Skeletool RX: A Brief Review

[JJR512]

I had asked Leatherman when this tool would become available, and they told me July 1. But another member here informed me that REI currently had it available exclusively, so I went to their website and found that my local REI did indeed habit it in stock. I went there to buy one last week. It was $89.99.

Since this tool is almost completely the same as a regular Skeletool, I'm not going to discuss the basic tool itself. Instead, I'm going to address the few differences. As far as I can tell, there are only three major differences: the orange Cerakote finish, the knife blade, and the carbide glass breaker bit.

The glass breaker tip is on a bit that has a 1/4" flat screwdriver tip on the other end. The other bit that's stored in the handle has a 3/16" tip at one end, and a Philips tip on the other end that's labeled "No. 1-2". In contrast, my regular Skeletool has two bits, one with the same two flathead tips, and the other with two Philips bits, each one separately labeled No. 1 and No. 2. To my eyes, the Philips tip on the bit with the RX looks to be the same size as the smaller Philips tip, the No. 1, from the regular Skeletool. So with the RX, you lose the larger Philips screwdriver bit to get the glass breaker tip.

The carbide glass breaker tip will be familiar to first responders. It's meant to break tempered glass, such as a vehicle's side windows, by concentrating the force of your swing into a point. I have personally never had to do that, nor have I tested this particular glass breaker. But this is the kind of thing that really can't not work. The only real negative about this glass breaker, though, is the fact that you have to open up the tool to actually gain access to it.

On my Skeletool RX, the bit pulls out of the socket quite easily. The retainer clip, that you're supposed to push in on to release the bit, doesn't really seem to do much at all on this particular tool. On my older regular Skeletool, I can also pull the bit out without releasing the retainer, but it takes considerable more effort than on my new RX.

Next, let's take a look at the knife blade. On the RX, the blade is made from 154CM steel, which is a fairly common steel for knives that aren't junk. Emerson Knives uses this steel in almost all their knives, for example. The Skeletool CX also uses 154CM, but the regular Skeletool uses 420HC.

The blade on the RX is serrated for almost the entire length. Only about the last half-inch is a plain sharpened edge. The scallops of the serrations are larger (go higher up into the blade) than the serrations on the regular Skeletool's blade. The tip of the blade is more of a sheepsfoot design than on the other Skeletools. I believe the intention of this design was to make it less likely to stab into a victim you're rescuing, but because of the way the tip of the knife curves up, the point is still forward and it would be quite easy to accidentally stab someone with this if you were working with this blade close to their body.

Now let's discuss the orange Cerakote finish. Cerakote is a ceramic/polymer coating that is supposed to improve resistance to wear, corrosion, chemicals, and abrasion. Because it is a coating, it adds thickness to what it's coating, and this fact does not seem to have been taken into account by Leatherman. My Skeletool RX is new, has never been used, and has only been handled myself, opening and closing it a few times to check it out. Yet I can see in numerous places where the coating is being worn off or scratched through from the tool itself. This is most prominent around the main pivot, both where the two frame halves rub against each other while rotating open, as well as where the pliers rub against the frame. Mine also had a few nicks in the finish that don't appear to be caused by anything, and are probably just flaws in the finish that maybe should've been caught and rejected by quality control.

All the features that Cerakote is supposed to provide could probably be accomplished adequately enough with plain stainless steel. I would guess that the real reason for this finish is to add the orange color.

Finally, let's address the overall usefulness of this tool as a rescue tool. To put it bluntly, I feel it is of very little usefulness as a rescue tool. There are two main things this tool can do in a rescue situation: break glass, and cut through stuff. As a glass breaker, it probably works just fine, though as I said, I didn't actually test that function. The only downside here is that you have to open the tool and get a good grip on it to use it as such. As far as cutting through stuff, it would be fine cutting through anything that isn't close to a victim's body. It would be far to easy to accidentally cut a person you're working close to with this blade.

I have never known any rescuer to need pliers during a rescue, and if they need wire cutters, they need something much more big and robust than the tiny wire cutters inside the pliers of the Skeletool.

