New Wave or Old Charge? Or spend more and get New Charge TTI or Tread?

[TheDude]

What will make my life better? I have nearly every other model.

[gerleatherberman]

New Wave is a fantastic tool for the cost, weight, and size. Charge TTi is more attractive, great blade steel, and cutting hook; but costs a lot more. You can do a forum search and find a nearly endless amount of topics on the subject.


Heck. Ya know what? Get both.

[hiraethus]

If you have nearly every other model, then getting another one will probably only make your life worse.

However, if it were me, I'd get the Wave Plus.

[chrono]

Get the old Charge if it is the old-scale model. It would be even better if the model is close to 2004 year, as you may get polished blades too. Get the Tread if you are a watch wearer. It is a watch band.

[TheDude]

Get the old Charge if it is the old-scale model. It would be even better if the model is close to 2004 year, as you may get polished blades too. Get the Tread if you are a watch wearer. It is a watch band.

Agreed. Just got the Tread. Now. How can I tell if its the old old charge?

[Aloha]

The Ti scales are different.  Let me see if I can find a link. 

[jaya_man]

Like this?

[Old man Chris]

I tried a Tread , two issues , a) links come apart in wear , need blue loctite gel , once you get the size right . b) I found the hex drivers too soft for real world applications , the philips dricers , ditto . In fairness , mine might have been a rouge , but I was not impressed . It was also an early one , metalurgy might have improved , over time . I wanted to get two , one Imperial , one Metric , concept good , execution , not so much !

The New Charge+ TTI is a very nice tool . Personally , I’m prepared to pay for better blade steel , and classier handle material , only you knows what’s important to you . The serrated blade with the cutting hook , is another good feature , good for pesky cordage . YMMV.

[TheDude]

So do I want the charge TTI or AL OR ALX?

[zoidberg]

If you're going Charge then it has to be a Ti or TTi. That said these days I carry the Signal over the Charge.

[hiraethus]

I dunno, the ALX is a nice model if you need the bit driver and don't want scissors.  I always fancied an XTi.

[Aloha]

So do I want the charge TTI or AL OR ALX?

Of those I'd go with the TTi.  The AL is a nice runner up.  I didn't see a need for the dual large bit drivers on the X version of either tool.   

[TheDude]

OMG just bought the TTi back here a very short period of time and bought two top shelf tools already. But I did get a great price for both I must say. You people are a bunch of enablers you know that...

[gerleatherberman]

OMG just bought the TTi back here a very short period of time and bought two top shelf tools already. But I did get a great price for both I must say. You people are a bunch of enablers you know that...

Yeah. I started with around 20 or so MTs. Now I have over 220.

They're your precious now.

Edit: typo.

[Aloha]

OMG just bought the TTi back here a very short period of time and bought two top shelf tools already. But I did get a great price for both I must say. You people are a bunch of enablers you know that...

Getting a great price makes the buying a lot easier.  I hope you'll like the TTi.  I carry mine exclusively for work these days.  I struggled with the cap crimper pliers for some reason but there is no issue to speak of.  Guess I was just used to not having that particular plier head on my Wave.  I love the blade tho.  Many times I wont carry a dedicated blade so my TTi is truly my do all tool, plus I do really like the looks of it.  I don't do a lot of wire cutting but those replaceable cutters do seem pretty nice on that particular tool.  No worries about damage as you can easily replace them. 

[MMR]

I have a Charge TTi myself, and to be honest; if I could go back in time and change my purchase, I would likely have gone with either a rebar, wave if I wanted this type of multitool again.

As silly as it may sound, I think the charge TTi has too many tools in it, and not worth paying extra for.

I have never used the crimping part of the pliers, never found any use for them either, so far all that feature has done is to act as a giant hole in my pliers when I try to grip on to something with them. The tine screwdriver bit, I have used maybe once or twice in the last 3 years, both times to fix my glasses.

The titanium body and s30v knife blade are nice features, but for me not worth the extra money either.

But over all ask yourself this, how often do you need a saw? ...how often will you need the serrated blade? ..or any of the many other features in a multi tool?

Personally, I only ever use the pliers, screwdrivers, and occasionally the knife.

