First, I would like to thank K man for generously providing the Gerber 400 (along with a SOG PowerLock) for this pass around/ lottery. I would also like to thank Dave H. for running the pass around.
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- Gerber 400 Compact Sport Multi-Plier
DETAILS -
from Gerbers site -
http://www.gerberblades.com/products/view.php?model=5500
OUT OF THE BOX I liked the 400 size better than the larger 600 Pro Scout that I used to have. The 400 is big enough to comfortably fill my hand but not too big or heavy (6.6 oz nominal weight). Like the larger Gerbers, the 400 can be opened with one hand either by depressing the button catches and sliding the pliers out with your thumb and index finger, or by simply flicking it open. I found the handles to be quite comfortable.
All of the tools lock and do not clump, although the pliers need to be extended to get to them and access is somewhat restricted since the handles only open about 60 degrees. Unlocking the tools is easily accomplished by sliding the black plastic (Zytel?) tabs back about 1/8.
The downside to the 400 compared to the 600 is a reduced load out of tools. With the 400 there is no saw or file. I was also disappointed that the Compact Sport has no awl, rulers or provisions for attaching a lanyard. The 400 is fairly bulky for a compact tool when folded (about the same size as a folded Leatherman Wave).
The finish on the 400 is the typical Gerber dull satin gray.
OPERATION All of the individual tools open without clumping, although a few were a little stiff and/or felt gritty. The spring loaded lock releases work smoothly. The pliers slide in and out of the handles easily but not very smoothly. Once extended, the pliers open and close effortlessly (they are loose enough to swing open and closed by the weight of the handles alone).
LOCK - Gerber uses a spring loaded sliding bolt action type lock. All tools lock automatically and are released by sliding the lock tabs back about 1/8. This is an excellent lock for a multi-tool (a similar lock is used on the Victorinox SwissTool).
- TOOLS -
PLIERS The Compact Sport has needle nose type pliers that open about 45 Degrees or 1 7/16 tip to tip. The plier tips are dressed precisely enough to pluck hairs from my arm. The hand filling handles make the pliers comfortable to use and unlike early Gerber multi-tools, there is enough space between the handles when closed to prevent pinching.
WIRE CUTTERS - There is a 5/16 wire cutter section of the pliers. There is no hard wire cutting notch. The 400s wire cutter easily cut 12 gage copper wire, which was the biggest wire that I had on hand.
WIRE CRIMPER The 400 has a wire crimper much like those used by Leatherman and SOG. I used it to crimp on some 14-16 gage (blue) crimps, and I had some difficulty getting good, tight crimps. I believe the reason is that these connectors are slightly too big for the 400s crimper and that it is hard to exert enough pressure with the fairly short handles. I would expect the crimper to work better with smaller connectors.
½ SERRATED KNIFE BLADE - The 400s flat ground drop point knife blade is 2 9/16 long overall, with about 2 ¼ of cutting edge, of which 50% is serrated. Unlike most combo edge blades, there is a conventional bevel on both sides of the plain edged portion of the blade - which is preferable to a chisel edge for most purposes. The blade is about .097 thick at the spine near the base and tapers to about .040 at the tip. The blade is about .030 thick behind the serratations for about a 30 degree edge angle and about .025 behind the plain edge portion for about 12 degrees per side.
I dont know how much K man used the knife blade, but it appears to be in new condition. The plain edge section is just barely sharp enough to shave and the serrated portion is a bit sharper this is sharper than the blades on several NIB Gerber tools that I looked at in a store recently.
This blade probably wont take the place of anyones EDC, or impress a knifeknut, but it seems to be a decent choice for a multi-tool of this type.
SCISSORS - I tried the 400s scissors on string, 550 lb paracord, ¼ flat cotton shoe lace, rubber bands, denim (Wrangler jeans), monofilament fishing line, 32 lb. card board, and phone book paper. The scissors worked well on most of this except that the short (about 5/8) throat made it slow and snippy on long cuts, particularly on the card board. The 400s scissors also had problems getting through the hem on the blue jeans, although it eventually gnawed its way through and it sometimes took two tries to get through the paracord.
All considered, the scissors performed reasonably well for their size, but they should be bigger.
BOTTLE OPENER - This is a feature I dont use very often, but the Gerber bottle opener dose seem to work better on bottles than the combo bottle/can openers that Leatherman uses. There is a 3/16 screw driver combined with the 400s bottle opener.
CAN OPENER - The Gerbers can opener cuts towards the tip like the Victorinox can openers, but it is not as smooth or easy to use and leaves more jagged edges on the can/ lid. There is no little screw driver tip on the 400s can opener.
