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Best Leatherman-Style Multitool?
An anonymous reader asks: "I'm in the market for a Leatherman style multitool, but some new players have come to the table in the past few years, and I've heard a couple of anecdotes that Leatherman might have been eclipsed. So, I'm asking Slashdot for lots of anecdotes; what are your experiences with your multitool? What's the best one you've seen or used? Have you ever broken one? Do the tools wiggle around after a lot of use? Those are some general questions, but there are two specific ones. First, does the knife blade lock? The quickest way to hurt fingers is using a folding knife when a fixed blade is the right tool, but you can't carry a fixed blade knife into many places. The second question is, how long is the main knife blade? You can't carry a folding knife with tool long of a blade, either (unfortunately). Thanks for any and all help!"
I did break it once, but I was absolutely abusing it. I grabbed something with the tips of the pliars and tried to twist it, and neatly snapped one of the tines off. I sent it in to Leatherman and they send me a brandy new one a week later, which they really didn't have to do since the only way to break it like that is through foolishness. Actually the new one is slightly improved from my older model of Wave, better detents on the blades and pliars. I noticed it wasn't made in the USA though, which I was slightly disappointed about, but I suppose it's hard to profitably make anything in the USA anymore. Or maybe it's only the replacements that aren't made the USA, that could be.
But the bottom line is that the wave kicks ass and is the best by far, IMO.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
Overall, I've discovered that I don't actually want, or need, a multitool.
I have a single knife, a Kershaw Avalanche partially serrated. Overall, I find that I simply don't want, or have a use for, all the other bits & bobs you find on a multitool.
If you want a simple knife with a little more capability, then get a balisong [aka a butterfly knife]. Learn a couple decent opening/closing moves with it, and you can then use it for all the other things you don't normally do with a simple knife. It makes a great lever [the Spyderco Spyderfly is most of 6" long, closed], clamp/gripper [by opening it, then squeezing the handles around whatever it is, with varying leverage]...
Gary (-;
...tells me if I'm in range of a wireless network, tells me if there is activity on an ethernet network, provides 1GB of storage via USB, tells me if a serial port is working, functions as a logic probe and multimeter and provides a 3V and 5V power supply (not high current, just enough to provide input to a logic gate) and fits in my pocket. If there's room it'd be nice if it were a wireless gateway and serial over bluteooth dongle. In other words, I want a Leatherman for the early part of the 21st century, not some medieval hacking and slashing tool.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Victorinox got it right on their series of SwissTools. On the one I have, all the tools lock into place, the whole thing is quite sturdy, but the wire cutting part of the main tool can only cut very small things.
chl
I've got an original Leatherman PST, bought in an army surplus about 15 years ago... Long before multi-tools were in vogue like they are now. I can't believe the multitude of models they have these days. All those fancy names... Funny how they manage to make anything "marketable" nowadays... After all, a multi-tool is a pair of foldable pliers with a couple of blades and a screwdriver! And what's with all those colored handles? No marketing fuss needed! Give me plain old MILSPEC stainless steel!!!
Just as in Linux, the best tool is not always a "does-everything" tool.
:)
:)
I have a Leatherman Micra that has the bare essentials: scissors, small and big flatheads. There's also a "philips" (flathead with tapered head). Plus it has a bottle opener. The knife blade on it sucks.
I have a couple of dedicated knives, however - Benchmade Knife Company's 3550SBK (switchblade) and the 42S (butterfly). Sure, they're expensive, but buying cheap crap is stupid.
PS: I work for Benchmade, but I owned their product long before I ever got a job there.
Exocet Industries - Taking over the world, one computer at a
I got a Leatherman for Christmas before I was old enough to appreciate it. I was in awe that my parents bought me a butterfly... pliers? I broke it in High School. Sent it off to be repaired (under 25 year warranty, no receipt, only the knowledge that the product wasn't that old) and it came back fixed, and the handle still had my name engraved on it. Nice service. In Boy Scouts, I learned that the Leatherman was good for whittling, but anything I had to do with the pliers must not involve much force on the handles because they dug into my hands.
In college, I became a teaching assistant for an electronics course. Lots of proto board work, wires, chips, the like. Needlenose pliers were a must, and the ability to pull them out of my pocket and butterfly my pliers out in less than a second was very timely. I ended up selling about 2 dozen (not direclty, but through telling students where to go purchase a tool like my Geek Tool). As I continued to advance in my own coursework, my rising experience with my Leatherman was a competitive advantage. The other tools were easy to find, but any tool you've used regularly for any length of time will be that comfortable to you. I ended up spraying a bit of Pam (the cooking spray) in the handle to make it open faster and smoother, but getting too much in there makes it close too easily to hold.
In a senior level course, a buddy of mine whipped out his Leatherman in front of our professor. The professor demanded, "What are you doing?" My buddy responded, "I'm too lazy to walk across the lab and get the public pliers, so I brought my own." To which the obese professor, recovering from a bypass surgery responded, "Get up. WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"
To summarize: I'm sure just about any tool will be useful for most people who are asking. You will develop a fondness for whatever you get. If you need to apply force, however, carefully consider the Leatherman model. Gerbers are more universally appropriate.
You can't beat real tools though. My primary toolset came from a combination of the Craftsman and Techni-tool catalogs. I only use the leatherman when in a bind.
I know it isn't what you are asking for, but the little Micro-Tech
tool made by http://www.swisstechtools.com/ is really neat. It is
really small, small enough to go in your pocket or on a keyring
without geeking up. It is a small pliers, slotted screwdriver,
phillips screwdriver, wire cutter, and small shears. The newer
Micro-Plus models even have very little slotted and phillips
screwdrivers.
Really impressive is that the thing is dang well made: the various
articulating joints are stronger than I am, and the driver bits stay
sharp and square.
Yes, it is no Leatherman, but anyone who is interested in a Leatherman
probably *also* wants one of these.
-kb