My new Flik and MP700 (Pic Heavy)

[AimlessWanderer]

My first ever MT was a Gerber Suspension. At that time I knew nothing of multitools other than the fact I’d just bought a honking pile of poo.  The disappointment led to the start of a very long and often sceptical learning curve. After the Suspension the only other Gerber that dared come my way was a MP600 DET and even that got decapitated so I could add the shear heads from a Paul Chen Multitasker.



Fast forward to now and you guys having tempting me into near destitution, I now have a lot more tools and a far better understanding of what works for me and what doesn’t. I also went through a realisation recently that I was being a bit very blinkered in my approach and decided I ought to give Gerber another try.

Most people praise the MP400 and MP600, but while I like the Frankentool above, I really prefer outboard tools. This is not just for ease of access but also because I find the tools actually work better. The MP800 Legend was bigger than I wanted, which after ruling out the Suspension clones left me hovering over the butterfly opening on the discontinued MP700 and the sliding OHO deployment or the Flik. Hmmm, decisions ... decisions... I decided to sit back and wait for a bargain ... and both appeared at a bargain price at the same time so I grabbed one of each. They were from different suppliers and arrived at different times though, so there’s two different sets of pics below.

Enough of the waffle, time for pics. Out of the two tools the 700 was the first to arrive. One thing I ought to point ourt is that these are initial impressions only as these have not been carried yet, for reasons I'll explain later



One thing that all the MP700 reviews seem to have in common is a surprise that it isn’t bigger – and yes I was the same. I expected something at least the size of a Victorinox Spirit, not somewhere between a Spirit and a Leatherman Juice



Despite the small size the pliers really do pack a punch. Not only are they chunky looking little fellers, they have a nice delicate tip for fine work, indexable carbide inserts for heavy cutting and they are spring opening. The handles are also very comfortable and offer plenty of grip. Good start for Gerber here




The external tools all have the Saf-T-Plus locking system (More on this later). I’d heard comments about a stumpy blade on this tool, and yes it is shorter than you would generally expect on a tool this size, it’s perfectly capable as an urban utility blade



The length of the drivers is again overshadowed by those on a Vic Spirit, but stand up well in comparison with those on a Juice – and these don’t physically abuse you like the Juice ones do either. I also like the way the Phillips (which is 3D by the way), is doglegged towards the centre of the tool. The mini driver does need some work in fairness, as while it’s a narrow blade, it’s not “sharp” enough to actually go into the slot of a small screw. Easy one to fix though.




Scissors are the bread and butter of Gerber’s parent company, and as such I’d have expected something a little longer and more versatile on an “Urban Legend” , although  Victorinox makes some of the best scissors in the business but I was certainly underwhelmed with what they served up on the Spirit. That said, the 700’s scissors do work and cut paracord with ease.



The biggest oddity about this tool is probably the inclusion of fold out tweezers. Removable ones would have been a very nice touch and using them while attached is quite a cumbersome operation – although once again they do work and there is now a small piece of metal which is no longer stuck in my hand due to this tool. They are not the greatest tweezers in the world even if they weren’t attached to the tool, but they are enough for splinters that aren’t large enough to be gripped with the fine plier tips.



Overall, I really like this tool so far. It’s not got the fit and finish of some other makers and for many the satin finish everywhere is left behind by the Bling (and better corrosion resistance) of other highly polished options – but for something not much larger than a Juice it seems a very capable tool, and I’d like to think I’d get a good few years work out of it. Obviously it’s not a heavy duty tool and there’ll be times you wish you had your MP800, Swisstool, Powerlock, ST300 or whatever but that’s not what this tool is about. Urban Legend? Maybe that’s reaching a little far, but (regional laws not withstanding) a damn good shot at a civilian EDC tool in my opinion.



The Flick is a much larger tool, so I had to bring out the Swisstool for comparison as well as a Spirit. Putting the Gerber head-to-head to the two Vic’s does seem a tad unfair, but then again the Flik does have OHO (ish) and decent traction on the handles.





The blades on the Flik are far more substantial than on the 700. The blade shapes are rather nice, albeit a little confusing as to why they didn’t continue the edge further down towards the pivot. I suspect it’s due to the rather disappointing OHO slot. It’s not easy to get a purchase on this, and I reckon there were a few slips of the thumb at the R&D stage that had someone running for the first aid box. I’d have rather seen them put a thumb stud on (like they did with the scissors) rather than sacrifice blade length though, as I find it easier and quicker to use two hands – but you don’t always have two hands available. This may change as the tool is broken in and a little wear creeps into the equation. The plain edge came sharp and well finished. The “art deco” serrations on the other blade were also sharp but with a significant burr (not quite captured in the pics unfortunately). This blade kind of reminds me of the one on the SOG Toolclip – the cutting edge doesn’t go to the tip on that one either.