While this can opener is not ideal if you have a lot of cans to open, it dose serve its purpose for occasional use.
SCREW DRIVERS - The Compact Sport has 3 standard screw drivers: a 5/64 (2 mm), a 3/16 (4.8 mm) combined with the bottle opener and a 7/32 (5.8 mm). These work well except that they are all too short (15/16, 1 3/16 and 1 overall, respectively).
When driving screws the tip of the pliers stick out just enough from the handles to jab your hand in some positions, but are otherwise comfortable.
PHILLIPS SCREW DRIVER - The 400s Phillips seems to have a #1 size head, but much like Leathmans Phillips, the point is flatter than a standard # 1 Phillips, probably so that it will fit both #1 and #2 screws . Much like the standard drivers, the 400s Phillips works well, but is too short (15/16 overall).
Although I didnt have one to try out, Gerber dose offer an optional tool coupler that attaches to the Phillips driver that takes standard ¼ hex bits.
- RUST RESISTANCE -
Towards the end of the week, I noticed that the Compact Sport was developing very small/ faint spots of rust on both the plier jaws and the handles. This was removed by scrubbing with Tri-Flow. I was a little surprised that the 400 was beginning to rust, especially since it was not exposed to anything which I would expect to cause rusting. I was using the 3 other tools (a SOG PowerLock, a SwissTool and a Super Tool 200) at the same time and none of these rusted. I suspect that the Compact Sports slightly rough finish on the plier jaws may have contributed to this.
- CUT TO THE CHASE -
The Gerber multi-tools have a lot going for them: one hand opening pliers, comfortable handles, all locking tools, no clumping etc. Unfortunately, Gerbers design and selection of the individual tools just doesnt quite measure up to the competing multi-tools from Leatherman, SOG and Victorinox. To be specific, the Gerber 400 lacks an awl, lanyard attachment ring and rulers. And its screw drivers are all too short.
Although about ¾s the size of the 600 series Gerbers, the 400 is a fairly bulky multi-tool a little too bulky for every day pocket carry in my opinion.
Still, the 400 is a good multi-tool - certainly not a bad choice; particularly for someone who uses the pliers much more than they do the other tools.
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Thanks again to K man and Dave H. for the incredible pass around/lottery!
- Frank
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- Gerber 400 Compact Sport Multi-Plier
DETAILS -
from Gerbers site -
http://www.gerberblades.com/products/view.php?model=5500
OUT OF THE BOX I liked the 400 size better than the larger 600 Pro Scout that I used to have. The 400 is big enough to comfortably fill my hand but not too big or heavy (6.6 oz nominal weight). Like the larger Gerbers, the 400 can be opened with one hand either by depressing the button catches and sliding the pliers out with your thumb and index finger, or by simply flicking it open. I found the handles to be quite comfortable.
All of the tools lock and do not clump, although the pliers need to be extended to get to them and access is somewhat restricted since the handles only open about 60 degrees. Unlocking the tools is easily accomplished by sliding the black plastic (Zytel?) tabs back about 1/8.
The downside to the 400 compared to the 600 is a reduced load out of tools. With the 400 there is no saw or file. I was also disappointed that the Compact Sport has no awl, rulers or provisions for attaching a lanyard. The 400 is fairly bulky for a compact tool when folded (about the same size as a folded Leatherman Wave).
The finish on the 400 is the typical Gerber dull satin gray.
OPERATION All of the individual tools open without clumping, although a few were a little stiff and/or felt gritty. The spring loaded lock releases work smoothly. The pliers slide in and out of the handles easily but not very smoothly. Once extended, the pliers open and close effortlessly (they are loose enough to swing open and closed by the weight of the handles alone).
LOCK - Gerber uses a spring loaded sliding bolt action type lock. All tools lock automatically and are released by sliding the lock tabs back about 1/8. This is an excellent lock for a multi-tool (a similar lock is used on the Victorinox SwissTool).
- TOOLS -
PLIERS The Compact Sport has needle nose type pliers that open about 45 Degrees or 1 7/16 tip to tip. The plier tips are dressed precisely enough to pluck hairs from my arm. The hand filling handles make the pliers comfortable to use and unlike early Gerber multi-tools, there is enough space between the handles when closed to prevent pinching.
WIRE CUTTERS - There is a 5/16 wire cutter section of the pliers. There is no hard wire cutting notch. The 400s wire cutter easily cut 12 gage copper wire, which was the biggest wire that I had on hand.