You could say that this tool, as a compromise between a more fully-featured multitool and a dedicated rescue tool, is a good thing to carry perhaps when you're off duty and not carrying anything else. But there are many other tools that are also "good to have when you don't have anything else." Perhaps my opinion is biased because I've been a first responder for many years and my carry load-out has already been refined to a point that I'm quite familiar and comfortable with, and this tool doesn't add anything new, nor does it combine two or more tools I already have into the simplicity of one. But what it comes down to is that this tool has no place with me, and I cannot see any compelling reason to recommend it to anyone else.

Now for some photos.

Folded


Opened up


Two nicks in the finish that in my opinion, should've been QC failures


On the pliers you can see orange discoloration from where they've been rubbing against the Cerakote finish


The folded pliers, with bits of scraped-off orange Cerakote just where they go into the frame


On the pliers near the frame pivot, you can see more orange Cerakote that's been scraped off; on the frame near the left edge of the photo, you can see another spot of the coating that's been worn thin by the corresponding bottom edge of the pliers near the right side of the phot, where some more specks of coating are present


Here you can see several places where the coating has been worn thin or scraped off, either from rubbing against itself or rubbing against uncoated tool metal

[Obi1shinobee]

I had asked Leatherman when this tool would become available, and they told me July 1. But another member here informed me that REI currently had it available exclusively, so I went to their website and found that my local REI did indeed habit it in stock. I went there to buy one last week. It was $89.99.

Since this tool is almost completely the same as a regular Skeletool, I'm not going to discuss the basic tool itself. Instead, I'm going to address the few differences. As far as I can tell, there are only three major differences: the orange Cerakote finish, the knife blade, and the carbide glass breaker bit.

The glass breaker tip is on a bit that has a 1/4" flat screwdriver tip on the other end. The other bit that's stored in the handle has a 3/16" tip at one end, and a Philips tip on the other end that's labeled "No. 1-2". In contrast, my regular Skeletool has two bits, one with the same two flathead tips, and the other with two Philips bits, each one separately labeled No. 1 and No. 2. To my eyes, the Philips tip on the bit with the RX looks to be the same size as the smaller Philips tip, the No. 1, from the regular Skeletool. So with the RX, you lose the larger Philips screwdriver bit to get the glass breaker tip.

The carbide glass breaker tip will be familiar to first responders. It's meant to break tempered glass, such as a vehicle's side windows, by concentrating the force of your swing into a point. I have personally never had to do that, nor have I tested this particular glass breaker. But this is the kind of thing that really can't not work. The only real negative about this glass breaker, though, is the fact that you have to open up the tool to actually gain access to it.

On my Skeletool RX, the bit pulls out of the socket quite easily. The retainer clip, that you're supposed to push in on to release the bit, doesn't really seem to do much at all on this particular tool. On my older regular Skeletool, I can also pull the bit out without releasing the retainer, but it takes considerable more effort than on my new RX.

Next, let's take a look at the knife blade. On the RX, the blade is made from 154CM steel, which is a fairly common steel for knives that aren't junk. Emerson Knives uses this steel in almost all their knives, for example. The Skeletool CX also uses 154CM, but the regular Skeletool uses 420HC.

The blade on the RX is serrated for almost the entire length. Only about the last half-inch is a plain sharpened edge. The scallops of the serrations are larger (go higher up into the blade) than the serrations on the regular Skeletool's blade. The tip of the blade is more of a sheepsfoot design than on the other Skeletools. I believe the intention of this design was to make it less likely to stab into a victim you're rescuing, but because of the way the tip of the knife curves up, the point is still forward and it would be quite easy to accidentally stab someone with this if you were working with this blade close to their body.

Now let's discuss the orange Cerakote finish. Cerakote is a ceramic/polymer coating that is supposed to improve resistance to wear, corrosion, chemicals, and abrasion. Because it is a coating, it adds thickness to what it's coating, and this fact does not seem to have been taken into account by Leatherman. My Skeletool RX is new, has never been used, and has only been handled myself, opening and closing it a few times to check it out. Yet I can see in numerous places where the coating is being worn off or scratched through from the tool itself. This is most prominent around the main pivot, both where the two frame halves rub against each other while rotating open, as well as where the pliers rub against the frame. Mine also had a few nicks in the finish that don't appear to be caused by anything, and are probably just flaws in the finish that maybe should've been caught and rejected by quality control.

