gerber freehand and mp650 evolution questions

[Jarfs]

Hello all.   I've been looking at the freehand in bo.   As the disappointed owner of a diesel I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this mt.   Also I have been searching for a full mp650 evolution technician kit.  Does anyone know where I can acquire one of these?  Any and all help is appreciated !!!!

[tosh]

Hi
Welcome to the forum Jarfs.
I can't really advise on the B/O Freehand, but the MP650 you mention 
I hope you've got (very) deep pockets!! Those are now commanding seriously high prices.
But I wish you luck my friend 

[gregozedobe]

Hi
Welcome to the forum Jarfs.
I can't really advise on the B/O Freehand, but the MP650 you mention 
I hope you've got (very) deep pockets!! Those are now commanding seriously high prices.
But I wish you luck my friend 

Tosh speaks the truth (ask me how I know).

The "military" version of the MP650 (spring loaded handles, 5 different heads and special sheath) are pretty rare these days, so when one comes up for sale they attract a lot of attention and the bidding goes up and up.  But that's not to say a seller may not know the value of what they have and will put one up on eBay for a low Buy-It-Now price - so if you are the first person to see it snap it up immediately 

The "civilian" version (non-spring loaded handles, only 2 heads and with a fragile clip to lhold the head) appear more often and usually sell for quite a lot less.  It is possible to put MP600 heads into the MP650 by grinding down the locating pins, but that will be an expensive way to get the Cable Cutter and Tecnician (fisherman) heads.


And welcome to MTo 

[Chako]

The Freehand is essentially a very large Diesel. If you can't get along with the smaller Diesel, than the Freehand may not be for you.

[Jarfs]

Thanks guys. I'll be on the lookout for the 650.....As far as the diesel goes my issue is with the inside opening blades.  I'm a leatherman fanboy, and as such appreciate outside opening bladed.  Even the supertool is easier to work with as the whole tool unfolds.  I feel like I'm fighting with the gerber just to get the blades out

[lowtech]

Chako, this time I beg to differ.
The Freehand is a large Flik, not a Diesel.
While the Diesel is the Chinese made cousin of the MP 600 and smaller MP 400, the Flik and Freehand feature outside opening blades and flicking pliers for the price of really short (even for Gerber) drivers.
If apart from blade, file and scissorrs are used often and drivers are secondary to you, the Freehand might be for you.
But be aware that teh Freehand is as big as a Surge.

[Chako]

Had to go look at mine as I haven't looked at it in a few years. I stand corrected. It is related to the Flik. You might want a Freehand...just be aware it is super heavy.

EDIT: In my defence I tend to group all the Gerbers with that type of plyer joint shape together...so in my mind, the Flik, Diesel, and Freehand are all clumped together. My mistake. 

[lowtech]

With a collection like yours, I would get a little fuzzy at times, too. :-)
But, as always, you can blame Kirk for the mistake...

Freehand review:
http://www.multitool.org/Gerber/Large-Tools/2006/12/02/freehand.html

[Chako]

No, I always shoulder my mistakes. Sorry Kirk. 

[Goatlord666]

THAT'S TRUE....the freehandis very HEAVY. it always drags my shorts below my waist when I carry it in my pocket when I go camping. carry with a sheath that it comes with. BTW...i hope you dont mind tiny drivers

[Topedge]

Hi, Newbie to the forum here.
I have some questions about the MP650 and I am confused (easily done for me) by some of the comments made about Military versus Civilian versions.
I have a complete MP650 Technicians Set, the body has the spring handles, but it only came with four heads, also the sheath only has room for four heads, so the comments about 5 heads in the set I don't get, unless there was also a 5 set version with a sheath for holding 5 heads?
I don't know the chronology of the sets, maybe a civilian version came out with spring handles and four heads?
Any ideas?
Thanks

[lowtech]

Hello Topedge!
Welcome to the Forum.
I guess Gregozedoble will be around shortly and can answer the question.

[gregozedobe]

Hello Topedge!
Welcome to the Forum.
I guess Gregozedoble will be around shortly and can answer the question.

And here I am    Firstly let me also welcome you to MTo and secondly, try to clear up any confusion I may have caused.

Here is a thread with some photos of the two different versions of the Multi-Plier 650:
http://forum.multitool.org/index.php?topic=39312.msg783944#msg783944

There are two different handles, one without springs often called the "civilian" version, while the version with springs is often called the "military" version.

There are 5 different MP650 heads that I know of (all based on MP600 heads with the locating pins ground down):

1  Plain needle nose pliers.

2  EOD needle nose pliers (with cap crimper).

3  Extra long needle nose with carbide wire cutters (Gerber called these "Technician" jaws when selling them with the MP650, but "Fishermans" jaws when fitted to an MP600).

4  Blunt nose pliers.

5 Cable Cutter jaws.

The "civilian" version came with heads 1 and 4, and a sheath with room for one head installed in the handles (making for a longer than usual sheath) plus the one extra head.

The "military " version usually came with heads 2, 3, 4 and 5 in a much larger sheath, but I have seen some (and bought one) that also had the #1 head squeezed in there as well.

The #1 head is sometimes available for purchase separately, while heads # 3, 4 and 5 rarely come on the market (I did score some to go with my extra handles recently from ebay.de), but I've never, ever seen the #2 (EOD/CC) head or the military version sheath for sale separately, only with a complete kit.  Has anyone ever seen them for sale separately (I'd like to buy a couple if I could) ?

I have no official knowledge on the chronology, but if I had to speculate, I'd suggest that the "civilian" handles were designed first, while the "military" handles were a later improvement meant to fix a design weakness in the "civilian" version - the locating clip inside the handle is quite fragile, and breaks off one side of the "V" quite often.

I hope that answers some of your questions, and if you have any more please ask (we like talking about tools here    )

And your off to a good start with a military 650 kit, many members have been looking for one of those for years without success (I only found my first one of those recently, and I had been looking for over a year).

[Topedge]

Hi and thanks for such an informative post.
I'm based in the UK and I suspect that my set has been made up from separate components. I have the following in the set.

1 x "Military" Sheath with four large and three small pockets inside the zipped case and two large pockets under the outside large cover Velcro flap.

1 x Plain needle nose pliers.

1 x Technician" nose pliers.

1 x Blunt nose pliers.

1 x Cable Cutter jaws.

1 x 10 Set bit kit

1 x TorX 8 Wrench

The instructions that same with it must be Canadian, as they are dual French & English, however there is no specific reference to the MP650 in the instructions, they appear to be just general ones.

I also suspect that due to export restrictions from the USA that maybe the EOD pliers are "banned", for example we are unable in the UK to purchase knives from ebay and sometimes multi-tools get "labelled" with the same tag as knives and are therefore off limits to UK buyers!

Cheers,

[Chako]

Here are a few more photos.

Here you see both the military and civilian versions. The military version came with a metal spring system to keep the jaws open. Towards the bottom is the military sheath.

[gregozedobe]

Thanks for the photos Dan 

This photo shows the different versions of the locating clips inside the handles.

The top one is the more robust one of the "military" handles (like a closed triangle), while the bottom one is the more fragile one of the "civilian" handles (two separate legs in a "V" shape).  One side of the V is prone to breaking off.  I wonder if it is caused by people trying to push the plier head back into the handles like you would on a regular MP600 ?