Are we dinasaurs?

[Styerman]

Us Dinos . will be around for a long time . Multi's are if anything proliferating . An amazing number of things still require our talents , ever seen sheeple strugling with blister packaging ?

Chris

That all said , many sheeple regard preparedness as anti social and suspect .

[Grant Lamontagne]

Multi's are if anything proliferating

You know, that is the same thought I had six months ago, but after talking with reps from manyt different companies it seems opposite to that.  Many companies have dropped out of the multitool race (Kershaw for example) and many of the multitool companies are either launching sidelines (Leatherman) or already have other product lines to support them (Victorinox, Gerber, Wenger etc).

In many ways, quality tools have forced themselves out of the market.  Collectors and gadget nuts like us that have to have multiple tools and anything new that comes out are a very small percentage, and not enough to sustain a company.  Thinking of it that way, the majority of people who have purchased multitools from reputable companies in the last 20 years are probably not in need of a new one unless they lose or break it.  Many of the folks who didn't buy a quality tool have lost interest in them when they broke or found out they weren't all that useful, which takes out another significant portion of the market. 

So basically, there is only a small percentage of the entire multitool carrying public interested in purchasing a multitool at any one time, and competition for those (relatively) few sales is amazingly fierce which is why we are seeing tool prices climb steadily and constant "new" tools on the shelves.  And why many new tools share many design features of their predecessors, or are part of a similar series like the Juice or Charge models.

So, given all that, the tool industry may have finely engineered it's own obsolescence as less and less consumers are buying tools, and the companies have to tighten their belts to make ends meet.  Of course, for those of us that revel in their innovations, this is an excellent time.  Unfortunately, as the pack thins I think we may lose some too.

Def

[J-sews]

Extremely well said, Def. I agree 100%

~Bob

[Grant Lamontagne]

I only wish I had started this site ten years ago when everyone and their dog was producing a multitool!  Or had a hollow handled survival knife magazine in the early 80's when the first Rambo movie came out!

Def

[J-sews]

That reminds me of the title of my autobiography:

Would-a Could-a Should-a Done That

 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Maybe all us handy tool guys should cobble together a time machine.  Then we would all be rich enough today to buy all the tools we want!

Def

[bobofish]

If you guys are worried about multitool companies, think about how camera companies have gone the way of the dodo: Mamiya and Contax are gone, Pentax and Hasselblad are just about to give up the ghost, Leica is being held up by the collectors and Nikon Canon and Olympus have given up the super compact market. Wait until real cell phone cameras come out, and there will be several more casualties.

With that said, A success story of the last few years has been Alpa, a new incarnation of an old brand. The cameras are totally hand made, and are completely and totally mechanical. They sell so well that they don't have to advertise, and you definitely need screwdrivers to fix them.

Besides, you always have your toenails to clip and file.

[vadsoom]

Speaking of evolving muititools. I'd love to see a tool-sized DMM and cordless soldering iron. I'd pay good money for these! Bring on the mutations!

[Grant Lamontagne]

Besides, you always have your toenails to clip and file.

In that case I guess this is all the tool I'll ever need...

Def

[David Bowen]

Nah I would take the wenger clippers over those any day,  my dad had a winchester tool till I gave him my SuperTool 200, that guy is so damn proud of that thing. Nothing better can be said about a well made tool.

David