The saw is one tool the 700 doesn’t have. It’s pretty standard fare in respect of tooth style, but has a OHO slot at the far end of the tool (for those people with 9” thumbs). The blade is quite thick making it quite robust, but meaning that more material needs to be removed on a cut. The teeth are reasonably well finished, and there is a decent back taper to prevent/minimise binding. It’s a very respectable length saw for this size tool too.



The scissors on the Flik are way better than the 700 in terms of ergonomics (the OHO stud doubling up as a comfortable thumb pad) operation and capacity. I really like those scissors, well done Gerber



The 700’s drivers might be a little on the short side – but they reach further than the Flik. Again, they'll probably get you out of a fix on most non-industrial tasks. I don’t hold out nmuch hope for the can opener, but the other stumpies all seem perfectly usable for light duty tasks.



Overall the Flik is heavy, but not heavy duty, although for a budget tool is far superior to the Suspension in terms of quality and capability. The Flik and 700 are quite different tools, so it’s hard to say one is outright better than the other (at this stage). They both have their merits and of course their fair share of gripes. The plier heads on the 700 are far superior, but the Flik shines brighter on it’s four larger cutting implements.



Bottom line for me being a tool user – would I carry any of these tools? Well, there's a couple of issues on both these items which are stopping me from giving them the active life they were supposed to be created for.

The 700 is missing a spring on the SAF-T-PLUS locking system, which has temporarily rendered the knife side of the tool including all the flat drivers, non-locking. Thankfully, a some of the fine people on this forum have been assisting me in getting this resolved – I LOVE this place!!!

The problems on the Flik however are slightly more indepth, but probably still fixable. Here’s an example of where Gerbers innovation and design bravery has not been backed up with the precision of manufacture necessary to effect the safe operation of the design.

Once the plier heads have been slid out and the handles opened slightly a ratchet and pawl mechanism kicks in to keep the handles slightly apart and prevent pinching. Unfortunately, one side works fine but the other sticks intermittently. They should both nestle in nicely like this:



... and once the pawl has engaged, the tool does feel plenty secure enough for a medium duty multitool - but that's only if they engage properly. One side drops in perfectly and its quite clear that everything is as it should be




Unfortunately, the other side has a habit of sticking, and this appears to be sloppiness in the manufaturing of the pawl components




This leaves one side disengaged when using the pliers. There is an easy fix for this - poke it with your finger. This fixes the problem each and every time - however it does also negate the benefits of quick deploying OHO plier heads. If is after all called the Flik, and not the Flik and Poke (which would probably appeal to a whole different audicence).

So yes, other than these two issues (both of which I intend to put right when time permits) these are both tools that I would use and carry. Both these tools put a lot more confidence in me than that first soiree with the Suspension, which even a total noob could see was pants! Neither are perfect - but no tool is, but once they're fixed I reckon they'll work just fine 

[Gareth]

You know, I'd barely even glanced at the 700 before.   Suddenly I'm thinking that it's a very attractive looking MT.

[Gareth]

Arrgh! Now I'm looking at the Flik as well, you're a bad influence.

 

Good reviews BTW.

[AimlessWanderer]

  Cheers mate.

Despite the problems I listed I still prefer these to the MP400 & 600 (which I know you're a fan of) due to the outboard tools. Both tools feel good in hand too - nice ergos - particularly the 700 although in capability it IS limited compared to the Flik, and they could have picked a better final tool than tweezers.

Unless you want to do some work with a Dremel, I'd consider the Flik blades to be 2HO. You can OHO them, but not easily, and it's one of those tasks that makes your tongue pop out of the corner of your mouth in sympathy to the concentration level 

I've also noticed some play in the plier head on the 700 - not the pliers to handles but the actual plier head itself. If you squeeze the hanldes you can actually see the centre pin move a fraction to one side on the side that's stamped Gerber. Again, I don't there's nothing there to worry me about when gripping, pulling and cutting with the 700, but I wouldn't be happy trying to twist anything with them (like bending heavy wire etc) - then again I don't think I own a MT I would be happy doing that with - they all flex worryingly when doing that in my experience.

I think I might carry the 700 for a bit even though the spring issue is not resolved yet. This makes the blade non-locking, but for me that's not an issue. As regards the drivers on the same side, I can manually use the SAF-T-PLUS system and holding the slider up in position with my thumb isn't ideal obviously, but it can be done without being too much of a PITA.

