My Gerber Dime just broke. Replacement?

[marty1990]

Had my Gerber a year. Went on a stag do and a friend had a 'ball and chain' attached to his leg. A certain place wouldn't allow him in with the chain attached to his leg, and the key had gone missing, so I offered up my Gerber Dime. Straightaway the pliers snapped, as pictured:



I found that little multitool really useful as well, and feel the need to replace it as those pliers were handy. 

So my question. What do I replace it with? Another Gerber Dime? A Leatherman Squirt? Something else?

Opinions would be great before I buy. Are the pliers on the Squirt better or worse than the Dime? i.e. are they likely to break in the same way as the other ones?

[comis]

If you are looking for a keychain size multitool with pilers, I do use and recommend LM squirt PS4.  It is a little smaller and lighter too.

[nate j]

I have several Leatherman squirts, including the ES4 and the now-discontinued P4.  They are solid little tools, and I like them, although they don't see much pocket time these days.  I have not handled a Gerber Dime, but have to believe (based on handling and observing a significant number of other tools) that the US-made Leatherman would be superior to the Chinese-made Gerber.

That said, unless I am badly misunderstanding your post, trying to cut chain with a keychain-size MT is asking way too much, IMHO.  That is a job that could easily damage even a heavy duty MT, and is best left to dedicated tools such as bolt/chain cutters, grinders, etc.  At least if do you manage to break the Leatherman, you may rely on their 25-year warranty.

[dks]

The country of manufacturing should not affect the quality. It all depends on what the specifications requested by the maker are.
The dime is a lower cost tool than the LM Squirts so my Squirts feel more expencive, as expected by their price. If the dime cost the same it would need to feel the same.

However I still take the dime with me if I need a tool of that type, though mine arrived with  some serious issues. They both have good guarantees, where these actually work, but here they do not work well.
The newer ones seem to have these problems sorted.

What you need to think is what tools you need and how much money you want to spent. Also if you need more solid pliers you may want to look into the LM Juice line too.

Additionally, there are many more used, that means cheap, Squirts than Dimes if you want to buy a used one.

[Cupboard]

The plier jaws on my PS4 are a tad thicker than my Dime and they're a couple of mm wider on the handle side of the pivot when you're looking at the side. The pivot on the PS4 is also much bigger.
The PS4 has a hole all the way through the handle side arm for the spring to work, however the Dime has a slot all the way up the handle and I believe inside the plier pivot.

Taken together, my opinion would be that the PS4's pliers would be slightly tougher but I doubt there would be a huge amount in it. I'm not about to spend £50 testing them both to destruction for you!

What may be more significant is the shape of the wire cutters. I've drawn a bit of a rubbish and not to scale picture of them below which I how helps, but I think you'd get a better cutting action out of the PS4 (right) than you would out of the squarer Dime (left).


Dime

Squirt

Back to opinion, and to my eye the steel in the PS4 looks more uniform and less blotchy and pitted - my Dime's head has a lot of imperfections in it.

[Gareth]

well I'd still be sending that Dime back to Gerber for a replacement, they have a good warranty service and that looks like a prime candidate to me.  Of the two I do prefer my PS4 (in fact it's in my pocket right now) but, as DKS says, it's a more expensive tool.  Also it's not all that clear cut that the PS4 is better, there are things the Dime does better and there are things the PS4 does better.  Depends what your priorities are.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I personally prefer the Dime to the PS4.  The PS4 is a nice enough tool, it just doesn't do anything for me.  There's no "TAKE ME" factor to it.  It's functional but blah.

Def

[marty1990]

That said, unless I am badly misunderstanding your post, trying to cut chain with a keychain-size MT is asking way too much, IMHO.  That is a job that could easily damage even a heavy duty MT, and is best left to dedicated tools such as bolt/chain cutters, grinders, etc.  At least if do you manage to break the Leatherman, you may rely on their 25-year warranty.

Well the idea was that the pliers were going to be used part of the chain, not cut it, but my friend just went straight in and as soon as he clamped down on the handle, it snapped. It was a pretty clean break as well, which is why am not sure whether the quality of the Dime's are quite good.

I've looked at Gerber's 25 year warranty, dunno if this kind of damage would be covered to get it fixed/replaced.

Looked at the other Leatherman's, and I've seen the Style CS and the Style PS too. Are these good? Quite like the idea of the Style PS as that's apparently airplane friendly - even though it has scissors (?), and I could just use a small Victorinox for a knife, but I dunno if a Squirt would be better.

I do like the bottle opener on the Dime, though.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I can't speak for Gerber of course, but I am quite certain they would cover this.  Your best bet is to contact their customer service and talk to them.  Whether you buy a new tool or not you might as well at least get a replacement for this one.

http://www.gerbergear.com/Meet-Gerber/Support/Warranty-Info

Def

[marty1990]

Emailed Gerber, expecting a reply in the next few days - so they say. If they pull through and replace it, great. If not, I'll most likely go for a Leatherman. Probably the one without the knife, the PS. It's cheaper and I've got countless knives I can attach to my keys as an add on.

Anyone had experience with the Styles?

[Singh]

I really don't think the Leatherman would be and better than the Gerber Dime. And the Dime is around $10 less than the LM.




But... here's a thought. So you need small pliers?

how about this?

[nate j]

The country of manufacturing should not affect the quality.

I agree that ideally it "should not", but I'm afraid the reality is that it often does.

[Gareth]

The country of manufacturing should not affect the quality.

I agree that ideally it "should not", but I'm afraid the reality is that it often does.

most folks agree that the Multitasker tools are extremely high quality and they are made in China.  Just 'caus a lot of Chinese made stuff is manufactured to a budget, doesn't mean they aren't capable of high quality.  As the saying goes "you get what you pay for". 

[powernoodle]

In my view, the PS4 is somewhat objectively "better" than the Dime in most respects.  Better quality feel, smoother opening, more elegant design,  much better file, and no dedicated bottle opener sticking out there to take up space.   And as noted above, the PS4 has a wire cutter (albeit a small one), whereas the Dime really has a wire "pincher".  But I also love the Dime, and its gets plenty of pocket time.

[nate j]

As the saying goes "you get what you pay for".

Yes, and one of the corollaries to that statement is that American (and European, and Japanese) manufacturers are forced to compete (if they can) in today's global market by offering superior quality/performance, since in most cases they cannot compete with Chinese-made products on the basis of price alone.

[dks]

If a manufacturer/brand owner specifies/requests/forces a good quality product to the Chinese factory then he gets a good quality product.
Electronics (many branded phones, computers etc) as well as the Spyderco Byrd line, some AG Russell knives, multitasker, Buck knives 3** series SRM, etc are made in china to High specifications and with good QC.

Now, if a manufacturer/brand owner requests that they make him a tool/knife that sells for 2Euro or 1 Euro then the quality will reflect the price, irrespective of where it is made. (I have western low quality tools too)

Many people tend to excuse the actual brand owner blaming the country of manufacture, forgetting that if he is willing to sell that product then he is happy with the quality that was provided, since that is what he most probably asked for.

If Gerber or LM or Victorinox etc is selling a low quality product it is their fault, not the country's that made it.

[nate j]

Totally agree that the owner/vendor is responsible for what they are selling.

But, let's be honest, no one makes the decision to produce something in China on the primary basis of getting really top quality.  The decision to produce there is primarily cost-driven, with the quality ranging from fair to very, very poor depending on the level of commitment and involvement of the owner/customer.

[AimlessWanderer]

Totally agree that the owner/vendor is responsible for what they are selling.

But, let's be honest, no one makes the decision to produce something in China on the primary basis of getting really top quality.  The decision to produce there is primarily cost-driven, with the quality ranging from fair to very, very poor depending on the level of commitment and involvement of the owner/customer.

I've bought many products made in Western countries that have had quality ranging from fair to very, very poor too 

[nate j]

Junk is never hard to find.

Moreover, though, the distinction is not Western vs. Eastern.  It is developed countries vs. developing countries.  In developed countries, the wages and other costs of doing business are higher, but they have more complete and rigorous regulatory and quality control programs and, in aggregate, a more skilled workforce.  In developing countries, the reverse is true.  There is nothing wrong with this.  In fact, from an economic standpoint, specialization (and subsequent trade) will always be the most efficient choice.

[dks]

Totally agree that the owner/vendor is responsible for what they are selling.

But, let's be honest, no one makes the decision to produce something in China on the primary basis of getting really top quality.  The decision to produce there is primarily cost-driven, with the quality ranging from fair to very, very poor depending on the level of commitment and involvement of the owner/customer.

I agree with that.
You have to be careful though as some products from developed countries (US, EU, Japan etc., though China is developed a lot in many sectors) tend to be expensive, based on their past reputation, rather than what they are now.
A typical example that appears a lot on Bladeforums etc is bear and sons knives, as well as some products from e.g. Sheffield or Germany where the name has nothing to do with the actual original product, as the name was bought by a different company that just puts a great name on a cheap product. For example the Hen and Rooster knives, though still made in Germany, are not as good as the original old ones.

I've bought many products made in Western countries that have had quality ranging from fair to very, very poor too 

Agree

[Dem]

The decision to produce there is primarily cost-driven, with the quality ranging from fair to very, very poor depending on the level of commitment and involvement of the owner/customer.

I take it you don't care much for your computer or smartphone, then. Or a lot of electronics in general.

China certainly has the ability to make things cheaply (good or bad,) and their massive industrial capacity makes them very attractive for making products in general. So, sure, you might be able to say 'the average Chinese product is lower quality than the average Swiss product,' but that's not really a meaningful statement. It's just a reflection of the fact that it's financially more feasible to make a cheap thing in China than it is in Switzerland.

Something being labelled as made in China might be a reason to verify the integrity of the claims made about the product. But it's no reason to dismiss a product out of hand, and doing so cuts you off from getting some really nice stuff. And it'll cut you off from more in the future, because industrial growth in China isn't slowing down any time soon and globalization isn't going away.

'Made in China' doesn't mean the same thing it did thirty years ago.

Dem

[tosh]

I, like most folks on here shy away from Chinese built tools, probably more to do with their appalling reputation than anything else. But, and its a very big BUT.... Isn't the iPhone and iPad Chinese built? And the quality there is just 

Maybe its time we all lost our prejudice and realized that its the parent manufacturer who actually stipulates what the quality should be, thus leaving the "3rd party" to take all the flak when things go wrong. Pretty diabolical modern business  practice if you ask me.

[derekmac]

If something is well made, I really don't care where it's produced.  I also generally won't pay more just to get something that says Made in USA, Canada, Germany, ect. 

China does have a lot of crap that comes out of there, but there's also a lot of good and very well made products as well.  I bet 90%+ of the electronic things you own are made in China.

Now IMHO, Victorinox does make the highest quality MT's you can buy, and most of the high quality cars you can buy are made in Germany.  Certain countries just seem to be able to do some things much better than others.  Another fine example is, here in Canada, we make some of the best igloos you can find! 

[Gareth]

Cool looking house*.








*pun intended.

[DeezNittles]

Cool looking house*.








*pun intended.

I actually LOLed 

[nate j]

Cool looking house

On that, I think we can all agree.

[Cupboard]

and more specifically, around the 1 minute mark.

[marty1990]

Well good news! Gerber replied, have told me to send in the Dime and they said the fault is covered by the limited life time guarantee, so I should hopefully get a replacement.

[derekmac]

Nice,  glad to hear that!

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

[nate j]

Nice,  glad to hear that!

+1, good that they are standing behind it.