Knife Chat: Slicing to the meat of all things sharp

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Leatherman has made some boneheaded decisions in the last 15 or so years regarding the design and discontinuation of tools.

Example, the Blast and Rebar. I own both and I like the Blast a lot more than the Rebar. The Rebar is an ok tool in it's own right, but it shouldn't have replaced the Blast. Leatherman should've made the Rebar it's own line and kept the Blast and the smaller Kick in the lineup.

As for tools that are similar to the Squirt, check out Roxon and NexTool, Anianna. They've got tools that are pretty similar. Maybe not exactly like the Squirt, but close.

[Anianna]

Thanks for the recommendations.  I think I have a NexTool saved in my Amazon cart to try next.  Will take a look at Roxon.

[majorhavoc]

Is this the best place to gripe about a multitool? 

I saw the Leatherman Micra on their site and it looked a lot like my Squirt (which they have, stupidly in my opinion, discontinued), but with a scissor instead of the pliers.  They've had the Micra for a long time and I forgot why I never bought one.

Now, it is on me that I did not closely examine this thing before I bought it, but I'm kind of regretting that I spent the money on it.

See, with the Squirt, all of the smaller tools like the knife and the screw drivers and all that are accessible from the sides while it's closed.  I don't have to open the Squirt to access anything other than the plier and the body of the tool acts as a nice handle for every tool.  This, to me, is the ideal.

With the Micra, I have to open the primary tool to access any of the smaller tools, which I find awkward, then close it again to use it as I would the Squirt, plus there's no good way to T-turn the screw driver, which I have found useful on occasion with the Squirt.  Why the extra step?  The Squirt proved it didn't need to be this way. 

I'm kind of miffed that they kept this instead of the Squirt. 

FWIW, everybody thinks it was stupid of Leatherman to discontinue the Squirt.

[MacWa77ace]

@Anianna Yeah, I hear that about the 'fine print'.

I have a Leatherman Supertool 300 and you can't access any of the tools without opening the thing up. There were a couple of times I thought, 'how come they didn't put at least one knife on the outside?'. Then I was gifted a Wingman and you can access the knife and the scissors without opening the tool up to get to them.

I found out I rarely use either of those compared to the screwdrivers, pliers, wire cutters, and box opener so I'm always opening up the multi tool anyhow.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Thanks for the recommendations.  I think I have a NexTool saved in my Amazon cart to try next.  Will take a look at Roxon.

Knife Center and MidwayUSA also have a decent selection of NexTool stuff if Amazon doesn't have anything you like.

I've ordered from both places and shipping was pretty good.

[Yogurt]

Sog Powerpint may be worth looking at as well.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

The SOG Powerpint is another good option.

I grabbed two of them on clearance at my local Walmart awhile back for 20 bucks each.