I'm an Apple-authorized technician, working at a small New Hampshire independent reseller/service center, and I use multi-tools in my daily work duties, even though I'm a newbie when it comes to this forum, I've used multis for a while, so I've found out what works well for *my* purposes, as always, YMMV.....
the five contenders are;
Victorinox SwissTool Spirit
Victorinox SwissTool
Victorinox CyberTool 34
Leatherman Surge
Leatherman Wave
the CyberTool lives in my desk and/or on my workbench, and is only brought home when it needs to be sharpened, I generally carry a Leatherman on my belt holster (so far, the Surge is my current choice) and it's generally paired with a SAK (Vic Soldier or Explorer) or the SwissTool Spirit
I'll first deal with the SwissTool, as it's the only tool that hasn't made the cut, and has been relegated to my Bugout bag at home, the SwissTool isn't a *bad* tool, far from it, it's just not suited to my daily needs
SwissTool Pros;
exceptional fit-and-finish
built like the proverbial tank, and could probably disassemble one
gorgeous high-luster finish is nigh-impervious to daily use scratches and dings
all tools accessible from the outside of the tool, each tool locks individually, and clicks into place with an authoritative "snap", it's got the world-famous "Walk-And-Talk" of Victorinox's world-renowned pocketknives
blades deploy from the bottom handle, as they should
remarkably corrosion-resistant, right up there with H-1 steel
the "Crate Opener" tool makes an exceptionally good pry-bar
"Stretch mode" is not wobbly at all
SwissTool Cons;
heavy and bulky
the highly-polished surface can be slippery in humid conditions, and looks so nice you feel guilty getting it dirty and covered with fingerprints, the finish makes you want to treat the SwissTool like a delicate jewel, even though it's arguably one of the toughest, strongest multis out there
the phillips driver sometimes slips out of screws, it seems to have no "grip", due to it's highly polished nature
the pliers are too blunt for most of my plier-needing purposes, to me, *THIS* is the ST's biggest flaw, I find needle-nose pliers far more useful than the ST's stocky, blunt nose pliers
the wire cutters don't work very well, they "gnaw" the wire, not cut it
too many flathead drivers
Why didn't the SwissTool make the cut, mainly due to the slippery drivers and blunt plier head, it also has too many flathead drivers, in the computer industry, the most common screws are Phillips and Torx, flatheads are almost extinct, I do miss it's "Crate Opener" pry-bar tool though, that said, the SwissTool is a well built, solid, and utterly reliable tool, perfect for a Bugout bag....
On to the Vic CyberTool 34;
If I had to limit myself to one multi at work, it'd have to be the Vic Cybertool (sorry, SwissTool, Spirit, and Leathermen, but that's the brutally honest truth here), the CyberTool was *MADE* for the computer industry, and Victorinox hit this one out of the park, it's got the useful dual blades of a Vic pocketknife, a decent pry-bar (the bottle opener/screwdriver, a set of scissors (always handy), the pliers are substandard for heavy use, but perfect for moving jumpers around and picking up the errant dropped screw from the insides of a computer case, and finally, there's the Piece De' Resistance (Piece of Resistance
), the wonderfully well executed Bitdriver/screwdriver and bit carrier
Unlike other multis, and SAKs, riddled with multiple, useless flatheads, the bit-driver contains interchangeable screw bits that are actually *USEFUL* a decent selection of Phillips and Torx bits, especially the T6 and T8 bits, the Cybertool is a very specialized multi-tool, and delivers the goods to it's target market in spades
CyberTool pros;
Extremely useful screwdriver bits, useless flathead drivers are kept to a bare minimum
all the tools a tech uses on a daily basis are here
high-quality Vic blades
CyberTool Cons;
Pliers are useless for any job larger than retrieving dropped screws or moving hard drive jumpers around, they have no real gripping force on bolts
package hook is useless (for me at least)
why does a technician need a corkscrew (other than to hold the mini-screwdriver), a center mount phillips would be a better tool here
And Now, the Vic SwissTool Spirit
the baby brother to the mighty SwissTool is a capable tool in it's own right, for starters, it's a heck of a lot more pocket friendly than the full-size ST, in fact, I have no problem deep-pocket carrying the Spirit, it's only slightly longer than the SwissChamp it replaced in my pocket, the Spirit has a far more logical array of tools for my purposes, and it feels a little lighter as well, the long, thin profile is more pocket friendly than the bloated SwissChamp (I'm not knocking the SwissChamp, but you have to admit it's not the most ergonomic multi-tool out there, is it?)