All the features that Cerakote is supposed to provide could probably be accomplished adequately enough with plain stainless steel. I would guess that the real reason for this finish is to add the orange color.

Finally, let's address the overall usefulness of this tool as a rescue tool. To put it bluntly, I feel it is of very little usefulness as a rescue tool. There are two main things this tool can do in a rescue situation: break glass, and cut through stuff. As a glass breaker, it probably works just fine, though as I said, I didn't actually test that function. The only downside here is that you have to open the tool and get a good grip on it to use it as such. As far as cutting through stuff, it would be fine cutting through anything that isn't close to a victim's body. It would be far to easy to accidentally cut a person you're working close to with this blade.

I have never known any rescuer to need pliers during a rescue, and if they need wire cutters, they need something much more big and robust than the tiny wire cutters inside the pliers of the Skeletool.

You could say that this tool, as a compromise between a more fully-featured multitool and a dedicated rescue tool, is a good thing to carry perhaps when you're off duty and not carrying anything else. But there are many other tools that are also "good to have when you don't have anything else." Perhaps my opinion is biased because I've been a first responder for many years and my carry load-out has already been refined to a point that I'm quite familiar and comfortable with, and this tool doesn't add anything new, nor does it combine two or more tools I already have into the simplicity of one. But what it comes down to is that this tool has no place with me, and I cannot see any compelling reason to recommend it to anyone else.

Now for some photos.

Folded
(Image removed from quote.)

Opened up
(Image removed from quote.)

Two nicks in the finish that in my opinion, should've been QC failures
(Image removed from quote.)

On the pliers you can see orange discoloration from where they've been rubbing against the Cerakote finish
(Image removed from quote.)

The folded pliers, with bits of scraped-off orange Cerakote just where they go into the frame
(Image removed from quote.)

On the pliers near the frame pivot, you can see more orange Cerakote that's been scraped off; on the frame near the left edge of the photo, you can see another spot of the coating that's been worn thin by the corresponding bottom edge of the pliers near the right side of the phot, where some more specks of coating are present
(Image removed from quote.)

Here you can see several places where the coating has been worn thin or scraped off, either from rubbing against itself or rubbing against uncoated tool metal
(Image removed from quote.)

Look same , Rescue tool? No thank you..

[Chako]

I wonder how hard this tool will be for me to acquire. 

I know I will have to add one to the collection sooner or later.

[JJR512]

I wonder how hard this tool will be for me to acquire. 

I know I will have to add one to the collection sooner or later.

It doesn't seem like it will be too hard to acquire. REI seems to have them readily in stock, and after July 1st, it should be available other places as well. $102 on Leatherman's own website, but if REI's price is any indication, I'd guess other places will have it for around $90. I don't know what other stores will actually carry it on the shelf, but I'm sure it will be easily available online.

You mentioned collecting it...that's the decision I'm currently pondering. I don't need it as a rescue tool, or as a multitool. Basically I have no practical use for it at all. But I might want to keep it anyway, partly as part of my small but growing Leatherman collection, and partly as part of a small but growing collection of rescue tools.

[Chako]

Oh that is a bit of a slippery slope. When I first started collecting Leathermans, I figures I would have 10 models and call it a day. Yeah...that didn't stay to plan for very long.

[G-Dizzle]

Awesome review! Enjoyed reading... I have an OHT in my truck to use as a rescue tool so I cant justify purchasing it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[NKlamerus]

Really great writeup, im pretty excited to get my hands on one.

I'm kinda happy with the Cerakote wear, I think it'll look incredible with a year or so of use on it.

Chako if you need someone to forward one just let me know.

[Chako]

Thanks. I am just not ready to hunt one down as of yet. 

[Poncho65]

Oh that is a bit of a slippery slope. When I first started collecting Leathermans, I figures I would have 10 models and call it a day. Yeah...that didn't stay to plan for very long.

More of a slalom Yes it is very easy to acquire more than is needed I don't have as many as Chako but I have way more than one person as a user would ever need in many lifetimes But it is the fun of it anyways

Good review of a tool I probably won't actually get but who knows

[rishardh]

Nice review and pics   What is mostly lacking is the O2 wrench. I think they could have simply replaced the thumb cutout to be in that shape. After all looks like they re-designed the entire blade for this tool.

