Multi tool brands

[CarbideCruzer]

As most here know, there are multiple brands of multi tools and multiple variations.  We all have our preferences and chances are, a good majority of us own many brands.   As I am relatively new to this specific genre, I wonder how many brands currently or have existed?   Gerber, Leatherman, Victorinox, Swiss Tech, Bear and Sons, Kershaw, Seber Tech, SOG, Schrade, Buck, Flip Grip and I am sure there are others. 

Out of every brand I've mentioned and do some of the brands I've listed, I prefer Gerber.  At least their Portland Oregon assembled with some USA made parts.  What I use now on a near daily basis is the modern Gerber MP 400 and one of the best features about this is you can open this with one hand.  That and it's not spring loaded, albeit I do enjoy the Gerber Center Drive for more heavier duty tasks.  Ease of use, in the case of MP 400, not to heavy, but certainly not light duty and has every tool I need for what I most commonly use  this for. 

Perhaps this has been asked before, but in the spirit  of creating conversation I am interested in reading what other's thoughts are.

[SteveC]

I prefer Leatherman tools. Tried the Swisstool and Spirit and sold them both. Had a Schrade tough tool and sold it as well. I  do have a BN  MP600 that I modded that I  like.

[Aloha]

I have representatives from a few manufacturers.  While I can appreciate each on its own merit I prefer Leatherman and Victorinox.  I didn't get along with Gerber even tho I like the sliding pliers.  The inner tools were just to short and stubby for my liking.  SOG is a neat and comfortable tool.  I like the compound leverage pliers a lot.  I carried a SOG PPP for a short while but it was at a time when I was still getting to know my Wave.  The Wave ended up with more time due to the OHO outside tools and bit driver. 

That brings me to where I am today.  I just prefer OHO tools in particular my file and blade for work.  I don't always carry a dedicated knife and having access as I need/want it to a blade OHO is important to me.  Now that being said, I have really come to like my Spirit more than ever.  I had carried my Swisstool over it due to it being larger and heavier duty in my opinion.  I can only speak for my usage but my Spirit is up to most any task so its what I carry vs my Swisstool. 

I might very well be a fanboy of LM and I'm ok with that.  My collection is diverse enough because I appreciate MTs from all makers.  I will carry what works for me and what I expect from a MT.  My Charge TTI, Surge, and Spirit get the call for work.   

[cody6268]

Leatherman and Victorinox for me. Gerber is pretty good, however.


Bear can be pretty good--avoid Amazon like the plague when buying them. They sell rejects. I EDC two quite regularly, a Sears Craftsman 45201 (Bear Jaws) and a Crescent Toolzall Pocket Pro (Mini Bear Jaws). They work well but are at least ten years old. The little Toolzall has, by far, the best small pliers I've used.

The Imperial Schrade Corporation's USA-made ST-1 Tough Tool can take a lot of abuse. But not the current imported model. Heck, their $10 Irish made Tradesman multitool was a better tool than the Taylor Tough Tool.  I feel Taylor Brands is not getting what they should out of it. I feel at the price of $60 or so, they can use D2 for the pliers, and 9Cr18 for the blade and saw; and have a good tool. At $20 for a tool that MSRP'd for $100 in the 1990s, you're not going to get the most out of that design.

[rdub934]

I really like tools that I can access tools one-handedly. I especially like pliers I can get at easily. So I love my Gerbers: CenterDrive, 600, and 400 are my faves. I really like SOGs pliers the best, as the compound leverage just makes for such a smooth action for both opening and use. But SOG is completely undermined by pitiful implements, and on the newer generation tools, poor overall feel and QC. Leatherman tools are great quality, but the only one I carry with regularity is my SuperTool300, bc I can get to the pliers one-handed. The rest of them it just takes too much doing to get the pliers ready. I am excited to try an OHT in the near future (hopefully - currently stalking eBay for deals). SAKs are great. I have two and they are so, so useful for how little they are.

[ReamerPunch]

A lot of brands have proven themselves reliable.
I edc a Deluxe Tinker in my pocket. It has never failed me.
I normally I edc a Rebar in my Maxpedition Micro. It fits nicely in there, and I added scissors and the Wingman package opener. Just excellent.
Beyond those, sometimes I edc other tools, which I know I can rely on.

Leatherman Surge, Core, Wave or Charge. All excellent tools.
I love my Gerber MP400. It is a great little multi-tool, with decent implements. Still holding strong.
Victorinox Spirit. Another excellent tool. I do not carry this much, as it is my only Victorinox plier MT.

Some less known brands have also gained my respect.
Roxon is an excellent brand. The Storm and KS are great tools.
Ganzo's premium models are also quite usable. I used the G302-B to assemble lots of pieces of furniture. It was mainly cutting open the boxes, and driving screws, and I had no issues whatsoever.
NexTool's KT5024 also did great. A decent tool selection, lightweight and compact, big scissors, and perfectly decent quality.

Of course, few come close to my Leatherman tools, but at the same time, there are lots of tools worth carrying, but not well known. Sticking to the best makes sense, but then again, it is great fun to try out new tools. We live in the golden age of multi-tools. Why miss out on the fun?

[greenbear]

I like Swiss Tools, preferably the old style SwissTool, although the Spirit is nice.  I have owned Leathermans, good tools but I always seemed to end up using the Vic.  Maybe it's a European thing? 