the Spirit's pliers are more "Needlenose-esque" than the ST, but they're still a little wider and blunter than necessary, however, they're needle-nosed enough to make them useful, another welcome change to the Spirit is the fact that it's not loaded down with many superfluous, useless flatheads (I *REALLY* hate flathead drivers, it's a cheap, cheating way to up the tool count on a multi without adding any real utility), the sheepsfoot blade I'm torn on, I like the fact that Vic puts the serrations up front, and leaves a plain edged section at the back for detail cutting, but I also find myself needing a pointed blade sometimes, but since I pair my multis with at least one dedicated knife, it's not a deal-breaker, I'm not a fan of the combo-edge though, combo edges are the worst kind of compromise, Victorinox should have made the blade fully serrated, and installed another plain-edge blade in the other handle in place of the dubiously-designed scissors
the Spirit has better ergonomics than the ST as well, the curved handles work well in either the closed or open position, and like the ST, when used in "stretch mode", the tool has none of the characteristic "Leatherman wobble"
Another thing i've noticed is for some strange reason, I have no problem using the Spirit a little harder than the SwissTool, they both have that highly-polished, jewel-like finishing, but whereas I want to pamper my ST, my Spirit sees harder use, it's not abused, none of my tools are, but for some reason, the Spirit just seems to say "use me hard", I can't explain it
However, the Spirit scissors are an odd beast, they work well, but they have an extremely narrow working angle, and look exceptionally hard to sharpen, they don't inspire confidence, even the basic Leatherman Wave scissors have a wider working angle *and* open fully to permit sharpening, for my purposes, the scissors on the Leatherman Surge are the standard by which multi-tool scissors should be judged, heck, even the scissors on Vic's SAKs seem to be more usable than the ones on the Spirit, it is nice, however, to see Victorinox change the spring design to something more durable, too bad they lost utility in the process
Spirit Pros;
slightly more Needlenose-esque pliers
comfortable, ergonomic handles
serrations on the blade are at the front where they belong (well, technically, they belong on their own dedicated blade, but....)
non-wobbly stretch mode
no unnecessary flathead drivers
lightweight and pocketable
Spirit Cons;
Scissor redesign is.....strange, narrow opening gap and unable to be pivoted open for sharpening
no pointed blade
sheepsfoot blade is combo-edged
still too many flatheads (all I need is one wide flathead for prying purposes)
And the Leatherman tools;
Since the Wave and Surge are very similar, i'll group my comments about these tools together, as they're quite close in form and function, the Surge can be seen as a more modular, heavy-duty Wave
Whenever I need to get some real *hard work* done with a multi-tool, I reach past my Swisstools, past my CyberTools and reach for a Leatherman, most of the time it's the Surge, there's something about that nearly 12 Oz chunk of steel that I *love*, maybe it's the feeling I get that it can handle whatever I throw at it without a complaint and come back asking for more, maybe it's because it's a rough-and-rugged workhorse, that it can tolerate being worked hard, no, it doesn't have the polished feel of the Victorinox tools, far from it, in fact, it's the polar opposite, the Vics are refined and precise, the Leatherman tools are simple and rugged, ignorable, beaters, I can use the crap out of them, and not feel guilty about it, Vics open and close with satisfying clicks and snaps, Leatherman tools are slightly rattly, to use a car analogy, the Victorinox tools are Porsches/BMW's, the Leatherman tools are Dodge Cummins Diesel Rams and Chevy Silverados
the things I love most about my Leatherman tools is first off, they're based around an actual, true *NEEDLE-NOSE* plier head, it's hard to believe, but the big, beefy, overbuilt Surge actually has a finer tip on it than the Vic SwissTool Spirit, and can get into smaller places than the Spirit, Leathermans also have a wider jaw span (1 1/4" for ST Spirit and ST, 1 3/4" for Surge and Wave), the outside-opening tools are also a brilliant bit of engineering, yes I know, *ALL* the Vic tools open from the outside of the tool, but Vic doesn't (yet) have the one-handed blades that the Surge/Wave does, the simple convenience of a one-handed blade on a multi-tool is a stroke of brilliance, *and* Leatherman did the right thing with these blades by giving you a separate serrated and plain edge blade, no insipidly useless combo edges here, thank you (yes, I also hate combo edges too
) It's also nice to have scissors and the modular blade exchanger on the Surge as exterior tools
I also love the selection of tools in the Wave and Surge, as I have stated many times before in this review, I have no use for flathead drivers, and in fact, I *hate* them, they allow the tool manufacturers to up the tool count without adding any actual functionality, the Surge/Wave has just the right number of interior tools, Phillips/flat bit-driver, an eyeglass screwdriver, can/bottle opener, Awl (Surge), a single flathead, and scissors (Wave), the tool isn't cluttered up with 42 extra useless flathead drivers ranging from "Crowbar" to "Microscopic", just the most commonly used tools
the problems I do have with the Surge/Charge are that the tool is slightly "wobbly" when used in stretch mode, unless the plier head is pointing at the interior tool being used, on the Vic tools it doesn't matter where the plier head is pointing, there is no wobble in stretch mode, I haven't experienced any corrosion yet on the actual tool itself, however, the diamond file for the Surge is showing faint signs of corrosion in the middle of the file after only four days of ownership, and I haven't even used the file (except to install it), a quick call to Leatherman's CS has a replacement on the way though, and I hate the stubby length of the bit-driver, thankfully, I was able to hack up an extension bit for it that allows me to use standard hex body screwdriver bits
I know many here don't like the "eyeglass screwdriver", but I find it quite useful, it's great for straightening bent hard drive pins, as a manual-eject probe for CD-ROM drives and for removing the microscopic screws that riddle PowerBooks/iBooks/MacBooks/MacBook Pros
Leatherman Pros;
True needle-nose pliers
large opening gap
separate plain edge and serrated one-handed opening blades
external-mount scissors that can open *all the way up* to be cleaned/sharpened
minimal amount of flathead drivers
bit-driver is versatile
wire cutters actually cut wire
Leatherman Cons;
Surge is slightly rattly when closed, not bad, but not as solid as the Wave or the Vics
slight wobble in stretch mode
bit-driver is too short for deep/recessed screws
file on Surge began to show signs of rust in four days, and the file was unused
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