Swiss Army Knife OR...... Multitool? Discuss with pole.

[MJinZ]

i've carried a leatherman pulse for a dozen years, and a swiss army knife on occasion. at no time have they produced a satisfactory screwdriver, knife, et cetera when it was needed. these are shitty tools for doing a shitty job. the price is heavily padded with useless "features" like pathetic saws, files. scissors and a toothpick. yeah, like i'm going to put that in my mouth.

"but what if.....in an emergency...."
then you're screwed and these toys aren't likely to help. are you telling me you are going to fix a broken-down car with a swiss army knife? gtfoutta here. you would be very fortunate to have a car break down in a way that was fixable by these things, possess the knowledge to repair it, and not have the multitool break on you. congratulations.

if i had to pick a winner between these over-rated duds, i'd say large multi-tool, because it would have pliers and the largest blade possible. still, they are more limited than most people expect, and very prone to breakage.

Satisfaction... you no easily satify?

They satisfyyyyy me, cuz I use for random stuff. I got AAA for Cars.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

As a Captain in the SAS, a kit.

As a private person, a kit.

 

[herm0016]

my multi tool produces a very useful wire crimper, screw driver, wire cutter, among other things.

the tool saved my ability to cook food while hiking on a 12 day long, very isolated island. i damaged my stove, i then found an old canteen and used this and my damaged stove to build a small wood stove and pot stand. and all for under a pound of carry weight. I have also built shelters using my multi-tool. seems like these tools are great if you need a light weight way to have an entire small toolkit on you belt.

 

[SP33Demon]

i've carried a leatherman pulse for a dozen years, and a swiss army knife on occasion. at no time have they produced a satisfactory screwdriver, knife, et cetera when it was needed. these are shitty tools for doing a shitty job. the price is heavily padded with useless "features" like pathetic saws, files. scissors and a toothpick. yeah, like i'm going to put that in my mouth.

"but what if.....in an emergency...."
then you're screwed and these toys aren't likely to help. are you telling me you are going to fix a broken-down car with a swiss army knife? gtfoutta here. you would be very fortunate to have a car break down in a way that was fixable by these things, possess the knowledge to repair it, and not have the multitool break on you. congratulations.

if i had to pick a winner between these over-rated duds, i'd say large multi-tool, because it would have pliers and the largest blade possible. still, they are more limited than most people expect, and very prone to breakage.

A) You never answered if you bring an entire toolbox camping.

B) Broken car fixed with a Swisstool using its pliers:

I was working on the beater car, and I dropped a stubby screwdriver. It went somewhere impossible to get to, and even if I went back to my apartment for magnetic pick up, where it was I wouldn't be able to get it out. Rather than the hassle of going back to my apartment for my ratchet set, I took my Swisstool Spirit out of its leather pouch, held up the hood with my left hand, and removed the 13mm bolt holding the prop rod in place with the Spirit. I then knocked the screwdriver free with the prop rod, and reinstalled the prop rod, again using the Spirit, all the while holding the hood up in my left hand. BTW, this is a good example of why the Vic plier's ability to open under its own weight is superior to the Leatherman design (easier 1-hand use).

C) "Pathetic file" used to fix a gun sight:

I was shooting cans at 55 yards with my carry gun. There were people waiting for a cold range, so they were all watching me. I thought I had finally gotten the rear sight filed down enough, but I guess I hadn't because it was still shooting high. Frustrated, I took out my Swisstool, opened up the file, and ground down the rear sight. Took a couple of shots, still high. Filed it down some more. Loaded up 5 rounds and hit the can 5 times.

Both examples from Bladeforums thread:
http://199.231.142.3/forums/showthread.php?t=728032

Can't find the link (amazon?) but there was a soldier in Iraq who used the Swisstool file on his gun many times and said he was impressed.

 

[Zebo]

Letherman by a long shot. Lifetime warranty and made here so you ship it or Oregon and it's replaced shipping free. You won't break it tho. Charge is best all around IMO.

I carry this one...has a carabiner and some nice firearm tools.

I collect knives so I have about 10 Letherman...basically since the first and get one every year of so.

 

[Cogman]

Multitool/kit. Swiss army knives are hard to work with, generally stick, and are usually crappy remakes of purpose made tools. Can opener and knife (MAYBE pliers) are all that you need from a pocket knife, everything else should be its own tool.

