I have eye a Cable Dawg as soon as they hit the market. What prevented me from getting one was the high price. Well that changed when I bought one off of eBay for half the going price. That made my week, and getting it in my hands, well, that made my day.
The Gerber part of my collection isn't as in-depth as that of my Leatherman collection. With Leatherman, I try to get every tool and every variation that I know about. With the rest of my MT collection, I am happy to get one representative of a tool model. So I am over the moon excited to finally get a Cable Dawg into my paws for a what I consider good price.
Now enough of my being happy happy happy. Time for the photos.
The first thing I noticed...why is the outer box so big? There is enough room in the box to hold 4 Cable Dawgs in their sheaths.
The sheath is very well constructed. In fact, top quality here from what I can see. The colour is ok, but this is a military centric tool...so I can't grip much about the colour.
Plenty of "Made in America" inscriptions on the sheath and tool.
The Cable Dawg is big. Much like the Gerber Groundbreaker that came out after the Cable Dawg, it features a removable handle. This time around, there is only one removable handle unlike the 2 on the Groundbreaker. Also, everything seems a lot sturdier than the civilian centric Groundbreaker. I guess you need things more durable for the military.
The removable handle (yes, the handle locks very nicely with the tool...showing no play) features a nice knife blade with partial serrations and a gut hook. Also, you get a small flat driver, and an interchangeable bit driver. Now this bit driver it top notch. Overall fit and finish is very high. The other handle features a built in bit holder.
I have heard accounts that these things are garbage in the field...and that may be. However, I am impressed by the shear size and heft of this tool. There is no sloppiness here. Everything here gives you confidence that it will work for a long time. With that said, I have heard grumblings in other forums of soldiers who do not like the tool.
The wire stripper section works nicely. I used it on some wire.
The handles are very grippy and feel good in the hand.
A close up of the locking mechanism.
Well I am stoked that I finally got one of these in my collection. I still think it is very expensive for what it does. I did get a heck of a deal online though otherwise I would still be looking at it thinking it is out of my price range for what it is. There is some talk that the tool doesn't live up to expectations. I can't verify it as it is a collection piece. Still happy that I got it though.
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