[rdub934]

Nice review and pics   What is mostly lacking is the O2 wrench. I think they could have simply replaced the thumb cutout to be in that shape. After all looks like they re-designed the entire blade for this tool.

Exactly. Big time fail on Leatherman. I don't understand why they wont put more function onto the Skeletool/Freestyle models. I just don't feel like they are worth the cost and weight for the little utility they provide.

I do like that new blade design and orange ceracoat, though

[HarleyXJGuy]

Not a rescue tool but it sure is pretty.

[Poncho65]

I am glad they went with a fully serrated blade for this I like them one way or the other The combo blade bothers me a great deal sometimes

[AlephZero]

Brief review? Good lord, do I want to see your verbose review? 

Great review anyways, JJR

[JJR512]

My apologies; I neglected to mention the oxygen tank wrench issue because it isn't an issue for me. When I'm at work, I have a Gerber Hinderer Rescue Knife, a Leatherman Raptor, and a Leatherman Tread, so that's already three oxygen wrenches. But more importantly, I also have one provided by my employer, attached to the ambulance's key ring. Now granted, attached to the keys isn't always the most convenient place for it to be, but honestly if we need to change a tank in the middle of a transport, that's more a fault of poor planning on our part than anything else. But I digress. My main point here is that if you work for a service that uses oxygen tanks that you need the special tool for, then your service should be providing that tool for you. You need it to do your job, plain and simple.

But this Skeletool RX actually can be used to open oxygen tanks. There are two different ways you can use this tool as a tank wrench. The first is with the pliers. The pliers fit fairly well on the tank valve. Now some would say that you shouldn't do that, either because of the risk of sparking, or because of the wear that the jaws might put on the valve. Personally, I'm not concerned about a spark, because (a) I know that oxygen isn't explosive, and (b) no oxygen is going to come shooting directly out of the valve anyway. As for wear...GOOD. Let that sucker get worn to the point that the tank is no longer usable, and put that tank out of service and replace it with a newer one with the little toggle thingy on the valve that you can just turn by hand without any special tool. I mean honestly, this is the 21st century now, the fact that these special-tool-needing tanks are still out there boggles my mind.

Anyway, there's another way to use the RX to open oxygen tanks, and that's with the frame. Take a look at where the bottle opener is, just above the gate. I'm talking about the area where the exposed tip of the installed bit tucks into when the tool is folded closed. That gap between the two sides of the frame is almost perfectly sized for an oxygen tank valve. You can slip the frame over the valve and then turn the valve. Seriously, on the product description diagram that comes with the tool, Leatherman could've just drawn an arrow to that spot and labeled it "oxygen wrench".

(I tested this with a standard Skeletool when the RX was still preproduction and people were bemoaning the apparent lack of this feature. I have not yet tested it with a production RX, and it's possible that the added thickness of the Cerakote coating may make the frame gap too small to be used in this way. I will test this soon, and provide a photo of the test to make it clear where exactly I'm talking about.)

[rishardh]

Hey JJR, any chance of posting a pic of the blade open. Your feedback on O2 valve use is really appreciated.  Give us some insight to real world usage.

[Etherealicer]

Thanks for the review... this was the first Skele I was thinking of getting (mostly because of the color), but now I will probably pass.

Next, let's take a look at the knife blade. On the RX, the blade is made from 154CM steel, which is a fairly common steel for knives that aren't junk. Emerson Knives uses this steel in almost all their knives, for example. The Skeletool CX also uses 154CM, but the regular Skeletool uses 420HC.

Could you please show us the blade.... please... please

Perhaps my opinion is biased because I've been a first responder for many years and my carry load-out has already been refined to a point that I'm quite familiar and comfortable with, and this tool doesn't add anything new, nor does it combine two or more tools I already have into the simplicity of one. But what it comes down to is that this tool has no place with me, and I cannot see any compelling reason to recommend it to anyone else.

I would be very interested to see your work-day / off-day loadout

[Poncho65]

Thanks for your insights of this tool

[Toolslinger]

Nice review and write up.

[GTVi]

Nice review.

