All of the tools on the SAK are better than those on a Leatherman, with the exception of the pliers. SAKs are lighter than the Leatherman, as an added benefit.
Buy a Victorinox, and toss an extra pair of pliers in a few useful places. You’ll be much happier.
I have 3 Leatherman Waves. I keep one in my computer bag on one in each vehicle. I’m constantly amazed at how often I use them. It’s a wonderful tool.
I’ve owned a Vic Swiss Champ since ´89 or so. Used it a lot, bent the knife and saw blades, lost the plier & scissor springs, broke the eyeglass-screwdriver “handle” and never had any use for the plastic toothpick, the tiny magnifying glass, the awkward-to-handle ball-point pen which eventually dried up, the fish-scaling tool etc. In '96( I think) I got a Leatherman Supertool, and found it superior to the top-of-the-line SAK in every respect. With the latter, it always felt I had a toy in hand when any real work (whittling / cutting wood, bending / breaking metal wire etc.) was at hand. The Leatherman felt like a real, usable tool. The knives, the saw, the screwdrivers and especially the files and the pliers, are functional, where the SAK’s respective blades feel gimmicky and pretty-over-substance, mostly due to simple size / thickness difference. You can’t do any real reduction work with 1 mm thick, bendy, extra-fine-toothed file with app. two inches of functional length, for instance.
Hauling the holster-less Swiss Champ (not a lightweight model) in my pant pocket is in no way less troublesome than carrying the SAK in it’s unobtrusive leather belt holster. Even opening the blades is much easier on the Supertool as opposed to the Vic. I feel multi-purpose-tool evolution has gone way beyond what the archaic SAK can offer - and I’ve no experience on the Leatherman models of the the last ten years!
I forgot- I also have something I call my “swiss army credit card” in my purse. It has no brand name, but it has about 8 handy tools like a SAK, only it’s, well, a thick credit card! I love it ad the TSA never even glances at it…
One of these days they’ll notice the size of the blade in that thing and then you see a reaction! I have one of those in the truck. It used to reside in my shaving kit until TSA took over.
The Swisstools are some ruggedly made multi-tools. I have the rs (rescue) model. This thing makes the couple Leatherman tools I have laying around seem rather weedy and malnourished. Only drawback to the Swisstools is that they are a little spendy.
[quote=“Omi_no_Kami, post:20, topic:484506”]
Does anyone have any experience with the Swiss Army Cybertool 41?QUOTE]
Yep I use it everyday. I can work on every computer out there with it and its nice to have scissors and small pliers. Get the extra bits tho, i tend to lose mine.
I have been trying a leatherman charge ti lately. very well made and I like the pliers.
BUT its a heck of a lot heavier and I havent needed the larger pliers since I got it. Tends to be nice in the garden or shop and the knife is very very nice. Lockable everything. Im like the OP I cant make up my mind so all my knifes get a chance to come out to play in rotation. BTW my everyday carry knife is a benchmade pocket clip with ATS 34 steel. nice!
For messing around with sailboats, the Leatherman wins. The pliers come in handy all the time for fiddling with cotter pins and other recalcitrant bits of rigging.
Anyone used the Leatherman Skeletool? My SAK has just about given up the ghost, and I was thinking of moving to a Leatherman for the number of times I wished I had pliers and a bit driver on me. I like the look and size of this guy, but I’m a bit worried that no one’s mentioned it yet.
My lawyer carries a Skeletool with him most of the time. He really likes it. Uses it constantly, from what I’ve observed. Of course, he’s a big outdoors person. Not all that many needs for it around the office.
Whoops…totally misread the thread title. Thought I was going to see video of Dave getting stabbed.
I camp at least once a month, and for outdoor-related things, my trusty Swiss Army knife does everything I need it to do. I have some multi-tools, but I don’t even take them anymore on outings - they are bulky and the knife is weird.
Not yet, but I will just as soon as I go buy one. That thing is fricking sweet.
Tell the truth…it was the bottle opener that sealed the deal, wasn’t it?
I have the Leatherman Wave and its always near me. Last night at work I took apart a front wheel of a wheelchair, scraped out a ton of gunk and hair that had gotten wrapped up into it (a smell that was like no other), scrubbed it clean with a disinfectant rinse and a dab of WD40 and put it back together. All in about 15 minutes.
The same problem had happened with the other wheel a couple months before (sticking, not moving as easily as the other side causing problems) and it was sent to be fixed by the in house fix it guys.
They ordered a new wheel and had the resident use a replacement chair (a real piece of crap) for two weeks.
Total cost? Roughly, IIRC, some fifty bucks for the wheel that was airmailed in and god knows how much labor cost billed to our department… Plus the annoyance to the resident of a piece of crap chair for a couple weeks.
I did it all in about fifteen minutes and told my boss if it ever came up again to just let me know.
I have a Leatherman which was given to me as a gift, and I have heard many sing its praises, but I find it notably inferior to my Swiss Army Knife (at least for my purposes) for two reasons - first, it’s more unwieldy due to the need to “open it up” every time before using it, which only reveals the pliers. You still need to pull out any of the accessories after that. Pliers are absent on the SAK so if you’re the kind of person who often needs pliers on the go, that might be a plus, but for me whenever I have a task that necessitates pliers I am usually near my toolset and it’s not an issue.
Second, the Leatherman doesn’t have any damn scissors. I do use the small spring-loaded scissors often (in fact I probably use that more than anything next to the basic blade). Maybe there are models of Leathermen that do carry them, but the one I have doesn’t, and I hate it.
Rigamarole, the wave is my favorite after owning a couple of the originals because of the exterior opening blades. Both serrated and straight. The serrated is great for a quick rough cut through something and the flat is great for either picking at something in a small spot or carving something away. There’s also a mini saw on the outside that I find handy from time to time (though while in the woods I have a small fold out saw that is several times the size of that one on me too and is far more useful).
I was in the store looking for a Leatherman type thing when the salesman showed me the Swisstool http://www.swissarmy.com/MultiTools/Pages/Product.aspx?category=swisstool&product=53905&
I got it cheap because they did not sell, he told me they were “too big” but that’s what I like about it. The small ones “swim around” in my giant hands!
I have tortured mine unbelievably (I’m an oilfield service hand) and other than the painted label coming off it’s no worse for the wear over 10 years later.
Unclviny
That’s what I like some much about the Leatherman Wave - the scissors. I find the scissors extremely useful, and wouldn’t buy a tool without them.
Actually no. I never need a bottle opener as I possess the ninja like ability to open bottles with a Bic lighter or the handle of my pocket knife, both of which I always have on me. I just think that thing looks great, and it was really the pocket driver and associated bits that peaked my interest.
Well that and a man can never own too many pocket tools. I wish that they made one with a punch set on it so I could have a Leatherman that doubled as a Glock smithing tool.