I think I want to find time to take the Flik apart before using it to see if I can refine that pawl mechanism. I have a suspicion that if I can switch the two splayed pawl sections around, that might resolve the issue.

[J-sews]

The Flik does come apart rather decently Al (somewhere around here there's a photo of mine fully stripped down) Nice comparison and pictures by the way! I'm guessing that both of these tools were made by Gerber to compete with the Leatherman Wave, but neither quite gets it IMO.


Have you any copper wire laying around? If so, what are your thoughts about bypass style cutters -versus- anvil style cutters?

[AimlessWanderer]

The Flik does come apart rather decently Al (somewhere around here there's a photo of mine fully stripped down) Nice comparison and pictures by the way! I'm guessing that both of these tools were made by Gerber to compete with the Leatherman Wave, but neither quite gets it IMO.


Have you any copper wire laying around? If so, what are your thoughts about bypass style cutters -versus- anvil style cutters?

I shoul be able to find a few offcuts at work, but not sure if they'll be solid core or stranded - I'll get on it 

(I've got loads of both at the boat but not been able to get for weeks  )

[jekostas]

Nice pics.  The one thing I'd say is that I'd hesitate to call the Flik a budget tool - it was really meant to compete with the Wave and up until last year had a substantially higher MSRP and street price.  It's still around the same price as a Blast or SuperTool 300.

[AimlessWanderer]

Nice pics.  The one thing I'd say is that I'd hesitate to call the Flik a budget tool - it was really meant to compete with the Wave and up until last year had a substantially higher MSRP and street price.  It's still around the same price as a Blast or SuperTool 300.

Ah, OK 

I must have got mine for a real steal then, I paid little more than the price of a Suspension and at that price I'm happy with the overall quality (or will be once I've fixed the pawl). I've just had a quick snoot online and yes, there are places selling them for as much as a Blast  I'd say (even putting the pawl issue aside) the ST300 is certainly worth more than a Flik IMO - and I would not say it is a direct competitor for the Wave. If that was the plan it does fall way short. Still a reasonable tool though IF you can get one at a reasonable price - but not ST300 money I'd say. If I'd have paid that and got this, I'd have felt robbed.

Have you any copper wire laying around? If so, what are your thoughts about bypass style cutters -versus- anvil style cutters?

I just had a quick snip of some 7 strand neutral, multicore earth and also the wire from a piece of steel armoured cable. The anvil cutters do have a little daylight between them and did need a slight twist and pull to seperate them, but I've used far worse dedicated pliers before. The bypass cutters on the 700 were better but not "clean". The Wave that was used to harvest the test pieces in the first place far out performed them with a clean snip of all three.

Looks like I'll NOT be carrying the 700 till I've fixed the spring issue though. as I clipped through the cables the knife blade and flat drivers popped out to say hello  Seems like both of these will be relegated to the "awaiting modification/repair" pile.

Pity 

[J-sews]

Hmmm, well hopefully they won't be in that pile for too long.



Here's that disassembled Flik pic by the way:

[AimlessWanderer]

Hmmm, well hopefully they won't be in that pile for too long.

I hope so too 

Thanks for the pic Bob  Getting the plier heads out looks straightforward (muck like the 600 DET mod I did before), but getting the pawls out looks more interesting from your pic. I hope to get on this very soon

[AimlessWanderer]

The Flik does come apart rather decently Al

Certainly does 

Doesn't play so well going back together though 
(Those pins. pawls and springs are not my friend right now)

Time to stop and do other things today unfortunately, but I'll come back to it in a day or so now I've figured out what I'm doing 

[AimlessWanderer]

A little update here. I had a bit of a fiasco with Gerber UK customer support (details posted elsewhere), but a very helpful chap in the UK managed to sort me out with my issues on the MP700. I no longer have a tool with slight plier movement and a missing spring, instead I now have three fully functioning MP700s, all of which feel better made than the original - which other than the spring issue I was actually quite happy with.

The tighter fit and finish means that these items now cut wire very cleanly, and all the other tools deploy very smoothly and securely. If they got their standards of manufacturing this right more often, Gerber would certainly be higher up the rankings in discussions on here. These feel like a multitool should feel in operation - I'm hard pressed to say whether these or the recently acquired Fit are the best made Gerbers I've ever handled.

Big smile!!

The MP700 is the first multitool I've ever bought duplicates of, firstly because I really do like the tool for moderate duty tasks, but secondly because I don't trust Gerber to get me back up and running should I have a problem with them.

