In this thread, I am going to share the larger Leatherman models that I have in my collection with a little bit of information. I will be the first to tell you that I am not very knowledgeable on some of these models, and because of this, I am mostly certain I am missing a few models. For example, I know I am missing a cap crimper stainless Core. As for the other models, I haven't seen what I think I am missing. This may mean they don't exit, or more than likely, I just haven't seen one and am currently unaware of their existence.
Here is my collection by the numbers:
SuperTool - 2 stainless, 1 BO regular head, 1 BO cap crimper, 1 custom painted camo
Super tool 200 - 2 stainless, 1 BO
Supertool 300 - 1 custom gold plated, 1 BO EOD, 1 BO regular head, 1 BO cap crimper, 1 stainless
Core - 1 Custom BBQ, 1 stainless, 1 BO regular head, 1 BO cap crimper
Surge - 2 camo, 2 stainless, 1 BO regular head, 1 BO cap crimper, 1 new stainless, 1 new BO
OHT - 1 tan, 1 black, 1 silver
Total = 28
Now let's take a closer look...
Leatherman first started selling their PST back in 1983. It took them till 1994 for them to come out with the big brother of the PST, the Super Tool. At the time, this was their largest model, and it remained so until its successor, the Super Tool 200, came out in 2001. Most if not all new Super Tools came with a peel off warning sticker much like the one found in the following photograph.
The Super Tool featured locking blades, but it required the use of another tool to unlock the locked tool. I have always wondered if the warning sticker came about because some people couldn't figure out how to unlock a tool, or was it original to the line.
The Super Tool was basically a PST hoped up on steroids. Leatherman did put the extra size and width to good use. With 5 tools per handle, it most certainly packed a punch. Like many older Leathermans however, there is a lot of flat head drivers. The addition of a plain and serrated blade was a nice touch.
Now this is where I lack knowledge in these tools. I know most of them came in a BO with regular plier head, and a BO with cap crimper head. I also know most came in stainless steel with regular plier head. What I don't know is if there was a stainless steel with cap crimper. In the above photo, you can see both BO versions.
I also have a custom painted camo version which is always interesting.
Much like the SuperTool was a larger PST, the SuperTool 200 is a larger Pulse, which incidentally came out a year prior to the introduction of the SuperTool 200 in 2001.
Now I am uncertain if the SuperTool 200 ever came out in a cap crimper version, I have yet to see one.
Much like the older SuperTool, the SuperTool 200 also features 5 tools per handle.Note the change in the serrated blade compared to the older SuperTool. There is also the carry over of the 3 flat head drivers. The biggest change however is the implementation of the rollover locking mechanism first seen in the smaller Pulse. I find the locking mechanism unique to the whole Leatherman multi-tool family. Although I like this mechanism, a common complaint is one of fingers slipping off the mechanism as you try to roll it. Weather you love it or hate it, the locking mechanism is the SuperTool 200's most defining feature.
Keeping with the chronological pattern we have going here, the next large Leatherman will have to be the Core, which was first introduced in 2005. I have always viewed the Core as the larger brother to the Blast, even though the Core does not contain a Zytel handle liner. It does however have Zytel in the pivot points, and does generally look like the smaller Blast. Also, it follows the pattern of Leatherman releasing the smaller tools one year before the big guns are released.
Tool-wise, it is very similar to the SuperTool and SuperTool 200. Note that Leatherman saw fit to change the serrated blade once again. Yes, it also features 3 flat head divers (can you tell this sort of bothers me somewhat
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Now I do know there is a stainless version with the cap crimper. This is one of my unobtainium models as I have searched high and low for one for a few years now. However, like the rest of the family, Leatherman did produce a cap crimper and regular headed version in BO for the military minded.
I also have a very interesting custom Core that I won on MT.O back in 2011 created by Metropolicity aimed squarely at the BBQ crowd. He named this one the PitBoss.
If you are interested in learning more, here is the original thread...
http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,31637.msg525113.html#msg525113Along with the Core, the Surge was also introduced in 2005. Much like the Core is a larger Blast, the Surge is a larger Wave which incidentaly was released a year prior in 2004. I think there is a pattern here.
Much like all the other tools in this family, the Surge came in both a BO regular head, and a BO cap crimper. I have yet to see a stainless cap crimper, but that does not mean one does not exist.
The Surge, being a larger Wave, offers outside folding tools that are very convenient in that you do not have to open the pliers to get to them. At least for the larger sized tools. The smaller secondary tools still require a partial open of the handles to access them.
The above image is of an original Surge. Note that the surge features a removable bit driver, a removable saw and file (you can only have one installed at any one time), and also a small eyeglass driver that is also reversible (Phillips and flat head). Thankfully, no 3 flat head drivers taking up all that valuable real-estate.
As with the newer Juice line, Leatherman has seen fit to make a similar change in their newer Surges. I will begin by stating I am not a fan of this change, and am a bit puzzled as to why Leatherma is doing this. The newer Surges feature lined up nail nicks on the secondary tools of one handle, as opposed to the older staggered nail nicks that I myself prefer. The new system means you have a hard time selecting just one tool. In the above photograph, the older Surge is on the right, the newer Surge on the left.
Of interest to collectors, there is also a camo Surge which is stunning.
The nail nick change occurred late in the older Surges life. The older Surge ended in 2013. New for 2013 is the introduction of the new Surge. The largest change being of replaceable cutters. Minor changes to the handles did also occur, especially the cutouts for accessing the larger tools. In the above photography, note the replaceable cutters on the plier head, and also the subtle change in the handle cutouts designed to make accessing the larger secondary tools a little easier.
Next up from the successful Surge, is the SuperTool 300 which was introduced in 2009, which is 8 years later from the last model that features the SuperTool moniker, the SuperTool 200. The SuperTool 300 was designed with gloves in mind, as the tool features special notches in the handles to facilitate glove wearers in accessing some of the folding tools as seen in the following photograph.
The SuperTool 300 features the same general design as the other SuperTools, along with the same 5 tools per handle. The biggest change was the addition of replaceable cutters. In fact, the SuperTool 300 was the first Leatherman to offer such a convenience.
Like everything else, Leatherman offeres the SuperTool 300 in both a BO regular head version, and a BO cap crimper.
In a further nod to the military, a special variant called the SuperTool 300 EOD also came out at the same time.
This was the first time that a Leatherman tool featured a C4 spike. The SuperTool 300 EOD also features a removable metal saw. Combine these two differences, and one might think it is very similar to the Gerber MP600 DET which has been around since 1999, which it is.
Of interest to a collector, Texas Toolcrafter has also custom gold plated the SuperTool 300 as seen in the following photograph.
Keep the similarity between the Gerber DET and the SuperTool 300 EOD in mind as we look at the next and most recent addition to the Leatherman heavy hitter lineup. In 2012, Leatherman shocked many fans by introducing the OHT, which basically functions like no Leatherman before it. That is because it functions like the Gerber sliding head multi-tools that have been around forever.
The OHT was designed with one hand convenience. What is different to the Gerber MP series, are the outside opening tools that the OHT uses. In that regard, it shares some family resemblance to the Surge. The plier head however is all Gerber with a twist. The OHT features a little locking tab that you can turn to prevent the pliers from deploying. It is a nice if fiddly feature to have. Note also that the OHT has a belt cutter.
The OHT also comes in 3 colours, dessert tan, Black, and silver.
This concludes this short romp through the larger Leathermans. I am certain I am missing some key representatives, especially those of the cap crimper variety. Then again, I might not as they may have never been produced.
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