Frustrating reminder of why I now prefer older Leatherman tools...

[Poncho65]

 

Amazing what you can achieve with a used fiver in a brown envelope sent to the LM QC dept with a note asking them to send you the last one made on the Friday afternoon before the coronavirus shutdown.

 

       

[Fuzzbucket]

Amazing what you can achieve with a used fiver in a brown envelope sent to the LM QC dept with a note asking them to send you the last one made on the Friday afternoon before the coronavirus shutdown.

 

Send them money? Ah... I see where I went wrong now...

[Wspeed]

 

[Fuzzbucket]

Right...

So my new Surge arrived today and while it's considerably better than the previous one it's far from perfect (perfect?... Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha...). Unfortunately It still has many of the same issues, but just not acutely so.

It still has disappointingly soul destroying poor grinds on both blades, the serrated blade's grind curiously drifts off at the very end as if the result of carelessness during manufacture. The plain edgey, not great, but I can live with it.

Both the blades have some play, but not the wobbly lockup of the other Surge's serrated blade that was just plain awful, and the tool has a definite overall rattle as Nix had also observed a while back with the shîte one he briefly had.

The textured bolsters at the bottom are loose as are all the internal tools, so much so in fact, that they fall out when using the pliers, and the general tolerances are not as tight as I would have liked.

The scissors, as Stevey advised earlier, do lock up fine if opened with a decent amount of assertiveness. However, they're not great to be honest - there is a slight gap, a definite sliver of daylight, at the top which means they don't cut terrifically well when terminating the cut.

There's still misalignment in the handles and I'm  now wondering whether this is common with all newer Surges and is caused by the chassis having to accommodate the scissors? It would be good to hear what others have to say on this.

Despite all that though... believe it or not... it is still a very good looking beefy tool and a marked improvement on its predecessor... and to be honest I'm smurfing desperate to play with a new toy. So I've decided I'm just going to hard use it for a while and see how it holds up and then see how I feel about it after that.

I know... I am weak.

[Fuzzbucket]

Oh yeah, remind me to tell you all later about Leatherman Customer Services later... I can't be arsed right now...

[magentus]

Oh yeah, remind me to tell you all later about Leatherman Customer Services later... I can't be arsed right now...

'Hello, Leatherman customer services, how may I disappoint you today?'

[Fuzzbucket]

'Hello, Leatherman customer services, how may I disappoint you today?'

Pretty much that. Very prompt, very polite, but actually very detached and dismissive.

[Don Pablo]

'Hello, Leatherman customer services, how may I disappoint you today?'

[SteveC]

Right...

So my new Surge arrived today and while it's considerably better than the previous one it's far from perfect (perfect?... Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha...). Unfortunately It still has many of the same issues, but just not acutely so.

It still has disappointingly soul destroying poor grinds on both blades, the serrated blade's grind curiously drifts off at the very end as if the result of carelessness during manufacture. The plain edgey, not great, but I can live with it.

Both the blades have some play, but not the wobbly lockup of the other Surge's serrated blade that was just plain awful, and the tool has a definite overall rattle as Nix had also observed a while back with the shîte one he briefly had.

The textured bolsters at the bottom are loose as are all the internal tools, so much so in fact, that they fall out when using the pliers, and the general tolerances are not as tight as I would have liked.

The scissors, as Stevey advised earlier, do lock up fine if opened with a decent amount of assertiveness. However, they're not great to be honest - there is a slight gap, a definite sliver of daylight, at the top which means they don't cut terrifically well when terminating the cut.

There's still misalignment in the handles and I'm  now wondering whether this is common with all newer Surges and is caused by the chassis having to accommodate the scissors? It would be good to hear what others have to say on this.

Despite all that though... believe it or not... it is still a very good looking beefy tool and a marked improvement on its predecessor... and to be honest I'm smurfing desperate to play with a new toy. So I've decided I'm just going to hard use it for a while and see how it holds up and then see how I feel about it after that.

I know... I am weak.

 

I had a closer look at mine and it has some of the issues you describe. Slightly loose bolsters but I like that the tools deploy easily. I've never noticed this before .  I did have to tweak my scissors slightly to get them to cut better. The grind at the end of the SE blade is slightly off but doesn't affect cutting. PE blade has slight play on the lockup. My handles are pretty well aligned.

Have fun playing with your new toy !   

[tango44]

Let me tell you a liiiiiiiiiittle story about Leatherman quality and CS:

https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,84134.0.html 

[Fuzzbucket]

 

I had a closer look at mine and it has some of the issues you describe. Slightly loose bolsters but I like that the tools deploy easily. I've never noticed this before .  I did have to tweak my scissors slightly to get them to cut better. The grind at the end of the SE blade is slightly off but doesn't affect cutting. PE blade has slight play on the lockup. My handles are pretty well aligned.

Have fun playing with your new toy !   

Oh bum, that mucks up my hypo... hypothesis.

[Fuzzbucket]

Let me tell you a liiiiiiiiiittle story about Leatherman quality and CS:

https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,84134.0.html 

Just read your post and their email... 

That problem with the cutters - I used to get that with the Rebar when it first came out.

[Nix]

Did you have trouble breaking up with clingy or whiney girlfriends when you were a young man, Fuzzy? 

Wait.....were you able to have girlfriends when you were a young man....or ever? 

[magentus]

via Imgflip Meme Generator

[tosh]

Wow - that’s some list of defects fuzzy

For what they sell for here in the UK (rrp) leathermans are a joke.
I have a box full of old school LM’s. But I cannot even begin to consider their recent stuff.
I’m bias as I no longer collect either MT’s or SAK’s these days. It seems odd that QC is going down hill after so many years of experience. Makes me question LM’s strategy and motive these days. Yes we know it’s to make money. But once they lose trust it’s hard to get it back.

[Fuzzbucket]

Did you have trouble breaking up with clingy or whiney girlfriends when you were a young man, Fuzzy? 

Wait.....were you able to have girlfriends when you were a young man....or ever? 

I moved house a lot.

[EMZ]

Last year I handled about 8 or so new Wave+ tools, but all were in very good condition with no flaws at all.
However, I noticed that some of the pliers and other tools were more stiffer than others, one of the knives was rather loose. It was no problem, but indicates that there was some inconsistency in quality.

Also I have about 10 Victorinox Spirit multi-tools. All are exact the same model. All have the same quality! No notable differences in tolerances of all the tools!

In my opinion the Victorinox multi-tools have slightly better quality. Victorinox doesn't have many models and lack modernization programs, but that's probably the reason why they manage to keep the quality of there products that high.

[Edi]

Pretty much that. Very prompt, very polite, but actually very detached and dismissive.

That was my benchmade experience.

[Edi]

Also I have about 10 Victorinox Spirit multi-tools. All are exact the same model. All have the same quality! No notable differences in tolerances of all the tools!

In my opinion the Victorinox multi-tools have slightly better quality. Victorinox doesn't have many models and lack modernization programs, but that's probably the reason why they manage to keep the quality of there products that high.

I bought a spirit xc not long ago. I found the phillips screwdriver softer then lm's. Also the scissors. Far from what i knew. They developed issues after the first forced cut. And we all know they are small. Can't mod them right now, i'm waiting for replacement.

[Edi]

every single multitool plier i used gradually until it's limits developed stiffness. Every one.
Now, my st300 had beside that only one issue. The lock on one side (the serrated blade one) is harder to press. And after forcing the pkiers the handles have developed a little play when closed. Nothing else.
The rebar had only a faulty not locking mechanism for the file. Nothing else, except the plier stiffness.
I think i got lucky. Waiting for my new rebar and will continue then.

[genevabuck]

In the past few months I bought a BO Wave + and a Woodland Camo Charge +. Both were brand new and had major QC issues. The Charge had set screws fall out of the tool upon opening. It literally fell apart on me. The Wave had two locks that wouldn’t engage, amongst other issues. I expect a little more when I am paying $150 for a multi tool.

[Mechanickal]

That was my benchmade experience.

Same here

[Edi]

Same here

I think because we're not north americans. Well, their problem. We have a lot of companies to choose from

[Mechanickal]

I love their products specifically because of the axis lock. But indeed, I'm not planning on expanding the "family" with any more offerings from them.

[EMZ]

I bought a spirit xc not long ago. I found the phillips screwdriver softer then lm's. Also the scissors. Far from what i knew. They developed issues after the first forced cut. And we all know they are small. Can't mod them right now, i'm waiting for replacement.

Yes, the philips sd of the Spirit is definitely softer. I also had some 2nd hand Spirits, and the Philips was always a little bit worn down.

Why doesn't there seems to be the perfect MT?

[Poncho65]

I think because we're not north americans. Well, their problem. We have a lot of companies to choose from

This may be why I lean to Spyderco, they seem to care about the people acroos the world more than a lot of the other companies I only have a couple Spydie's but 0 Benchmades It does help that Spydie has their knives made all over the world as well

[nitram]

Yes, the philips sd of the Spirit is definitely softer. I also had some 2nd hand Spirits, and the Philips was always a little bit worn down.

Why doesn't there seems to be the perfect MT?

The Spirit Phillips doesn’t handle Pozi screws very well, LM’s show much less damage after use on pozi.
Of course you’re not supposed to turn pozi with a Philips but we’re surrounded by them over here.

[Edi]

My rebar arrived, i had time to put it at some work. No actual issues ftm, except one... it's tough to open, close the pliers. I mean you really have to use force there. But at least it's not closing on my fingers.
About spyderco's customer service, don't have one can't say nothing. Maybe i'll buy in the future. Although i don't see myself carrying a folder with just one blade anymore. I had some and i sold them. If i need just a blade, i like it to be a fixed one.

[Wspeed]

Hopefully your new Rebar will
loosen off the more you use it Edi 

[Edi]

hopefully 
I like your surge, btw