Gerber Freehand

[spoonrobot]

Due to a recent Pawn Shoppe find (see here) I have become re-immeresd in the woeful word of multi-tools. Once again I don my helmet and pick the side of stubby screwdrivers and uncomfortable handles in the face of indifferent adversity.

Being that this is another year of Shot Shows teasers with at least one heart-breaking cancellation of a popular yet-unreleased item (glares towards Golden, Colorado U.S.A. Earth) and the inevitable delay of another (coughs near Taiwan) I was anxious to see what the multi-tool world had to offer during my hiatus. As with years past; much was the same but there was still some welcome difference. One major manufacturer was throwing it's steel into the ring and some of the big names where bringing out some more big tools. Reviewed herein in is one of those big tools; the Fiskars/Gerber Freehand. The love-child of a Tonka-Truck and a Multi-Plier 400 this tool is actually quite dashing physically. The company font and name of the tool are modern and bold, there are icons for the major outer tools and the overall design is very nice both ergonomically and to the eye.

Aesthetics aside the let us begin to go over the main points, features and gripes of this tool.

First and foremost; this tool is large. Very large. Closed it actually looks to be the same size as the Gerber Multi-Plier 600 but it is thicker and much more densely packed with tools. Open it is very obviously much larger than the Multi-Plier 600. This is not marked as a detriment, this is merely stated for comparison since the counterpart(s) of this tool from the Leatherman line; the Surge and Core were unavailable to me for testing at this time. Being that we have established the size as large enough for "serious work" lets move on to the implements.

Ah, the heart of any multi-tool. The Pliers (cue dramaticism).

The pliers on the Freehand have excellent fit and finish; when closed the points meet perfectly from all angles and are fine enough to pull small strands of wire. One difference between the Freehand and it's smaller sibling, in regards to the pliers, is the implementation of a "V-Cut wire cutter." This type of wire cutter features two different blades that close onto each other's faces instead of closing side-by-side (the latter being like a scissors). I have used regular wire cutters of both kinds and each has it's uses so this again is merely a note. So, pliers are cool. and Big.

"But Wait!," You holler. "How do they work? I notice the locking mechanism is different! Is it bad? Must we raze Gerber to the ground for this change?"

To this I would say "Halt! Change is good!"

At the very least the newly reworked locking mechanism is the same functionally and ergonomically as before. You flick the pliers open, push the two buttons to unlock the pliers and slide it closed. Simple and effective. The difference now is that the new buttons are not round but rectangular, top-rounded and textured. Three pluses in my book. I had no problem activating (dectivating?) the locks on the pliers in either bare hands or gloves. The actual mechanism is much more complex on the interior, this is due to the fact that the pliers handles close completely when the pliers are retracted but when open the pliers handles are not parallel but actually form a V shape. The mechanism for this is part of the lock so hence the increased complexity but yay for no more pinchy handles!

 

[spoonrobot]

This part makes me sad.

The implements.

Thus far we have cool appearance, good pliers and a good lock. Where must we head next? To the implements married to the plier handles. These are divided into Big and Small implements (you'll see why). Keeping with a theme we shall start with the Big.

The Big.

There are four Big tools on the Freehand. A plan-edge reverse-tanto teeny-tiny-semi-hawkbill blade (pfft, modern knifemaking), a blunt-nosed "serrated" knife, a sweet scissors and a (seriously? dammit) ruler. Let us meditate on this. We have four slots to put tools. We need some cutting some, some scissoring stuff, maybe some sawing stuff? Ok, wait, But no, 86 the sawing stuff and put some measuring stuff in there instead. Seriously?(yes). A ruler; featuring 3 and 1/4 inches of hot measuring power. Wait! It has metrics on the other side! Salvation! And I guess it is ground and intended to be used a large flat-head screwdriver on the end (is it a metric size on the other side?).