The Flik is still in dock. I'm determined to keep this away from Gerbers CS Dep't too  , and adhere the two pawl sections together to ensure they cannot flare and jam in future. I did start doing this when tired a while back and used some very strong adhesive to join them ... but my alignment was ever so slightly off which means I can't get the pin back through 



Thankfully I have more than enough MT's for this to be shelved until I have more free time to fix this properly. Yeah, it's a cop out - but multitools are supposed to be all about convenience, right? 

[Gareth]

Three now!  That's just greedy I say, don't fancy swapping one for a PPP or a Skeletool do you?

[AimlessWanderer]

That's not greedy - just good planning   

If you wan't to swap your plain edged Skele for my COMBO edged Skele ... I might have more chance of finding someone to swap it for an Octane 

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Final Update:
The MP700 has become one of my favourite pocket carried multis. It's not been worked too hard, but has performed well at work and at home. I'm beginning to think that Urban Legend might be a more fitting name than I first thought. At one point I thought that a file or an awl instead of the tweezers might have been better, and perhaps it might but I don't mind the tweezers at all really. They're not the easiest to use but they don't fall out and get lost right before the time you really need them.

Still need to thin down that smallest driver though so it will actually fit in smaller screws.

The Flik has gone - traded away. A semi-hurried and semi-botched attempt was made at a repair by me, enough to know it would have worked great if I just tweaked my methods slightly ... but to be honest I lost interest in it. Yes it was an outboard tool with OHO pliers, which for me should have been excellent ... but I didn't gel with it like I did the MP700. Maybe it was lack of faith in the pawl mechanism (even once repaired), maybe it was the weight, maybe something else entirely.

The scissors were nice, and with a longer edge (towards the pivots) the blades would have been very nice too. A file instead of saw and longer stumpies would also have improved matters for me, but then I'm sure others may rather have a saw than a file.

I'm glad I gave both these tools a try, despite all the hurdles and brainache they gave me up till this stage. It is a shame I couldn't get on better with the Flik but to be honest I don't think it could compete with my Vic Spirits and a couple of other options. It didn't offer much in the way of incentives for me (personally) to grab that instead of something else, but for someone with a different tool selection it might be a different story. The MP700 on the other hand is different enough with it's sprung pliers, replaceable cutters, cute little OHO blade, tweezers and rubberised handle grips to be a valid alternative without being a direct comparison, and I think the MP700 will be a part of my rotation for quite some time.

[Gareth]

This thread has seriously gotten me thinking about picking up both of these tool, but sadly I've got other things that I have to buy first.   Ah well, when money allows I'll look again. Cheers for the thoughts mate.

[AimlessWanderer]

You nabbed one of those True Utility minimultiwhateveritwas jobbies you were sniffing over yet, or is that still on the ever increasing wish list too?

Oh, BTW if you find any decent alternatives to 7dayshop for that kind of gear too (the TU stuff), gimme a yell. I tried to place an order with them but you they'll only ship to billing address and I pretty much have eveything shipped to my work addy these days. Sent them a message to check it wasn't be being dim, and they confirmed - billing address only 

[Gareth]

Nope, didn't get one yet though it is on the wish list.  Right now I'm putting money into some new winter boots and a little trip up North to test them, so MT spending is zilch.   Still I have high hope on the boots and and confident I'll have the weather to justify them very soon.

http://uk.thenorthface.com/tnf-uk-en/men-s-chilkat-ii-boots.html?colour=13839

[AimlessWanderer]

They look a bit good mate. 
I've dug my Jack Pike waterproofs and boots out ready for the onset

[Gareth]

These one's?    they look a bit good too.

http://jackpyke.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=389

[AimlessWanderer]

Them's the fellers  A bit heavy for long walks, but very warm and robust.

Looks like they might have discontinued the waterproofs I got from them though - well the trousers at least the Countryman Jacket is still there. It's a great ensemble for keeping in the boot of the car for those times where snow stops progress and you've got a long trudge through snow and sludge ahead of you. Doesn't seem that long since last time. Weren't we supposed to get a summer inbetween? 

[Gareth]

Yeah.......summer.   I think I've heard of them before, I wonder when someone will get round to importing them here? 

[darth_guy101]

I look for more function than form, but that black Vic. Spirit is the most beautiful tool I've ever seen. 

[AimlessWanderer]

  Cheers darth_guy 

They are quite nice aren't they  Which one in particular? The BO (all black) or the RT (stainless tools)?
When it comes to form and function the Spirit models excel at both, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise