Leatherman Skeletool thoughts....

[David Bowen]

Been using the Skeletool for a couple of weeks now and some thoughts have come into my mind. The Skeletool seems to be a collection if you will, of various ideas and tools Leatherman has released in the past. Parts from others tools have been borrowed and combined with inginuity to create the Skeletool. What am I talking about? Well the One hand opening is very indicitave of the Wave/Charge series. The Carabineer idea is taken from what Leatherman played and toyed with on thier knife line. The springs that keep the tool tight and snap like it does comes from the Juice line. It's almost like the Skeletool is a collection of the some of the best ideas Leatherman has come up with and rolled into one simple and easy to use package. Granted I think they went a little overboard on the skeletonizing of the body but overall the pricipal works and works very well. Just a seed to put in your minds and let me know what you think.....


David

[BIG-TARGET]

You're right all the way around.

My question is that do you see it as a platform for things to come?

[David Bowen]

Platform for things to come? Well as far as inginuity and quality, yes I do. As far as overpricing? that is a possibility as well

David

[Leatherman123]

I agree with the points you made. But, they skeletonized the body to make it lighter weight..

[hawkchucker]

Platform for things to come? Well as far as inginuity and quality, yes I do. As far as overpricing? that is a possibility as well

David

I actually dont think they overprice the stuff they sell. i know some have griped that Leatherman seems to be making more high end stuff and the old 30$ pst is gone. But look at some of the stuff you get. The company is now lightyears away from the humble beginigs. Not to mention the warrenty. How many abused tools have tehy replaced that really should not have been. I for one am willing to pay for inovation if the tool does what they promise.

Besides it will allways be better than the taylor, and the Suspension.

If

[Spoonrobot]

Interesting points David, I think that it's typical of that company and most good manufacturers in general. There are other things like this too, the cutouts for the extensions on the Mini-Tool are similar to the cut-outs for the saw on the Supertool but are less refined.

I'm on the other side for the over-pricing. Like some of the other posters here I am still amazed at how much we can get for how little we pay. Shh, don't tell anyone if they find out we'll be paying top-end folding knife prices for our tools. 

[Styerman]

I have been rocking a CX for bout two weeks . I'm pretty happy wit h it , 90% of the time it will handle what I need to do . For the remaining 10 % , I got lots of other stuff . My full sized multis have been relegated to tool caddy , glove box , and man bag duty .

Chris

[BIG-TARGET]

Forgive me all members of SOSAK/ SAK fans.  But I have a bit of news concerning the SKeletool. Good news actually.  Whenever I used the bottle opener on an SAK , sometimes I had to use it twice, due to it slipping from the lip of the cap. 

I finally got a chance to use the carabiner/bottleopenner("C/B") tool on the CX today on a bottle of Hanks Diet rootbeer.  And it worked far superior to an SAK bottleopenner.  The lip of the C/B on my CX had an almost perfect width and curve to it.  It seated itself perfectly to the bottom of the cap.  A little downward preasure, and the cap popped clean off!!  And no chipping of the bottle neither !!

[Leatherman123]

When you use the bottle opener on the Skeletool does the bottle cap stay in the bottle opener? Like in the carabiner?

[Benner]

When you use the bottle opener on the Skeletool does the bottle cap stay in the bottle opener? Like in the carabiner?

Haven't you tried yours yet then?

[MultiMat]

Leatherman thats a yes to the cap staying the skeletool. Its easily the coolest bottle  opener I have . Now if Leatherman made a large Skeletool I would like to see that , IMO I think the Skeletool's plier head looks a bit small compared to the rest of it.

[BIG-TARGET]

When you use the bottle opener on the Skeletool does the bottle cap stay in the bottle opener? Like in the carabiner?

No but the design makes the cap practically drop into the hand,,,,,the same hand holding ths CX

[David Bowen]

Leatherman really is doing alot of forward thinking, the bottle opener is just the tip of the iceburg. I have been reading alot lately of people saying that LM quality is going downhill and that they just don't build tools like they use too. The Skeletool I feel is proof that they have not lost thier edge and will continue to be at the front line of innovation. It also helps when people like CRKT bring new tools to the market, helps fuel and spark the creativity to make some designs that are out of this world and functional at the same time.

David

[Leatherman123]

I do not drink beverages with bottle caps. If I have a beer it is a twist top!

[MultiMat]

I still use it on twist tops, any excuse to use it.

[prime77]

I still use it on twist tops, any excuse to use it.

Same here. Makes opening Yoo-Hoo allot easier.

[Leatherman123]

Next time I drink a beverage with a cap I'll try it!