 

[gorobei]

Letherman by a long shot. Lifetime warranty and made here so you ship it or Oregon and it's replaced shipping free. You won't break it tho. Charge is best all around IMO.

I carry this one...has a carabiner and some nice firearm tools.

I collect knives so I have about 10 Letherman...basically since the first and get one every year of so.

wow, military version of skeletool. Little bit fugly looking, but i would love to have the hammer, punch, belt cutter, and crimper on the regular skeletool. the CS is probably more useful for edc civilians
https://www.leatherman.com/product/Style CS

 

[Engineer]

I've had a keychain multi-tool for years. Use it all the time. Had it taken from my at Sixflags in Louisville (bastards). Bought the same unit from eBay the next day.

Fuck 6 flags (out of business in Louisville now)!

 

[clamum]

Letherman by a long shot. Lifetime warranty and made here so you ship it or Oregon and it's replaced shipping free. You won't break it tho. Charge is best all around IMO.

I carry this one...has a carabiner and some nice firearm tools.

I collect knives so I have about 10 Letherman...basically since the first and get one every year of so.

Damn, just checked out the specs for that, pretty slick.

 

[mizzou]

i love my multi-tool, each tool within it is incredibly durable and well made

swiss army knife, it's a cool concept but nothing is really useful except for the scissors to cut open a ketchup packet

 

[lxskllr]

swiss army knife, it's a cool concept but nothing is really useful except for the scissors to cut open a ketchup packet

What isn't useful? I have the Swiss Champ, which was the biggest Victorinox had for a few years, and there isn't a tool(ok, maybe the tweezers) on it I haven't used.

 

[fatpat268]

i've carried a leatherman pulse for a dozen years, and a swiss army knife on occasion. at no time have they produced a satisfactory screwdriver, knife, et cetera when it was needed. these are shitty tools for doing a shitty job. the price is heavily padded with useless "features" like pathetic saws, files. scissors and a toothpick. yeah, like i'm going to put that in my mouth.

"but what if.....in an emergency...."
then you're screwed and these toys aren't likely to help. are you telling me you are going to fix a broken-down car with a swiss army knife? gtfoutta here. you would be very fortunate to have a car break down in a way that was fixable by these things, possess the knowledge to repair it, and not have the multitool break on you. congratulations.

if i had to pick a winner between these over-rated duds, i'd say large multi-tool, because it would have pliers and the largest blade possible. still, they are more limited than most people expect, and very prone to breakage.

I hope you're not basing all of your animosity towards multi-tools on your Leatherman Pulse. Honestly the leatherman multi-tool has come a long way, and their more recent design (the wave-style variant) are much more useful than some of their tools in the past.

Swiss army knives have never been all that great. They can carry a ton of tools, but none of them are particularly useful. I personally use my (large) swiss army knife as an expensive bottle opener and a decoration on my desk.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

i can write a testimonial too.

dear leatherman,

for over a decade i have tried, and failed, to justify the $80 purchase of your leatherman pulse. every single time i have attempted to use it has been due to laziness on my part, and often the result has been more work and poorer results than if i had used the appropriate tool in the first place.

the tool's convenience has proven to be its only virtue. this is a list of the features of my pulse tool, and my thoughts on them:
knife - it was initially very sharp, but holds its edge poorly. mine has chipped.
scissors - too small and flexible.
flat-head (small) - broken
flat-head (medium - broken
flat-head (large) - not broken, but it's easy to apply enough torque for the entire tool to flex at the hinges.
phillips-head - 1-size-fits-all means the tip is too tapered to properly grasp many screws.
can opener - never been used
loop - never been used
8 inch ruler - 2 hinges and a large gap in the middle means this ruler cannot be used to measure accurately, nor draw a straight line.
file/rasp - it does a good job on my fingernails
pliers - broken. it was far too easy to break the tip off, the teeth grip very poorly, the larger teeth grip nuts very poorly but excel at rounding them off, and the cutters and wire stripper are a complete joke.

of all the "features" i have tried to use, not one does its job well. they are inferior to their respective dedicated tools in every way possible. not only that, but the multi-tool is quite poor value for money. for my $80, i could have bought 4 or 5 hand tools by klein, which would work very well and last me a lifetime. multi-tools appeal to people's laziness and a mistaken bang for the buck, particularly in people given to infrequent use or poor craftsmanship. they are no substitute for real tools, even (or especially) in emergency situations. they are not fit for any primary-use role, nor are they reliable enough to be a sole backup in critical situations. if i were to buy one today, i would choose a robust, well thought-out model that lacked many of the "money-adds" like a 2 inch saw, screwdriver coming out of the side, or a useless, lightweight single-action carabiner.

