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It has been a while since a multitool has come along that has generated so much excitement and anticipation as Gerber is doing with the new
Center Drive Multitool.
I don’t believe any tool has created this much of a stir since the releases of the Victorinox Spirit and Leatherman Skeletool. Best of all we should have one on the way shortly for a review!
Before I bought the Gerber Mini Suspension-P, I'd never owned a Gerber multi tool, so I wasn't sure quite what to expect. I've owned a couple of Gerber knives over the years and I was very impressed with them, and I'd had my eye on the Gerber Suspension multi tool for a while now. (The Paraframe is still, for my money, one of the best pocket knives there is.)
Then recently I saw the Mini Suspension-P at Home Depot for about $10. The price was right, so I took a chance and bought it. After carrying it and using it for a couple of weeks now, I have to say I'm a little let down.
It wasn't a planned purchase. I didn't even know it existed until I saw it in the display case at the Brigade Quartermaster on Ft. Stewart more than a year and a half ago. I liked the idea of having a small tool to carry on my keys, since the Gerber MP600 I was issued was too big and bulky to carry out of uniform. I purchased the tool for around $20. It has been on my keys ever since.
I have been aware of the Gerber Curve for quite some time now and was attracted to it for it’s organic shape, locking implements and minuscule size. I was just never able to justify paying $10 for the tool and $5 shipping. I found one while browsing in a Dick’s store about two weeks ago. Its the first time I’ve seen one in a store, and seeing it in person made me want it even more. I ignored the $15 price and bought it.
Locking pliers are a feature seldom explored by the multitool manufacturers, and not a tool I frequently need – but when you do need them, nothing else will suffice. Gerber entered the fray with the Grappler which features one hand deployable locking pliers (one fixed jaw and one movable one) with anvil style wire cutters. On the outside of the tool are four additional one hand opening tools, which means this was the world’s first full sized multitool where everything can be opened one handed, despite conflicting claims from elsewhere.
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.