[BIG-TARGET]

Next time I drink a beverage with a cap I'll try it!

Good.  You got your priorities straight.

[Sea Monster]

Saw a real live Skeletool yesterday.

It was tiny.

A tiny, tiny little tool.

I'm not a Big tool user. My PST serves for most tasks, but sitting in that thar glass case, the skele looked like a scale model of a tool.

[BIG-TARGET]

Also, now that my foot has finally all healed,I've noticed(in some of my haunts) The skeletool series has been quite reasonably priced.  From the $50-70 range,depending on seller

[MultiMat]

Saw a real live Skeletool yesterday.

It was tiny.

A tiny, tiny little tool.

I'm not a Big tool user. My PST serves for most tasks, but sitting in that thar glass case, the skele looked like a scale model of a tool.

Nomad it is loverly little thing , maybe dare I say it more form than function. But for $60us it is a good buy. Just don't buy the insane local OZ prices . I saw it for $199aus at my local Westfeild shopping center

[silentio]

I got mine from Marc from EDC Depot. He's having a father's day sale now, till the 15th. Check out the link

http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,5138.0.html

He ships really fast, and you'll be supporting a multitool.org advertiser. Double win, if you ask me.

[Rob]

We carry them too and you'll find we probably have the lowest prices available online.  Not many of the CX models left but we have a fair amount of the standards.

[Sea Monster]

Skeletool Marketing in my Email - (You lose out on the HTML goodness of coloured fonts & spacing)


Leatherman = Favorite Kid Status

a.k.a
"I'll forget everything you did that caused me grief this year, you are the best kid ever."


Make dad a hero and a hip one at that by giving him the new Leatherman Skeletool for Father's Day. Featured as a must-have gear item inMen's Health, Outside, Backpacker, Bike, Outdoor Life, Playboy and many more, this is the tool to own.


utside-accessible bladecan be opened with one hand, like his favorite pocket knife.

Full-size pliersfor grabbing, holding, tweaking and adjusting on the spot.

Bit driver with detachable screwdriver bitsmeans he can tighten and adjust anything.

A carabiner that doubles as a bottle openermeans he can open the cold one you hand him right before you tell him you might have had "a slight mishap with the car."


***Also check out the Skeletool CX with a 154CM combo blade and DLC coating.***

[WhichDawg]

I really like my Skeletool, it fits a niche; minimal, light and good quality.
I do feel Leatherman has some really good people working at designing
new and functional products, my cheers to them  they listen.

For me, if I want a serious, quality controlled, reliable MT, of any model, it's either Swisstool or Leatherman,
maybe a Sog but that's it! I can't trust the others, like Gerber.

I do feel Leatherman overcharges for their products, example;
their "regular" suggested TTi price is 119.95 and the AL and ALX models, which don't have titanium but
aluminum are the same price? what's up with that?

I live in the same state where their made/assembled/headquartered, yet I can get better deals on Swisstool,
what's up with that?

As for the warranty, I think the 25 year deal really hurts Leatherman, even "hit or miss" Gerber has a lifetime
warranty; if you really stand behind your product, it should be a Lifetime deal, that instills trust.

The Skeletool was a good idea, it filled a need, it is different from the others, it feels/works good,
kudos to Leatherman and their smart folks that thought it up and made it happen.

now about those non-leather/cheap sheaths.....

[Rob]

I do feel Leatherman overcharges for their products, example;
their "regular" suggested TTi price is 119.95 and the AL and ALX models, which don't have titanium but
aluminum are the same price? what's up with that?

List on the TTi is $159 and has a MAP price of $119.85 and the AL/ALX have a list price of $128 and MAP of $99.85.  There is also a significant difference in dealer cost as well.  I agree they are pricey but they are nice and feel my Ti was worth the money.  Kind of a premium splurge item I guess.  I always tell people not to look at the Charge line if they are price shopping.  The Wave is a great tool and a smaller hit on the wallet yet doesn't lose much to the Charge line.

Agree on the sheaths.  They could really use some attention.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Is this the one you were referring to?



Def

[scrappy]

evern their cheap stuff is the best on the market the kick is sold at wally fo 20 bucks all the time. that is the best 20 multi. the blast at 40 is a good tool also. it is many times better than the suspension but not even twice the proce of the suspension

[Sea Monster]

Way to show me up with superior computing skills, but yeah, that'd be it Def.

[Tarrodemierda]

bit off topic,but i have an idea or something,of those carabiners.
would it be a bad idea to replace the tiny screwdriver-adapter(that for repairing glasses etc) with a small folding carabine,in tools like surge etc.hmm.i know it might not fit,in   that place...but by rearranging the blades.