 

[fatpat268]

they are inferior to their respective dedicated tools in every way possible. not only that, but the multi-tool is quite poor value for money. for my $80, i could have bought 4 or 5 hand tools by klein, which would work very well and last me a lifetime. multi-tools appeal to people's laziness and a mistaken bang for the buck, particularly in people given to infrequent use or poor craftsmanship. they are no substitute for real tools, even (or especially) in emergency situations.

I'm not sure what you're arguing here. Of course separate hand tools will always be superior to a multitool, but who is going to carry around regular pliers, a screwdriver, bottle opener, scissors, etc with them? Are the tools on the multi tool the best for the job? Absolutely not, but they're all crammed in a small enough package so that you can use it if you're not in a situation where you have real tools. Anyone who uses a multitool when there are real hand tools nearby are stupid, plain and simple.

 

[mizzou]

i can write a testimonial too.

8 inch ruler - 2 hinges and a large gap in the middle means this ruler cannot be used to measure accurately, nor draw a straight line.

this

 

[lxskllr]

Here's my list in praise of the Swiss Champ...

Fish scaler/ruler - Never scaled a fish, but it's good for a quick measurement, and for use as a ground probe and metal/plastic deburrer.

Can opener - The best manual design second only to the military P-38

Screwdrivers - All are very useful, with the exception of the small T handle flat head. That's oe of my lesser used blades.

Saw - Has saved me a long walk to the truck on a few occasions, and is good for fabricating small parts in the field.

Pliers - Not as useful for big jobs, but makes an excellent set of ultra duty tweezers. Good for picking up and holding small parts, especially when soldering in the field.

Bottle opener - It opens bottles :^P

Chisel - Good for cutting grooves, and splinters off wood when fabricating parts in the field.

File/metal saw - good for sharpening pencils, and smoothing the edges of metal and plastic.

Awl - punches holes in just about anyhing, and I've used it to "drill" holes in coins to make a washer.

Line hook - Good for help in tying knots, and grabbing particularly stuck knots.

Corkscrew - Don't use this much, but when one is needed, I'm usually the only one that has one.

Corkscrew screwdriver - keeps my glasses together.

Scissors - trim my mustache, and work for paper in a pinch.

Magnifying glass - Can see small print on poorly reproduced prints.

Tooth pick - not used much, but has kept me from going insane with something stuck between my teeth.

 

[pontifex]

I think a multitool would be more useful

 

[Zebo]

i can write a testimonial too.

dear leatherman,

for over a decade i have tried, and failed, to justify the $80 purchase of your leatherman pulse. every single time i have attempted to use it has been due to laziness on my part, and often the result has been more work and poorer results than if i had used the appropriate tool in the first place.

the tool's convenience has proven to be its only virtue. this is a list of the features of my pulse tool, and my thoughts on them:
knife - it was initially very sharp, but holds its edge poorly. mine has chipped.
scissors - too small and flexible.
flat-head (small) - broken
flat-head (medium - broken
flat-head (large) - not broken, but it's easy to apply enough torque for the entire tool to flex at the hinges.
phillips-head - 1-size-fits-all means the tip is too tapered to properly grasp many screws.
can opener - never been used
loop - never been used
8 inch ruler - 2 hinges and a large gap in the middle means this ruler cannot be used to measure accurately, nor draw a straight line.
file/rasp - it does a good job on my fingernails
pliers - broken. it was far too easy to break the tip off, the teeth grip very poorly, the larger teeth grip nuts very poorly but excel at rounding them off, and the cutters and wire stripper are a complete joke.

of all the "features" i have tried to use, not one does its job well. they are inferior to their respective dedicated tools in every way possible. not only that, but the multi-tool is quite poor value for money. for my $80, i could have bought 4 or 5 hand tools by klein, which would work very well and last me a lifetime. multi-tools appeal to people's laziness and a mistaken bang for the buck, particularly in people given to infrequent use or poor craftsmanship. they are no substitute for real tools, even (or especially) in emergency situations. they are not fit for any primary-use role, nor are they reliable enough to be a sole backup in critical situations. if i were to buy one today, i would choose a robust, well thought-out model that lacked many of the "money-adds" like a 2 inch saw, screwdriver coming out of the side, or a useless, lightweight single-action carabiner.

