Leatherman REBAR Multi-Tool

[Dr. Bahn]

Something Juli said Monday:

"Leatherman Rebar will begin shipping in April from the states. It will arrive in Germany a few weeks after this and then ship our from there to the retailers. I am guessing mid May you should see it on shelves.
Monday at 3:09pm

Thank you very much for the information. I am already looking forward to get one in my hands. 

[S.Gossman]

Got one pre-ordered. Can't wait.
Scott

[turnsouth]

On Monday, April 2nd this question was asked:

"when will the rebar be officially available?"

And answered:

"Leatherman: They should be shipping here in the next week or so and then it will take time from the distribution centers to the store shelves. Unfortunately we won't have much sway over that part, just when it leaves out place."

 

[Mercury]

The wait is killing me!

[Jors]

The wait is killing me!

I must wait even longer : I am living in South Africa.

Fortunately by the time it is available, there are so many reviews (Good or bad) that I can make an informed decision. If it is bad then I will know before the time not to buy. So I am waiting and monitoring the forums.

[Mercury]

The wait is killing me!

I must wait even longer : I am living in South Africa.

Fortunately by the time it is available, there are so many reviews (Good or bad) that I can make an informed decision. If it is bad then I will know before the time not to buy. So I am waiting and monitoring the forums.

That is a great plus, at least you can see the silver lining!

[BlueDot]

The wait is killing me!

I must wait even longer : I am living in South Africa.

Fortunately by the time it is available, there are so many reviews (Good or bad) that I can make an informed decision. If it is bad then I will know before the time not to buy. So I am waiting and monitoring the forums.

That is a great plus, at least you can see the silver lining!

Wait- what?  The liners are silver?

 

[Mercury]

 

[sawman]

I was hoping they'd offer it in industrial orange 

[Mercury]

I was hoping they'd offer it in industrial orange 

Just wait until it's time to retire it, then they will "relaunch" it with an orange variation and call it a new product.

[Tsquare]

Hey Jors, it appears that the phillips screwdriver implement is the same as the one from the kick, fuse, and blast models so hopefully the bit adaptor for those models will also fit it. 

[Tsquare]

I am sure when someone gets their hands on one of these that question will be answered for certain. I have one of the bit kits for the kick, fuse, blast models so if no one answers that question when I get mine I will try it and let everyone know. 

[sjian]

They are killing me with this.  How hard is it to give us some sort of concrete release date?

Perfection takes time and money.   If they released it now, you'd probably end up with a gerber.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Funny you should say that since what you are really getting in a Rebar is a Blast in an ST300 costume with a Gerber head.

Def

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

[turnsouth]

So there we have it. Design perfection is best described as putting together the things that are already there, just in the right combination.

[sjian]

Well in this case it's refinement, but with a brand new design, Leatherman seems to "finish" their product more than Gerber in my experience.

Gerber designs look like they just come off the drawing board where Leatherman products feels like they go back to the drawing board a few times (or a few more times) before they're released.  I could be wrong, just my theory.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I suppose... if each company were to put in "X" amount of dollars into designing a product, company A spends a lot of time trying to design new and interesting products, that leaves company B lots of funds to throw at redoing company A's ideas.

Funny how if the positions were reversed, everyone would be smurfing on Gerber for copying Leatherman, but since it's Leatherman that is stealing ideas it's ok.

Double standard anyone?   

Personally, I miss the days when Leatherman made Leatherman tools, not "upgraded Gerbers." 

Def

[dks]

Schrade Century products are OK, because they were made by the good Ol'boy Schrade, but if anybody in China dares to make a knife that looks vaguely like a US model people eat him alive in the forums.. Some companies are more equal than others (The Multitool farm)
I think one of the great things here is that because it is Canadian owned it has quite an international flavour, where all countries and products are treated equal (ish)...

[turnsouth]

Personally, I miss the days when Leatherman made Leatherman tools, not "upgraded Gerbers." 

Def

Boy, if Leatherman's were my favorite tool, and I had hundreds and hundreds of dollars invested in them, I might find this remark personally insulting
 
 

[powernoodle]

Personally, I miss the days when Leatherman made Leatherman tools, not "upgraded Gerbers." 

I just don't get that statement at all.  Leatherman tools are hardly upgraded Gerbers.   In terms of design, build quality, and virtually every other tangible measure, they are at the opposite ends of the MT spectrum.  They both make MTs, and Leatherman is coming out with one tool that remotely resembles a Gerber (when viewed from a distance, through squinty eyes) but thats about where the similarity ends. And Tim Leatherman invented the MT market.  If anything, Gerbers are (vastly) downgraded Leatherman tools, not the other way around.

JMO. 

[ari6126]

Personally, I miss the days when Leatherman made Leatherman tools, not "upgraded Gerbers." 

I just don't get that statement at all.  Leatherman tools are hardly upgraded Gerbers.   In terms of design, build quality, and virtually every other tangible measure, they are at the opposite ends of the MT spectrum.  They both make MTs, and Leatherman is coming out with one tool that remotely resembles a Gerber (when viewed from a distance, through squinty eyes) but thats about where the similarity ends. And Tim Leatherman invented the MT market.  If anything, Gerbers are (vastly) downgraded Leatherman tools, not the other way around.

