- You are here:
-
Home
-
Knife Reviews
- Damned Designs
I used to carry a well known name brand multi-tool until I found a couple superior options ( based on 40+ years as a fire fighter, police officer and bomb disposal ( EOD ) technician ). I have owned most every multi tool out there and abused them all ( that's why the good ones have a lifetime warranty ) . The two best suited for emergency service in my opinion are the SOG Powerlock S60 Made in the USA and the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife SwissTool RS made in Switzerland, both with lifetime warranties.
Sooner or later all good things must come to an end and us old guys get put out to pasture to allow the young blood(s) in an organization rise to the top. Semi retired now I find my self more in the teaching mode of the nuts + bolts of how things work rather than being on the front lines leading the charge. Consequently with more free time to work around the house, truck and and other boy "toys" I took a serious look at the two multitools I had carried over the years and evaluated them against getting something more fitting for my current needs, something that would be used everyday, lighter weight and not have all the life saving tools featured on my previous EDC ( Every Day Carry ) multitools I had been carrying on the job. It should be noted there is a SOG S60 in the console of my Avalanche and a "RS" in my wife’s Honda Pilot glove-box just in case !
Columbia River Knife and Tool entered the multitool world last year with the release of the ZillaTool. While it was praised for it's design and innovation many people including my self may have passed on it for it's hefty size and length. Some people said that while they liked the tool it was just to long to carry around and use with the pocket clip. While it looks like the people over at I.D. Works (the design division at CRKT that came up with the ZillaTool) were listening for this year they released a smaller more pocket friendly version of the Zillatool aptly named the ZillaTool Jr.
Gerber’s latest sliding head plier design is the Flik, which is an updated version of the MP400 design, and a more compact version of the larger, heavier duty Freehand . This tool is living proof that a multitool made in China isn’t necessarily a cheap hunk of junk!
There was a buzz about the new Leatherman Skeletool and Skeletool CX all of 2007 on the web since the first prototypes surfaced at the 2007 SHOT Show. Leatherman touts it as the tool you take when you only need the basics. But it is chock full of new design ideas and promises to be the new favorite of the industry. Let’’s take a thorough look at the Leatherman Skeletool.
I have a few tools kicking around that I got intending to write reviews on, but for some reason never make it into the spot light. One of those tools is the SeberTech M3 that I purchased from EDCDepot over a year ago.
The first set of keychain pliers I ever got was the small Swiss*Tech MicroTech, which proved to be as solid as the steel it was carved from.
Now discontinued, the Gerber 700 Urban Legend incorporates a number of Gerber’s more innovative features in a handy sized tool. Oddly enough it’s not a typical Gerber design so I absolutely ad to have one. A quick phone call to Dennis at Gerber Tools and I had one winging it's way to me in no time flat!
The great unknown US maker in the multitool market could really go to no one else but Bear and Sons, formerly known as Bear Cutlery. Their tools show up in many places and under many names, like the Hardhat tool reviewed some time ago by Multitool.org Admin Travis Autry. This review is about another such rebranded Bear tool, the 155 aka Crescent Tools ToolZall PRO.
Gerber’s new series of multitools all seem to have a specific, high tech look to them and the Resolve is no different. Just looking at this tool one can’t help but think it would be right at home in the mission box of a Star Trek Away Team, or in the tool box of the on call Terminator repair man.
It’s not often I come across a keychain tool that is better outfitted than it’s full sized counterpart, but Sheffield has managed to come up with a perfect example with the LED Multitools. Other than the name however, it’s important to note that these tools have nothing to do with the high quality products manufactured by Sheffield in England.
Call it “survival of the fittest” or “trial and error” but it all boils down to one conclusion- Evolution is a wonderful thing. Anyone who spends any time reading my various ramblings and ratings of various tools knows that I am more fascinated with what didn’t work than what did, and more importantly, how the oddball ideas evolved into the successful tools of today. The Mini Tool is another fascinating example of what didn’t work, but played an important part in the design of some of the tools Leatherman is currently producing. Marlon Perkins would be proud!
Like it’s Squirt brethren the P4 and E4, the Squirt S4 is a very handy, bright tool that functions well beyond it’s size. It is closely matched to the predecessor of the Squirt line, the Leatherman Micra in that it’s main tool is a set of very capable scissors. Despite not being a large tool, the scissors are quite functional, and the handles are very comfortable to use.
For all those places when you need or want a tool handy, but can’t carry a full sized tool for whatever reason, Leatherman offers the Squirt series, which consists of three models- the E4 with wire strippers, the S4 with scissors and the P4 with pliers, which is the model we are looking at in this review.
When I first laid eyes on this little tool in a discussion on our forum I thought it looked interesting enough. A few months later I decided to give it a shot and added it to an order I had placed with EDCDepot
What kind of people would write collect and review multitools? Quite simple really- we are designers and do-ers, outdoors types and indoor types, mechanics, doctors, problem solvers and problem makers. As such, we have, as a world spanning community, put every type, size and version of multitool, multifunction knife, pocket knife and all related products to every test we could manage in as many places and environments as there are.