It makes me wonder if Leatherman actually consult the various emergency entities before releasing products like these, and pilot them in the field under "real" conditions.

[Poncho65]

Nice review.

It makes me wonder if Leatherman actually consult the various emergency entities before releasing products like these, and pilot them in the field under "real" conditions.

Yeah I wished they did field tests before a wide release but I doubt they do

[JJR512]

As requested, here are a couple photos of the blade.

Overview side by side with a regular Skeletool


Closeup which shows how the scallops of the serrations on the RX go higher up into he blade than on the regular Skeletool


Here's a closeup of the glass breaker bit; behind it, where it tucks into when it's completely folded, is the area I was saying can be used to slip over the valve of an oxygen tank to turn it (I will get a photo of me actually doing that tomorrow)

[leathermon]

Excellent review, no matter what LM has put out I have stood behind. But this is hard to do.  Poor quality paint,  lack of no brainer tools,  after all its supposed to be a rescue tool.  It hurts to say but I'm disappointed in Leatherman.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

[Kev D]

It would be nice if leatherman sold those glass breaker bits separately so we could use them in other tools with the bit exchanger.

[Etherealicer]

Thanks for the blade-shots

I agree the tip could be lot blunter, it's about half-way where it should be. Also if you want to cut cloth off (I have only done that in simulation) you would cut close to the tip, so to me it makes no sense to have that part non-serrated.

[Poncho65]

As requested, here are a couple photos of the blade.

Overview side by side with a regular Skeletool
(Image removed from quote.)

Closeup which shows how the scallops of the serrations on the RX go higher up into he blade than on the regular Skeletool
(Image removed from quote.)

Here's a closeup of the glass breaker bit; behind it, where it tucks into when it's completely folded, is the area I was saying can be used to slip over the valve of an oxygen tank to turn it (I will get a photo of me actually doing that tomorrow)
(Image removed from quote.)

Thanks for the comparison pics Is it just the angle of the pic or is the blade slightly shorter with the RS Probably the angle because the tool also looks smaller

[neillcurrie]

Nice review. Thanks!!
IMO Leatherman should assemble all their tools with thin washers on all surfaces that will rub against each other due to tolerance/interference. It would also improve how smoothly the tools open and close, increasing a feeling of quality.
I know that would raise costs some: more parts, and a more fiddly assembly.

[JJR512]

As requested, here are a couple photos of the blade.

Overview side by side with a regular Skeletool
(Image removed from quote.)

Closeup which shows how the scallops of the serrations on the RX go higher up into he blade than on the regular Skeletool
(Image removed from quote.)

Here's a closeup of the glass breaker bit; behind it, where it tucks into when it's completely folded, is the area I was saying can be used to slip over the valve of an oxygen tank to turn it (I will get a photo of me actually doing that tomorrow)
(Image removed from quote.)

Thanks for the comparison pics Is it just the angle of the pic or is the blade slightly shorter with the RS Probably the angle because the tool also looks smaller

The blade is indeed shorter on the RX. The tool bodies are the exact same size, but when I hold them up to each other side by side, I can see at the tip of the knife that the RX's blade is shorter by about 1/8", maybe 3/16".

The Leatherman website says the blades on both tools are 2.6" long. So apparently they don't consider the difference to be significant enough to bother changing when they copied and pasted the specs from the regular tool to the RX's new page.

[twiliter]

I like mine, found it at REI about a month ago. It adds some functionality to my Pioneer X without a lot of redundancy. Not sure I will need the glass breaker much, if at all, but the bit exchanger and the aggressive blade are nice to have, along with the decent pliers. The orange finish is rubbing off in the same places, but it does seem to be well made overall, the pivots are all tight and smooth and it feels solid.

Good review JJ, thanks! 

[JJR512]

The above photo is the RX's frame being used on an oxygen tank valve, as I described earlier. It fits quite nicely, but as you can see, some more of the orange coating rubbed off. When turning the valve, there is some minor flexing in the frame, but nothing it seems it can't handle.

Also, thank you to everyone who took the time to say "good job" or anything similar. I'm not a professional reviewer, I don't have a website or a sponsored YouTube channel or anything like that, and I rarely do this kind of thing. So your support and feedback is much appreciated. Thank you!