vnuipofa and CVNRCLP have no rating line. A lower price with no stars is not the best value.

If it is not what the listing said

Section 9 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says goods should be of satisfactory quality against the description, the price and other circumstances. A plate captured between £3.79 and £10.79 should match the openings the page named. It is not a torque wrench. If the count, a cutter or the weight is so far from the listing that the goods are not as described, the usual path is the seller's returns process and then your statutory rights. This is not advice on your order. Zodazoqa names a box cutter and a rope cutter. Most other rows do not. Do not paste a cutter onto the Hinshark silver listing from a third-party blurb. None of these listings is VDE insulated, and none prints a torque figure. Do not buy one for brakes, steering, wheel nuts or live electrics.

Common questions

Does 18-in-1 mean eighteen separate tools?
No. The seller has counted openings on a flat plate, not loose tools in a pouch. TRHDFW's number-of-items line says 18 while the bullets describe one plate. Do not order that listing expecting eighteen tools, and do not treat an 18-in-1 title as a count we checked on a bench.
Why do some listings omit the millimetre sizes?
Because the page was written as a gift, not a size chart. Most rows name hex keys and print no millimetres. Zodazoqa does print them, beside a 1.0 star line with no review text. A printed list is the seller's claim, not a reason by itself to buy that row.
Is a two-piece pack the same price as one plate?
No. Kelamayi is £6.99 in the saved listing for two plates, with 140 g on the item line for the listing as recorded. Compare that with BGS 85880 at £5.09, not with a per-plate guess. The black-and-silver Hinshark says 1 on the items line and 2 on the pieces line. A pair price is a bargain only if you wanted two plates.
What weight is believable?
Reviewed plates sit around 80 g for Hinshark and 90 g on BGS 85880. Lines of 50 g, 17 g, 10 g and 20 g are also printed, and Zodazoqa's 20 g contradicts a 2.3 ounce bullet. Keep the number as printed and check a very low gram line when the parcel arrives.
Does stainless steel name a grade?
Only the BGS Amazon text names one, 2Cr13, with a sand-blasted finish. Do not copy that grade onto the other plates, and do not say a data sheet confirmed it. Polished and corrosion-resistant are seller phrases, not a hardness figure. One UK KTHZI review said the silver piece looked sharper-edged than another colour. That is a comment, not a finish grade.
Can I trust a star rating that appears on two colours?
Count it once. Hinshark silver and black-and-silver share 4.6 from 5,330 and the same 50 UK texts. The extra £10.79 price does not buy a second sample. BGS texts are not marked United Kingdom, so those 63 stars are the listing line, not thirty UK write-ups.

Related pages

Sources

Sources for this comparison, last checked on 22 October 2026.

  1. GOV.UK, General Product Safety Regulations 2005: Great Britain (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  2. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 9 (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  3. Criminal Justice Act 1988, section 139 (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  4. GOV.UK, Selling, buying and carrying knives and weapons (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  5. CPS, Knife and other weapons offences (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  6. HSE EIS16, cuts from thin metal edges (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  7. ToolTeam, BGS 85880 snowflake multi-tool (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  8. amazon.co.uk, Hinshark silver snowflake multi-tool B08C9KGF2M (retrieved 22 October 2026)