JMO. 

What I think Def's refering to are the things Gerber had first (replaceable cutters and one hand plier access) that LM has now adopted. Also I wouldn't say Gerber and LM are on totally different planes. The MP600, Octane, and Shard are all great. Really both brands are far better than the cheap no names. And worse than Vic.

[genevabuck]

All that I have to say is...stop buy Leathermans and stick with the "advanced" Gerbers. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

When Leatherman starts paying the bills for this site I'll consider blowing smoke up their butts- until then this site is open for people's opinions.  To me, there hasn't been a whole heck of a lot interesting coming from Leatherman lately, and to be honest, I hope they haven't gotten to the point where they figure they don't have to go to effort for people to buy their products.  Sadly, with very little of interest for the last couple of years and virtually no innovations of their own, I am at the point if I'd wondering if Leatherman is losing touch with the consumer.

As for Leatherman being first, you can really only use that as an argument if you drive a Ford.  I don't.  I acknowledge they were first but I drive what I want to drive and what meets my needs regardless of who comes first.  Same with multitools. 

I'm not crapping on Leatherman, I just think we should expect more from them if they want to stay at the head of the pack.  Nothing they are doing now or have done in the recent past really excites me.

At least Gerber, SOG and CRKT are experimenting with different and new design ideas.

Def

[Mercury]

Personally, I miss the days when Leatherman made Leatherman tools, not "upgraded Gerbers." 

I just don't get that statement at all.  Leatherman tools are hardly upgraded Gerbers.   In terms of design, build quality, and virtually every other tangible measure, they are at the opposite ends of the MT spectrum.  They both make MTs, and Leatherman is coming out with one tool that remotely resembles a Gerber (when viewed from a distance, through squinty eyes) but thats about where the similarity ends. And Tim Leatherman invented the MT market.  If anything, Gerbers are (vastly) downgraded Leatherman tools, not the other way around.

JMO. 

What I think Def's refering to are the things Gerber had first (replaceable cutters and one hand plier access) that LM has now adopted. Also I wouldn't say Gerber and LM are on totally different planes. The MP600, Octane, and Shard are all great. Really both brands are far better than the cheap no names. And worse than Vic.

I think both companies make great tools, but not all their products should have been released.  I love Gerber's MP600 and MP400, but most of their other stuff doesn't do anything for me.  As for Leatherman, I agree that Tim was the driving force behind the market and EVERY other Plier based tool is, to an extent, a copycat.  That doesn't mean they aren't good tools, you couldn't say Chevy's suck because Ford came out first.  I don't particularly agree with Grant's statement, using other companies designs and modifying them is what the whole market thrives on.  The Rebar looks to be fantastic regardless of any influences.  I wish all the companies would stop making crap on their lower priced end.  The Sidekick, Wingman, Crucial, Etc, make me sick.

[powerring]

At least Gerber, SOG and CRKT are experimenting with different and new design ideas.

Agreed and that's what frustrates me about Gerber.  I'll look at a review for a new Gerber tool and think "what a neat design".  Then I buy it and think that the execution is not nearly as good as the idea.   

There are exceptions.  Take the Shard, which is inexpensive, interesting and useful.  I have hopes for the Dime.

[sjian]

Then I buy it and think that the execution is not nearly as good as the idea.   

This is what I mean by Leatherman seems to go back to the drawing board.  When I was doing software engineering, I remember the first question my professor asked me was "Why do we program software?"  the answer was "to solve a problem".  I suppose the same can be applied to engineering a multi-tool.

If Leatherman doesn't hear problems about their tools, why are they going to throw money into research and development when they already have success?

I suppose if we make enough noise about how the lack of scissor on the Rebar will cause us to jump off a cliff because there's no point in life anymore, Leatherman will design a model with scissors.

[scrappy]

I want to see more innovation however I think leatherman is more in touch with what I want to see than any other manufacturer. The 300 is not innovative but it is the best tool released in the last five years for any manufacturer in my opinion.

[sawman]

I'd like to see better heat treatment for less tool chipping and breakage.  Its place your bets on how many broken plier heads we're going to see once the REBAR is finally released.

[Mercury]

I'd like to see better heat treatment for less tool chipping and breakage.  Its place your bets on how many broken plier heads we're going to see once the REBAR is finally released.

Unfortunately that's a real fear with Leatherman tools.  I too am a bit worried about chipping with the Rebar.  Luckily my EDC blast has held up very well for the last year.

[sawman]

I'd like to see better heat treatment for less tool chipping and breakage.  Its place your bets on how many broken plier heads we're going to see once the REBAR is finally released.

Unfortunately that's a real fear with Leatherman tools.  I too am a bit worried about chipping with the Rebar.  Luckily my EDC blast has held up very well for the last year.

It's just a matter of getting a good one off the assembly line and the best way to ensure that is to start using the hell out of it right away and see how it holds up