- You are here:
- Home
- Gear Reviews
- Sheaths and Gear Carry
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
There are a few multitools out there that define an evolutionary niche. Some are successful like Leatherman’s one handed opening Wave or locking Crunch pliers, and others were not, like SOG’s SwitchPlier or Leatherman’s MiniTool. The Pro Lock is firmly entrenched in the latter category but is no less important for it. As with most things, the successes can really only be measured by the not so successes.
The FROG tool by Gatco/Timberline is another interesting tool that defines and represents a whole section of the market. Like the Frosch tools, the FROG is a single piece of steel, cut and carved in such a way as to have multiple features, and let me tell you, it would be hard to add any more features to this one!
Once in a while, there’s a tool that comes along that is so different from any other, that no other manufacturer could hope to successfully incorporate any good points into their own designs. The Spyderco SpyderWrench and ByrdWrench are just that kind of design. Unlike any other tools, the Spyder and ByrdWrenches are hard to classify.
The Coast Fishing Multitool is a different type of tool than we normally think of when the term is used. It isn’t a plier based tool- in fact, it doesn’t seem to have a “primary” tool of any sort. It is merely a convenient tool that has several functions in a compact package. What more could one want? Oh yeah, and it’s fairly inexpensive too!
The SOG ToolClip is another one of those fascinating designs that help define what we know today as the “multitool.” It is one of the more successful permanent mount plier type multitools, but unfortunately was apparently not successful enough since it was discontinued some time ago. Made in Seki City, Japan for SOG, the ToolClip and Micro ToolClip are extremely well built, sturdy tools that every collector should experience at least once.
Anybody ever handled one of these NaviTools? They are kinda big and clunky. Certainly not the sort of thing you could carry around unnoticed.
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.