gerber's qc?

[lucky13don]

so i traded in a recoil for a diesel. is anyones new gerber tools so poorly finnished? the phillips is awful, needs file work. the blades a nightmare. funky grind line, tip will break first use. the saw rocks. bottle will snap first use. and this is from gerber themselves!!! :ol

[JNieporte]

I got some Dimes and wasn't happy. They were the first Gerbers I bought in the past ten years, as I noticed Gerber's quality plummeted around that time. I had an original EZ-Out and a Gator from 1996, and they were great. The more recent models, even the newer EZ-Outs and Gators, have a noticeable drop in quality.

[Biru]

My Legend 800 is very well-finished (somewhat runny application of the handle finish is my major gripe), but a later Multiplier I purchased turned me off Gerber.

I'd been thinking about a Gerber knife, but your post just pushed me over an edge (to some other brand) on which I was already teetering.

Good Luck, Bill.

[Dunc]

Heres a photo of the finish on my Gerber Prodigy , its a lovely knife and very well made but as you can see it hasn't been finished properly , the other side is fine. I did send the pic to Gerber who said

Duncan - thanks for sending. It looks like the finish was not quite completed on that knife. I have confirmed with our team that it does not impact the quality of the knife, but if you would like to get a replacement, we are willing to do so. Thank you for sending this; feedback from customers is imperative to our future success in providing solid gear!

I don't think it really matters on this style of knife and as it does not effect its use in any way I'm going to leave it. Damn nice knife though 

Dunc

[kitbeard]

In my (limited) experience, Gerber's approach to QC is, erm, fitful.  I bought a Dime from Amazon last month and it's a very good design and I have to say in some ways the best key chain MT that I've owned and I got a good deal on price.  But the F&F leaves a lot to be desired: the nearly new Dime looked like it was about six months old straight out of the pack, with small patches of bare metal on the scales and rub marks on one side of the pliers.

This is all comestic stuff but it could be avoided.  My old Shortcut has good F&F and my Vise while not coming close in the design stakes to the Dime has a pretty rough but still better paint job.  I know I'm pointing out what are essentially niggles not deal breakers but they're just the sort of thing that doesn't help a company that hasn't got a pristine reputation for quality. 

However, I'd have to admit that I have a real soft spot for Gerber's small MTs, including the Shard, despite what seems to me a sort of two steps forward, one step back approach that doesn't help them.  The very fact that thread exists shows they're not really at the same level of Leatherman in terms of quality but, and this might sound more than a bit odd, I still prefer their key chain MTs to my Leathermans, with the exception of the Micra.

[Gareth]

Sadly there has been a few QC issues with various Leatherman tools over the years as well as with Gerbers'. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I don't think any company is exempt from quality issues from time to time.

Def

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[Gareth]

I don't think any company is exempt from quality issues from time to time.

Def

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Yeah, exactly.  Even Victorinox has had one or two bad examples leave the factory.

[kitbeard]

I couldn't agree more, there's no natural law or anything exempting companies from bad QC periodically.  However, I get more exasperated with Gerber than, say, Leatherman because I really like their tools and knives.  I hope that came across in my post; I've only ever had one Gerber tool that failed on me and I am generally talking about niggles rather than big, serious flaws.  However, my new Gerber Tempo looks like a really good small torch - a nice model.

[Syph007]

I've tried a bunch of gerbers that have just been visitors for me, and they got sold.  I think I got my first keeper finally though, the MP400.  The fit and finish, and steel quality are still poorer than Id like, but the design is excellent and that won me over in the end.  So this one took its place in the toolbox.