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Best new tiny multitool?

Discussion in 'MultiTools and Other Pocket Tools' started by deusexaethera, Nov 9, 2012.

    deusexaethera Loaded Pockets

    I have a SeberTech M4. Actually, I have several, stockpiled away, scavenged off eBay from the days before SeberTech sold the design to IDL Tools and the quality went in the toilet. I used my first one for so long the pliers finally broke from metal fatigue after ten years. I'm on my second one now. I should be set for a while, but I'm always interested in new options. Sadly I haven't seen anything in my browsing online that looks like it can hold a candle to the SeberTech M4.

    What's the best tiny multitool out there right now? I'm thinking the approximate size and weight of a Leatherman Micra, but with pliers instead of scissors, screwdrivers that aren't made of sheet metal, a knife blade that can hold an edge, and locks on the folding tools. Suggestions?

    J4C3 Uber Prepared

    bump for interest/info
    thank you

    enki_ck Uber Prepared

    Maybe the Leatherman Juice P4 or Gerber Dime?
    Mighty Max and maxray like this.

    schwibsi Loaded Pockets

    How about the Squirt PS4? That might do it for you.
    Or how about a Gerber Vise?
    Or maybe something a little more minimalistic likea Zilla-Work Pocket Tool?
    Or the Gerber Steady Pocket Tripod, if you use a camera a lot
    Or something a little more exotic looking like a Scarab?
    A Leatherman Style CS if you travel by plane a lot or don't need the knife
    Or how doyou fany a Swiss+ Tech MMCSSS Micro-Max?

    nuphoria Uber Prepared

    • +4 Supporter
    • In Omnia Paratus

    keeper Uber Prepared

    I bought both leatherman PS and CS. I took the blade off the CS and exchanged it for the scissors on the PS. I share the same critera for best minitool. Pliers, screwdriver, and knife. My modified Leatherman is one of my favorite EDC. Yes my wife does say I am OCD! LOL

    deusexaethera Loaded Pockets

    The small Leathermans and Gerbers look nice, but the reviews I've read of them on Amazon suggest they're cheaply made. That's what's so great about the M4; even though it's small, the parts are all super-strong for their size. In ten years of use, I never managed to damage the tiny Philips screwdriver on my first one; it was the pliers that eventually failed, from corrosion that worked its way into the metal through a hairline crack.

    Swiss-tech's pliers are too small. I keep circling around to look at them again, but the pliers are just too small.

    The Gerber Dime looks nice. Can the pliers handle being squeezed until my hand hurts?

    Syd Sailor Empty Pockets

    just out of interest, why did you do that? I carry the PS (the only decent legal EDC multitool as far as I can see in Australia, excluding being able to carry a blade for work/sport reasons), and am wondering - your mod results in a cs with a second pair of scissors and no pliers, right?

    now I feel stupid - you were aiming for a ps with pliers and a knife, mini-skeletool? awesome. pure awesome.
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    • In Omnia Paratus

    keeper Uber Prepared

    yes you are correct. I also carry skeletool when I dress casually, and have pockets for a larger EDC. But I was not willing to have no EDC when I have to be dressed up, so I modified the PS to be a mini skeletool, and combined that with a Streamlight nano and a stick of Burt's Bees +2 bandaids in a small flat pouch in the pocket of my dress pants. It is also a perfect size to carry in the pocket of my scrub pants, when I am in the hospital.

    Sriracha Uber Prepared

    IMHO, go SAK or go home. I have broken many recent Leatherman products, I dont trust them. The Gerber crunch own is so low quality, I wont carry it. I have rounded the philips of a Swiss tech right out of the box. I have yet to seriously damage a Victorinox. i am sure Wenger is also good, but thats not my favorite flavor. One exception... I have an old Micra. That thing is still kicking. Has to be one of the early ones, I have had it for a LOOOONG time.
    Mighty Max, Vesp and GrayMouser like this.

    maxray Loaded Pockets

    amdmaxx likes this.
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    znapschatz Uber Prepared

    Agreed, SAKs are the goods, but my experience with Leathermen have also been very positive. Well, once I got too enthusiastic with CS4 pliers and sprung the thing (fixed by warranty), but so far in 16 years of using them my Leatherman tools have held up very well, including the most recent. I rely on them completely. However, comments like yours come up often, so there are other experiences out there. May I ask: which Leathermen have broken on you, how were you using them and what was the failure?

    Ademar Loaded Pockets

    Generally agree with everything. The only thing is that SAK unfortunately doesn't have a mini multitool with pliers. The smallest one is at least 91 mm.
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    jag-engr Liberal Hall Monitor

    Pictures or it didn't happen...:img_tag_smiley:
    keeper likes this.
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    znapschatz Uber Prepared

    Or a mini tool with decent sized scissors.

    amdmaxx Loaded Pockets

    enki_ck Uber Prepared

    deusexaethera Loaded Pockets

    Wow, you must really beat up your multi tools. I also own a Leatherman Crunch and it's the only Leatherman I bother to use, because of the locking pliers. It isn't made with the laser-cut precision of newer Leatherman designs, but the tools are not poor quality by any means.

    Victorinox is nice, I own a couple (the Midnite MiniChamp is my favorite), but in the small size I'm looking for in this thread, Victorinox doesn't include pliers or locking tools. Other brands do. That's a dealbreaker for me, looking for a primary-EDC multi tool.

    deusexaethera Loaded Pockets

    Everyday Commentary's review of the Gerber Dime reminds me of my own experience with Gerber. I bought a Legend 800 back when they were hands-down the best large multi-tool on the market. A few years later, one of the leaf-springs on the pliers snapped. I asked Gerber for a replacement spring, and they said for liability reasons they no longer distributed individual replacement parts to customers. Well, I had already modified my Legend 800 (grinding down the unnecessarily-large pliers jaws, among other things), but I sent it in for repair anyway, along with a list of the things I wanted Gerber to *avoid* replacing for me. They sent me back my tool, unrepaired, along with a whole new Legend 800, and a note from the CS representative I'd talked to, which said "I see you have one of the first editions, which are better than the current edition. Here is a current edition so you can get the parts you need to repair your tool." The quality of the current-edition Legend 800 was crap compared to my first-edition version. Possibly it was a unit that had failed QC but still had the parts I needed. I was able to repair mine and cannibalize most of the other parts, just in case.

    Glad to see the Dime's quality is vetted by a respected reviewer. That is promising.
  1. The reviews are wrong.

    My PS4 and E4 are great