It's not a fuckin tool box dude. I got a 1200lb tool box in the garage but when I'm out 4wheeling, shooting, fishing etc it's saved my ass plenty of times. Oh and I had full tools in my boat but were rusted and I needed to change a plu and some wires which shorted... leatherman came through.

Buy the Charge - I never even heard of pulse... You sure it's not some ebay china knock off?

 

[lxskllr]

I think the Pulse was the first Leatherman that wasn't based off the Classic design.

Edit:
Looking at their catalog, the Wave may have been the first non-Classic design. I can't remember :^/

 

[Kelvrick]

I used to carry a SAK, now I carry a leatherman skeletool CX, before they changed the blade to the non-serrated version (i love my serrated 154cm). Light, simple and has the main tools I need.

Dedicated tools are obviously better, but they are usually in the toolbox, not in my front pocket.

 

[irishScott]

It's not a fuckin tool box dude. I got a 1200lb tool box in the garage but when I'm out 4wheeling, shooting, fishing etc it's saved my ass plenty of times. Oh and I had full tools in my boat but were rusted and I needed to change a plu and some wires which shorted... leatherman came through.

Buy the Charge - I never even heard of pulse... You sure it's not some ebay china knock off?

It's retired.
http://www.leatherman.com/product/Pulse

Oh and BostonDangler, no multitool in existence is designed to replace real tools. The point is having a <= 11 oz toolkit for light-medium duty on you at all times vs carrying around 5+ "real tools" which would probably be at least a few lbs. Not to mention chunkier.

And I guess the pulse is a Lemon or you're sorely misusing it, because I used an old PST II for years which has a lot of the same features, and it served me fine for the light-medium duty tasks it was designed for.

Sorry if you thought you were paying $80 for a full tool set. That kinda makes you stupid...

 

[The Boston Dangler]

It's not a fuckin tool box dude. I got a 1200lb tool box in the garage but when I'm out 4wheeling, shooting, fishing etc it's saved my ass plenty of times. Oh and I had full tools in my boat but were rusted and I needed to change a plu and some wires which shorted... leatherman came through.

Buy the Charge - I never even heard of pulse... You sure it's not some ebay china knock off?

lol knock off, its been discontinued for a while. the lock is very good, but i don't know how it compares to the current locks.
http://www.leatherman.com/product/Pulse

nevermind my bs ranting. is there another brand that would give me a similar feature set without the issues i described? all of the current leatherman products seem to be more of the same.
edit: gerber multitools look pretty beefy, but i don't remember seeing them in person

 

[shortylickens]

lol knock off, its been discontinued for a while. the lock is very good, but i don't know how it compares to the current locks.
http://www.leatherman.com/product/Pulse

nevermind my bs ranting. is there another brand that would give me a similar feature set without the issues i described? all of the current leatherman products seem to be more of the same.
edit: gerber multitools look pretty beefy, but i don't remember seeing them in person

I have seen many Gerber tools break during use.
Have never seen a Leatherman or SOG break.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I grew up using Victorionox knives, as well as Spyderco knives. I now carry one of these:
http://www.leatherman.com/product/Juice_S2

They really are a great leap forward. Way more useful than a Swisschamp.

 

[fatpat268]

is there another brand that would give me a similar feature set without the issues i described?

Leatherman is still great as long as you get past the classic design. The newer design has all the blades on the outside for easy use (more like a pocket knife, I suppose). Not only that, they feel A LOT more durable and sturdier than their past tools.

Charge TTI - ~$103
Wave - $58.50
Surge - $69.50

All have a similar design, but each have their differences. For more info on that, check this link: Review: Surge vs Charge ALX vs New Wave

Your best bang for your buck is in the Leatherman Wave, but the others have their uses as well. If you're deadset on a multi-tool with the classic leatherman-style design, go with SOG.