Two months ago I shared a bit from a press release on the new Maxpedition Entity Series bags and accessories, and now, thanks to the fine folks at Maxpedition, I am the proud owner of the Entity 27 backpack, the small sheath and a utility pouch. It's always fun to get an advance product and be one of the first people to review it. If you still aren't familiar with the Entity series, you can see all about it here: MAXPEDITION ENTITY SERIES

In short, they are a new line of what Maxpedition is calling Non Tactical/Tactical (or NTT for short- get it? NTT= En Ti Ty) series products which includes bags, sheaths and accessories. At this point I really have to issue a formal apology to Maxpedition, as, looking at the pictures, I thought these were hideous. And, further, I thought they were silly, with the guy in the video walking around in a tactical hat and skintight tactical turtleneck (the "tactile-neck" for you Archer fans)- I mean how low key can you be when you are dressed like a modern urban ninja?

Months ago I bought a fake Leatherman Tread in black for $50. Now I have a legitimate Leatherman Tread, also in black, and while I paid considerably less than the $312.00 price tag on it, you can rest assured that it was still several times as much as the fake. But, it's worth it for the real thing, right? After all, the Leatherman brand is built in the USA and quality is the defining factor, while the knockoff is.... well, it's a cheap hunk of China made crap, right? Let's find out.

Another part of my cheap gear order has arrived, and this one is a titanium spork similar to the Light My Fire type sporks. This is the third item from this order, which also includes the Teeny Sling Bag of POWER and the cheapo zoom lens doohickey.

Naturally the first thing I did with this cheapo spork is test to see if it was magnetic. As you know, titanium is not usually considered to be an inexpensive metal, and so I thought I would check to see if the titanium was substituted with cheaper steel. While I still cannot verify that it is titanium, I can say that it had absolutely no attraction to the rare earth magnets I have, so that is at least a good sign.

This is it- the Grande Finale!  Before you read this, make sure you have read through all of the others to ensure that you are totally up to date!

We are down to the semi finals here, with SOG leading by one point and two events left!  Who will reign supreme, the Leatherman Skeletool or the SOG Reactor?  Leatherman is down a point already, so let's see if they can pull off a win!

Part 6- Carry Methods

Another big strength of the Skeleool is its versatility in carry- it can be clipped onto a pack or other equipment or clipped to a pocket using the pocket clip.  Conversely the Reactor can really only be carried clipped to a pocket.

As we get closer to the finale of this shootout the big question is- will Leatherman gain some ground or will SOG reign supreme?  It's getting pretty heated here as both the Skeletool and the Reactor both try to be the top light duty EDC Tool in this shootout!

Part 5- Bottle Opener

I don’t even know if there is a comparison needed here- this one is as open and shut as it can possibly get, and the Skeletool absolutely kills the Reactor on this one.  But, since I am dragging this out into a serial, let’s get into why.

If you haven't read the earlier parts of this shootout I suggest you check them out to see how we have been scoring everything so far- here are some quick links to help get caught up!

As it sits now, the SOG reactor is currently in the lead with three points to the Skeletool's one, but there's a lot more yet to come- read on and see if Leatherman is going to make a comeback!

Part 4- Screwdrivers

To me the screwdrivers are probably the most used part of a multitool, or at least are tied with the blade for most used, and therefore they deserve special attention.  Of course, as screwdrivers are part of the scope of this comparison, I imagine we were going to take a close look anyway….

Part 3- Pliers

After the blade the most prominent function is the pliers, and let’s face it, this one seems like an open and shut case (pun sadly intended) given SOG’s compound leverage.  Just for the fun of it though, let’s break it down and see what we really have.

In case you missed Part 1 yesterday, we are doing a direct comparison of Leatherman's Skeletool and SOG's Reactor.  These two multitools are remarkably similar in function, but let's see how they fare in the real world when stacked up head to head!  In today's installment we are going to look closely at each of the blades on these tools and see which one comes out on top!

It’s not often you get the opportunity to pit a multitool directly against a competitor as the variety of functions makes almost every model different from every other one.  Occasionally though, we manage to find a couple that are close enough that we can match them against eachother in a very fair fight- last year it was the Leatherman OHT vs the Gerber Center-Drive and it resulted in a draw.  You can see last year’s match up here:

Gerber Center-Drive Vs Leatherman OHT

This year we are going compact as the SOG Reactor takes on the Leatherman Skeletool.