Love for the Buck X-Tract and Gerber Suspension

[ringzero]

I'm mowing a slightly uphill stretch of the yard, when I notice  several thorn-covered vines have enjoyed a growth spurt, poking through the fence from the neighbor's side.  So, I whip out my trusty Buck X-Tract, then step away from the mower and lop off those vines.

I turn around to start mowing again, but the &$#* mower isn't where I left it!  It has rolled backwards about six feet, severing its own power cord in the process.

[RANT]  That shouldn't happen because the mower has a so-called 'dead man' switch.  To run the mower, the operator's right hand must grip a long spring-loaded lever with a concave surface shaped to fit around the mower's push handle.  Pulling that lever up against the handle closes the switch.  When the operator's grip relaxes, that spring-loaded lever is supposed to snap back down, opening the switch to kill power to the motor.

However, sometimes the foam padding of the handle gets compressed into the concave face of the lever in just the right way.   When the operator's hand releases the lever, the foam padding is wedged against the inner concave surface of the lever firmly enough to hold it against spring tension.  The 'dead man' lever will stay pressed against the handle for several seconds until the foam has expanded sufficiently to release the lever, killing the motor power.

Of course, that little design flaw RUINS the safety feature provided by having a 'dead man' switch.  And this is the second mower I've owned (different manufacturers) with that same design flaw!

You'd think big time manufacturers would catch a simple flaw like this right away during testing.  Anyone can easily deduce the problem.  But no, they'll do nothing about this flaw until various people have chopped off their toes and filed multi-million dollar lawsuits. [/ END RANT]

Anyway, the mower had severed its own power cord about 5 feet back from the plug, so I unplug the other end of the power cord and go to work with Buck X-Tract and Gerber Suspension.

The Suspension's serrated blade easily slices the power cord to get a clean end behind the ragged cut the mower left, then quickly removes the rubbery outer casing of the cord to expose the wires.  Suspension's handy spring-loaded, needlenose pliers efficiently separate, strip, then neatly twist the bare wires.

The outlet plug must be transferred from five foot cord fragment to the new end of the remaining cord.  Six pseudo-Phillips screws must be loosened and four of them removed from the plug assembly.  Two screws are deeply recessed into the face of the plug.

The Suspension's flattened Phillips will work, but the X-Tract's real Phillips is quicker and easier and the plug is removed in short order.

Suspension's pliers are used to route the wires through the plug and twist them around its screw terminals.

X-Tract quickly tightens the six screws and the repair is complete.

Didn't time it with a stop watch, but elapsed time was only a few minutes.  Repair was complete in less time than it would have taken going back inside the house to get dedicated tools.

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[David Bowen]

Sounds like you gave those tools a run for thier money. There are some negative thoughts out there about some of the imported name brand tools, I know alot of it has to do with the quality control of other tools imported from the same country. The X-Tract is a fantastic lightweight too (all one hand operation too), I don't own a suspension but I hear mixed emotions, guess I will have to get one to see if its as much as they talk about. You didn't feel under-tooled did you?

[ringzero]

Sounds like you gave those tools a run for thier money. There are some negative thoughts out there about some of the imported name brand tools, I know alot of it has to do with the quality control of other tools imported from the same country. The X-Tract is a fantastic lightweight too (all one hand operation too), I don't own a suspension but I hear mixed emotions, guess I will have to get one to see if its as much as they talk about. You didn't feel under-tooled did you?

I love my Buck X-Tract and wouldn't hesitate to suggest it to anyone wanting a knife-centric tool.  It has a seriously capable knife and quite decent screwdrivers.  The pliers aren't bad, but capability is limited due to their smaller size.  Lately I've taken to using X-Tract's wirecutter to clip smaller branches off evergreen bushes, which works suprisingly well.

I've used my Suspension for lots of work around the house, mostly electrical stuff, and have been happy with it.  I like the feel and handiness of the spring-loaded pliers, although I haven't done anything really heavy duty with them.  I used the pliers to grab, twist, and crack off pieces of tough wall paneling to widen a pre-existing hole, which exposed them to some pretty good twisting torques, with no problems.