WIRE CRIMPER The 400 has a wire crimper much like those used by Leatherman and SOG. I used it to crimp on some 14-16 gage (blue) crimps, and I had some difficulty getting good, tight crimps. I believe the reason is that these connectors are slightly too big for the 400s crimper and that it is hard to exert enough pressure with the fairly short handles. I would expect the crimper to work better with smaller connectors.
½ SERRATED KNIFE BLADE - The 400s flat ground drop point knife blade is 2 9/16 long overall, with about 2 ¼ of cutting edge, of which 50% is serrated. Unlike most combo edge blades, there is a conventional bevel on both sides of the plain edged portion of the blade - which is preferable to a chisel edge for most purposes. The blade is about .097 thick at the spine near the base and tapers to about .040 at the tip. The blade is about .030 thick behind the serratations for about a 30 degree edge angle and about .025 behind the plain edge portion for about 12 degrees per side.
I dont know how much K man used the knife blade, but it appears to be in new condition. The plain edge section is just barely sharp enough to shave and the serrated portion is a bit sharper this is sharper than the blades on several NIB Gerber tools that I looked at in a store recently.
This blade probably wont take the place of anyones EDC, or impress a knifeknut, but it seems to be a decent choice for a multi-tool of this type.
SCISSORS - I tried the 400s scissors on string, 550 lb paracord, ¼ flat cotton shoe lace, rubber bands, denim (Wrangler jeans), monofilament fishing line, 32 lb. card board, and phone book paper. The scissors worked well on most of this except that the short (about 5/8) throat made it slow and snippy on long cuts, particularly on the card board. The 400s scissors also had problems getting through the hem on the blue jeans, although it eventually gnawed its way through and it sometimes took two tries to get through the paracord.
All considered, the scissors performed reasonably well for their size, but they should be bigger.
BOTTLE OPENER - This is a feature I dont use very often, but the Gerber bottle opener dose seem to work better on bottles than the combo bottle/can openers that Leatherman uses. There is a 3/16 screw driver combined with the 400s bottle opener.
CAN OPENER - The Gerbers can opener cuts towards the tip like the Victorinox can openers, but it is not as smooth or easy to use and leaves more jagged edges on the can/ lid. There is no little screw driver tip on the 400s can opener.
While this can opener is not ideal if you have a lot of cans to open, it dose serve its purpose for occasional use.
SCREW DRIVERS - The Compact Sport has 3 standard screw drivers: a 5/64 (2 mm), a 3/16 (4.8 mm) combined with the bottle opener and a 7/32 (5.8 mm). These work well except that they are all too short (15/16, 1 3/16 and 1 overall, respectively).
When driving screws the tip of the pliers stick out just enough from the handles to jab your hand in some positions, but are otherwise comfortable.
PHILLIPS SCREW DRIVER - The 400s Phillips seems to have a #1 size head, but much like Leathmans Phillips, the point is flatter than a standard # 1 Phillips, probably so that it will fit both #1 and #2 screws . Much like the standard drivers, the 400s Phillips works well, but is too short (15/16 overall).
Although I didnt have one to try out, Gerber dose offer an optional tool coupler that attaches to the Phillips driver that takes standard ¼ hex bits.
- RUST RESISTANCE -
Towards the end of the week, I noticed that the Compact Sport was developing very small/ faint spots of rust on both the plier jaws and the handles. This was removed by scrubbing with Tri-Flow. I was a little surprised that the 400 was beginning to rust, especially since it was not exposed to anything which I would expect to cause rusting. I was using the 3 other tools (a SOG PowerLock, a SwissTool and a Super Tool 200) at the same time and none of these rusted. I suspect that the Compact Sports slightly rough finish on the plier jaws may have contributed to this.
- CUT TO THE CHASE -
The Gerber multi-tools have a lot going for them: one hand opening pliers, comfortable handles, all locking tools, no clumping etc. Unfortunately, Gerbers design and selection of the individual tools just doesnt quite measure up to the competing multi-tools from Leatherman, SOG and Victorinox. To be specific, the Gerber 400 lacks an awl, lanyard attachment ring and rulers. And its screw drivers are all too short.
Although about ¾s the size of the 600 series Gerbers, the 400 is a fairly bulky multi-tool a little too bulky for every day pocket carry in my opinion.
Still, the 400 is a good multi-tool - certainly not a bad choice; particularly for someone who uses the pliers much more than they do the other tools.
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Thanks again to K man and Dave H. for the incredible pass around/lottery!
- Frank