[spudley112]

I had a Gerber. The sliding pliers feature was the real draw...the rest was not so impressive. I am a Swisstool and Leatherman fan. I wish I could combine some features of different tools to make my perfect MT. Sliding pliers from Gerber, one handed opening and bit set from Leatherman...all tucked into a Swisstool. Ahhh...the life of a dreamer.

[CarbideCruzer]

Thank you to all the responses.  I'd like to respond to all, but that would be one very very long post that let's be honest, not all would want to scroll through haha.  Hope some don't mind if I do quote some people though.

Bear can be pretty good--avoid Amazon like the plague when buying them. They sell rejects.

No offense to anyone that shops at Amazon, that is one of several online distributors I won't do business with.  I'll leave it at that for a couple of reasons, but yeah no thanks.   My first multli tool was a ToolZall and I think was a Bear SuperJaws.  Great USA made tool, back when Simonds actually made their files in the USA as well. 

Recently I bought a new old stock USA made Schrade ToughClip and while I mostly bought this for the scissors, this is a great tool.  Old USA made Schrade tools were exceptional and are of decent quality from what I've owned.

I really like tools that I can access tools one-handedly. I especially like pliers I can get at easily. So I love my Gerbers: CenterDrive, 600, and 400 are my faves. I really like SOGs pliers the best, as the compound leverage just makes for such a smooth action for both opening and use. But SOG is completely undermined by pitiful implements, and on the newer generation tools, poor overall feel and QC. Leatherman tools are great quality, but the only one I carry with regularity is my SuperTool300, bc I can get to the pliers one-handed. The rest of them it just takes too much doing to get the pliers ready. I am excited to try an OHT in the near future (hopefully - currently stalking eBay for deals). SAKs are great. I have two and they are so, so useful for how little they are.

As do I and recently my Gerber MP400 came really hand today with a project where for safety sake, I had to have one hand free.  While I cannot speak for the first generation Gerber MP 400, what I bought at some outdoor shop very recently has great quality.   This year the Gerber Center Drive Plus came out and I bought this directly from Gerber and I can honestly say I really enjoy this tool and deeply appreciate the sheath is made in USA.  Not sure what the difference truly other than the scissor and I think the blade profile(?) with the two though.   

Generally speaking, I am not a fan of buying tools (or anything) that is completely imported provided a domestic or item that creates some work for Americans, I must say the Taiwan made SOG Power Assist's compound leverage, ease of opening and knives are exceptional.  If only this had a pocket clip, I definitely could see using this for more heavier duty work.  These blades remind of higher end Sypderco quality.  While not Gerber quality, I do rate this tool higher than I would with the Leatherman, Kutmaster, Toolzall on the basis of design alone.  Somehow I already marginally damaged the wire cutter jaws. 

Yeah I don't own much Leatherman tools, but I am not really a fan of them. While I was given a original Leatherman PST from the probably the early 1980's,found what I can only guess was a lightly used Leatherman Crunch, received a Micra as a gift and a Leatherman Brewser, I am not really impressed with any of them.  Granted, the Crunch is a cool idea and I do appreciate the slim compact design, accessing some of the tools isn't as easy for me as this with the Gerber multi tools I own.  If you can find an older stock Brewser, the metal is thicker and the tip isn't as sharp either.

Just to see how the Leatherman OHT compares to the Gerber MP400, MP600 and Center Drive Plus, some day I might consider checking this out.  For this to be a fair test, I am going to see if I can find this factory new. 

Chances are, I'll never test out the Victorinox multi tool while I am sure this is a quality made tool, doesn't make too much sense in my view to spend that much on a imported tool just to see the differences.  SOG was worth it, but I use multi tools not to collect them, but to use them. 

What I truly appreciate about Gerber and I suppose this is a credit to Fiskars as well, they focused seemingly exclusively on making tools and just that.  Way too many companies in the last several years haven't followed Gerber's cues.  Hopefully management continues to do this and ignore anyone or any group that demand that wants them to delineate.  No good can or will come of this. 

[comis]

I owed a different brands of pliers-based MT(LM, Gerber, Vic, SOG, etc), and I think my favorites are Leatherman and Vicotorinox.

For one hand operation, the latest Free P4 is great and truly one hand operational for each of those tools.  Even the iconic Wave/Charge has great one hand accessible blades/tools, and the interchangeable bits are great.

For best QC and precision, it's hard to beat Victorinox Swisstool or Spirit.  Each of the tools implement can be opened so smoothly as if they were hydraulic, though it probably doesn't reach the same level of precision, Vic tools does remind me of Chris Reeve knives.

[Poncho65]

I am a Leatherman guy (for MTs) and Victorinox (for SAKs) I have several MTs of different manufacturers but I always seem to come back to LM I have tried to carry Gerbers, SOGs and Vic Swisstools but they never seem to make it long in my pockets I prefer LM as they seem to have better individual tools in the models I carry and I am happy with the overall usage I have received from them

[CarbideCruzer]

As someone that is more pro Gerber than other brands, I'd be interested in seeing if Bear and Sons or Ultica came out with their own version of sliding jaw multi pliers.  Leatherman OHT exists, but I haven't had a chance to try this out and have heard mixed reviews.  Granted, I try to be skeptical of any reviews, especially on Youtube as some those people reviewing products are in some instances modern day advertisers.  Not that there is anything wrong with that though.

Would also like to see Gerber add a pocket clip if possible to MP400 or MP600 someday.  Not sure if it's possible though given the sliding rails.