If I need really heavy duty pliers, I'll grab the SOG Powerlock, but for day to day stuff around the house the Suspension has been fine.

I'd be hesitant to recommend anyone buying a Suspension due to the highly negative coverage it gets on MTO, but I've used mine quite a bit with no problems.

Its ergonomics and convenience of use beats the heck out of my LM PST and SOG Powerlock.

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[WhichDawg]

Good Job RingZ! some safety feature on them mowers!
good rant

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

That pretty bloody poor of the mower manufacturers to have such a potentially letal defect

Glad your tool's came through for you mate

[bashk]

I have been nervously using my Suspension for yard work myself. I've used the was to cut evergreen bush branches, cut coat hanger wire (two cuts only) to make a croquet hoop, tightened wood screws that needed to be recessed into the steps of one of our stairways, stripped wire at work, etc. etc.

Its help up well so far but again, I am somewhat nervous about the thing exploding into a million pieces. There's an interesting thread in regarding MT failures in another furum, but I can't seem to remember which one it was. I'll post it when I find it.

Bash

[ringzero]

I have been nervously using my Suspension for yard work myself. I've used the was to cut evergreen bush branches, cut coat hanger wire (two cuts only) to make a croquet hoop, tightened wood screws that needed to be recessed into the steps of one of our stairways, stripped wire at work, etc. etc.

Hey bashk, good to see another Suspension user here on MTO.

I too have used the Suspension woodsaw to cut branches off of evergreen bushes.  The saw cuts quite well, despite being a little on the short side.  Seems to cut more precisely than the saw on my SAK, leaving the faces of the cuts very smooth.

I've cut a few coat hangers with the Suspension wirecutter with no problem.  I usually try to avoid that with multitools just to avoid dulling or buggering up the wirecutters.

I've used Suspension's screwdrivers a lot and have no real issues with them.  They all work well for me - even the flattened Phillips works OK.

Where the Suspension really shines for me is electrical work.  Its spring-loaded, needlenose pliers are great for wiring tasks.  For me, Suspension's pliers work about as well as a pair of dedicated pliers.  That's not the case with other multis I've used for electrical work.

.

[DaveK]

The saw cuts quite well, despite being a little on the short side.

That's my only real gripe with the suspension, the tools are a bit on the short side, given the overall size it, you'd have thought they'd have been able to add another half inch to the blades and the saw.

I agree wholeheartedly about the spring-loaded pliers being useful for wiring stuff. I haven't used mine much at all, but I tried them out fitting a dimming light switch the other day, and the spring-loading made the one-handed task much easier.

I've read some of the stories about the quality, but I'll not be using mine for anything heavy - so it's fine!

[Sea Monster]

Mowers come with power cords?

[ringzero]

Mowers come with power cords?

Guess it's possible, but not as far as I know.  (Had to buy the power cord separate from the mower.)

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[ringzero]

The saw cuts quite well, despite being a little on the short side.

That's my only real gripe with the suspension, the tools are a bit on the short side, given the overall size it, you'd have thought they'd have been able to add another half inch to the blades and the saw.

I agree wholeheartedly about the spring-loaded pliers being useful for wiring stuff. I haven't used mine much at all, but I tried them out fitting a dimming light switch the other day, and the spring-loading made the one-handed task much easier.

I've read some of the stories about the quality, but I'll not be using mine for anything heavy - so it's fine!

Yeah, Suspension's implements are somewhat shorter than some other multis.  Except for the saw, those shorter implements don't seem to handicap functionality much while using them, at least for me.

The shorter knife blades work fine for general utility cutting:  cardboard, rope, electrical cables, wire, insulation.  I really like having the two one-hand-opening blades available:  PE Wharncliffe and SE sheepsfoot.

Yeah, the pliers are probably the best multi pliers I've ever used.

If it breaks, swapping it for a new one at the local Lowes is easy enough for me.

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[Benner]

Mowers come with power cords?

Guess it's possible, but not as far as I know.  (Had to buy the power cord separate from the mower.)

.

Now I apologise if I have got the wrong end of the stick here, but I think Nomad was joking there.