Stupid ruler aside the plain-edge knife blade is hollow ground and came very very sharp. It cuts as well as any Multi-Tool knife blade and I'll update and the edge-holding and so forth. The "serrated" knife blade features an unusual "V" pattern for it's edge. It works but acts sort of like a really sharp saw (stop teasing me Gerber). The scissors is awesome. Go ahead, scroll down and check out that mondo scissors again. Hot. According to my Gerber Freehand Ruler Tool (featuring 3 and 1/4 inches measuring capacity) the scissors will cut to a depth of almost a full inch per cut. The only tools that open well one handed are the plain and serrated knife blades. You can do the ruler but you need to reposition you hand three times to get it fully extended. You can also do the scissors but it requires really long thumbs, acrobatic finger skills and fluency in Swiss-German (go figure).

So all in all the Big implements aren't bad, they are functional and in the case of the scissors, exceptional. We find our first problem here though (oh shit!). Most importantly; unlike other Multi-Tools (goo-goo eyes at the Charge), The outer blades do not lock when the pliers extend. "So?!" you may questioningly (nice job, that's a hard thing to do) yell, "The blades on my Super Tool didn't lock either and they still don't on my Blast! I've never had a problem with this issue and I still find EDC functionality in both these tools!" The "so" is because this is something important and can lead to injury if unaware. This is by no means a deal-breaker, it's no ruler or anything but it is a problem, albeit a small one. Just be aware of it.

The Big tools are cool, how are the Small tools?

For the most part they are functional, and small (it's a tradeoff thing). In order to cram that great, big, sexy plier head into the frame there had to be a compromise. Which we find here, two screwdrivers, a can opener and a bottle opener/medium flathead. The longest of these tools is 1.8cm (I'll show you how I figured this one out:

HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!) These tools work for the most part but the can opener is a very poor example. You may have better luck taping a P-38 in its place. The screwdrivers, though shorter than even those on the Multi-Plier series do work well-enough but obviously do not have the reach for tunneled screws.

I love that damn ruler dammit.

Anyway, to conclude in the most incorrect-red-ink-F+ way I give this tool a 2.7cm because it has a stupid ruler on it.




But seriously, this Multi-Tool is a well-constructed tool with some compromise and only a minor short-coming that prevent super-star status. As it is, it is an average tool with average usability. Not really positive or negative kind of neutral. Let me EDC it for a few weeks and I'll get back to you. It sure does look and feel pretty sweet though, kind of like the tool Douglas Quaid would carry.

 

[WILLIAM.M]

Good Review--

Thanks for sharing

 

[zpaulg]

Very nice review, especially the pics.........Thanks

 

[knuckles666]

I'm not one to bring back dead threads, but the pics in this one and another viewpoint will add to my own smaller review.

I've been using my Freehand for 7 months after having my Leatherman Wave stolen. When I say use, i really mean USE.

I take it to work everyday and I use it easily up to 20 times a day working as an engineering technician.

Now before I start, I'm never going to say there was anything wrong with the Wave as such, as I used that for a good 4 years and it served me very well. It was the newer model, and I always thought of it as fairly "beefy".

Well when I saw a brand new Freehand on eBay for less than $30, I snapped it up without reading up on it as it seemed a decent replacement.

First impressions were the usual "it's HUGE!". This is by no means a bad thing, as I quickly saw that the size and weight were down to the sheer thickness of the tools.

The first things that impressed me were the pliers that could be deployed with a flick of the wrist, and the true one hand opening tools. The Wave seemed to have these but I could never open them with one hand, due to the lack of anything to push on.

After 7 months, I can truly confirm that it is an absolute tank and has never so much as broken a sweat. The only witness to it being used is a small nick in the wire cutters where I chopped through 3mm of solid steel spring wire in an emergency (something I have trouble with using dedicated cutters).

I've sharpened the blade twice, and although I'm no expert in doing this, just using a cheap stone the edge is shaving sharp and it holds extremely well. The serrated blade is a beauty too. The serrations are of a very rounded nature and make cutting a breeze, as there are no very sharp points to snag on material. One of the products our company makes contains what is essentially a seatbelt, and it cuts through with one easy pass.

The ruler I've found to work well as a prybar with that chisel tip, and I'm still amazed at its ability to hold strong when opening stuck paint cans and the like.

Above all, the two main things I love about this tool are the quality and true one handed opening tools.

Would I take my old Wave back in exchange for the Freehand? Certainly not. Although I loved the Leatherman, The Gerber is an absolute beast of a workhorse.