When I go camping or hiking, I always have a foldable saw with me in my backpack, the one I have from Stanley doesn't weigh anything and gets the job done for me, I always found the saw in multi tools to be too small, and in the case of my OHT; its so small that I can honestly say it is just useless, I really think they should have left the saw out on the OHT and put something else in it's place instead, like a file or scissors. But overall I think it's kind of silly they include a saw in any multitool, at least on the surge you have the option of removing it and replacing it with e.g. a file.

Having carried a leatherman on me as an EDC since 2009, my current charge tti for the last 3 years, I have not come across any situation where I needed a serrated blade, and the times I have used it just to use it, I didn't see it performing impressively better than the regular plain knife (Everything from opening boxes to cutting rope), I still don't understand why they keep putting in a serrated blade in all the various models.

So back to my point, here in Europe, depending on where you shop; but you would often find that the Charge TTi is almost 300 Euros to buy, and for that price you can get a Skeletool CX (which has everything you need for an EDC, good knife, screw drivers, and pliers) and still have money left for what ever else you want....bit kit, nice custom made sheath...whatever.

But if you already have all the other models, it would be an even bigger waste of money to buy a Charge TTi 

[MMR]

I tried a Tread , two issues , a) links come apart in wear , need blue loctite gel , once you get the size right . b) I found the hex drivers too soft for real world applications , the philips dricers , ditto . In fairness , mine might have been a rouge , but I was not impressed . It was also an early one , metalurgy might have improved , over time . I wanted to get two , one Imperial , one Metric , concept good , execution , not so much !

The New Charge+ TTI is a very nice tool . Personally , I’m prepared to pay for better blade steel , and classier handle material , only you knows what’s important to you . The serrated blade with the cutting hook , is another good feature , good for pesky cordage . YMMV.

The leatherman tread is a joke of a product, and completely undeserving of the leatherman name. its a silly 200 Euro fashion gimmick which is poorly made and about as comfortable to wear as wearing a steel chain around your wrist gets..every time you rest your arm on a table top; you scratch the table with it....every time you as much as touch anything with it when you are walking around..a wall..a car...anything...you leave a scratch in it too. Not to mention, as you say too, the steel used is butter soft, not even suitable for light use

Another silly thing is the way it fits around ones wrist, because the only way to adjust it, is by removing the links (which also means removing tools from it when you want to adjust it), apart from one link, the links are almost an inch wide, so you can only really adjust it inch by inch, meaning that it will always either be too big or too small on your wrist.

I too went out and bought a Tread when it first came out, and I regret the decision big time to this very day. It is a terrible product.

I think its a cool idea for some "manly' jewellery, but the execution of it / finished product is awful.

[Old man Chris]

 

Couldn’t agree more !

I do enjoy my new Charhe + TTI .

Chris

[chrono]

I tried a Tread , two issues , a) links come apart in wear , need blue loctite gel , once you get the size right . b) I found the hex drivers too soft for real world applications , the philips dricers , ditto . In fairness , mine might have been a rouge , but I was not impressed . It was also an early one , metalurgy might have improved , over time . I wanted to get two , one Imperial , one Metric , concept good , execution , not so much !

The New Charge+ TTI is a very nice tool . Personally , I’m prepared to pay for better blade steel , and classier handle material , only you knows what’s important to you . The serrated blade with the cutting hook , is another good feature , good for pesky cordage . YMMV.

The leatherman tread is a joke of a product, and completely undeserving of the leatherman name. its a silly 200 Euro fashion gimmick which is poorly made and about as comfortable to wear as wearing a steel chain around your wrist gets..every time you rest your arm on a table top; you scratch the table with it....every time you as much as touch anything with it when you are walking around..a wall..a car...anything...you leave a scratch in it too. Not to mention, as you say too, the steel used is butter soft, not even suitable for light use

Another silly thing is the way it fits around ones wrist, because the only way to adjust it, is by removing the links (which also means removing tools from it when you want to adjust it), apart from one link, the links are almost an inch wide, so you can only really adjust it inch by inch, meaning that it will always either be too big or too small on your wrist.

I too went out and bought a Tread when it first came out, and I regret the decision big time to this very day. It is a terrible product.

I think its a cool idea for some "manly' jewellery, but the execution of it / finished product is awful.

There is a half link on the Tread, so the adjustment is actually 1/2". The Tread makes cool watch band though. It makes my cheapo Casio look like a $200 watch (Tread + the watch face  )