[powerring]

I think the Buck X-Tract is great if you're looking for a quality knife centric tool that's completely usable one-handed.  I own a SwissTool Spirit and several Leathermans, Gerbers and SAKs but I find myself using the X-Tract more than most of the others.  If you use pliers extensively, it's not your tool because they're on the smaller side. 

As for the Suspension - it is what it is.  I personally don't think it's a bad tool for under $30.  It's not the toughest thing out there but there are many elements of its design that are very nice (including the plier feel, the gunmetal finish, the number of tools per $).  For about the same price, you could buy a Leatherman Kick. 

[David Bowen]

I love the X-Tract series, with the LED and the FIN coming out I will love the series even more!!! 

[ringzero]

Mowers come with power cords?

Guess it's possible, but not as far as I know.  (Had to buy the power cord separate from the mower.)

.

Now I apologise if I have got the wrong end of the stick here, but I think Nomad was joking there.

Well maybe that was a joke, but if so I didn't exactly 'get it.'  However, jokes often pass right by me without any comprehension on my part.

Didn't notice any    or  ;>  so who knows?

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[ringzero]

I think the Buck X-Tract is great if you're looking for a quality knife centric tool that's completely usable one-handed.  I own a SwissTool Spirit and several Leathermans, Gerbers and SAKs but I find myself using the X-Tract more than most of the others.  If you use pliers extensively, it's not your tool because they're on the smaller side.

Yeah, the blade is very nice and that is what I mostly use.

The screwdrivers are also very nice and I use them a fair amount.

The pliers are too small for most applications where I find myself needing pliers. 

As for the Suspension - it is what it is.  I personally don't think it's a bad tool for under $30.  It's not the toughest thing out there but there are many elements of its design that are very nice (including the plier feel, the gunmetal finish, the number of tools per $).  For about the same price, you could buy a Leatherman Kick. 

This is a very fair critique of the Suspension, IMHO.

It's not a multi to pack into a survival kit, but is fine for use around home.

Suspension advantages compared to LM Kick:
-more tools available
-one-hand-opening blades
-outside opening tools
-better plier ergonomics

Suspension disadvantages compared to LM Kick:
-heavier
-bulkier
-more complicated design means more to go wrong
-pliers possibly not as strong as Kick's

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[ringzero]

I love the X-Tract series, with the LED and the FIN coming out I will love the series even more!!! 

Yeah, I'll probably end up with both the LED and FIN versions too.  Do I really need THREE X-Tracts?

No, but I really, really want a Fin because of its plain edge blade and one-hand scissors.

And the LED version - I want to try it out.  If its LED functionality leaves something to be desired, I can always give it away as a gift.

Where will it all end?

(One MTO member has purchased one X-Tract of each available color for all three models - around a dozen X-Tracts total.)

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[joebw]

Hi Ringzero,

I have ten of the Xtract versions and thought that I had all that were out.  Do you have a list covering the twelve that you mention?

Thanks for your help.

Best - Joe

[ringzero]

Hi Ringzero,

I have ten of the Xtract versions and thought that I had all that were out.  Do you have a list covering the twelve that you mention?

Thanks for your help.

Best - Joe

So you're the one with all those X-Tracts.  I couldn't recall who it was and exactly how many you had.

Sorry for the false alarm as I don't know exactly how many are available.

A dozen was just an estimate based on 4 colors x 3 models, but now that I think of it I've also seen Camo versions.

Think I've seen black, blue, platinum, red, and Camo available on the original X-Tract.

On the Fin and LED models I've no idea what's available.

.

[joebw]

Hi Ringzero,

Here is what is available in the X-Tract family:

X-TRACT
730-CMX  Realtree Hardwoos Green Camo
730-BLX  Blue
730-RDX  Red
730-PLX  Platinum
730-BKX  Black

X-TRACT LED
731-PLX  Platinum
731-BKX  Black

X-TRACT FIN
732-BLS  Blue
732-PLS  Platinum
732-BKS  Black

Enjoy - Joe

[Leatherman123]

Well done, Joe!  I realized, I only have two X-Tracts.. In Realtree and Black.