Gerber MP series quality?

Joined
Jul 26, 2010
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I know that Gerber has taken a number of black eyes in the past for the unknown steel, and fit and finish, on some of their knives and tools. But, how is the quality on the MP series multitools? I'm referring to the MP400, MP600, MP800 Legend, Diesel, Freehand, etc. For that matter, what steel is used on those? I'm assuming it's 420HC.
 
I have an MP600 and an MP450 (An MP400 with file in place of scissors) and I can't say I'm all that impressed with them. The individual implements are ok, but fit and finish are... a little on the rough side; in particular, the blade(s) are a little unimpressive, being a little on the small size given the dimensions of the tools. The play between the plier head and the handles make me a little hesitant to put a lot of pressure on the pliers. The screwdrivers are almost embarrassingly short, making a lot of screws unreachable. Finally, because the handles don't open all that far and the implements still open inwards, it's a little awkward to deploy the implements.

I believe the steel used in the blade is actually 425M, which for all intents and purposes seems to be 420HC with some minor alterations.
 
The 400 and 600 series tools are OK, and based on a more limited sample, so is the Diesel. A lot of my students and co-workers carry them and no one has broken one yet, and a lot of work gets done with those tools. They are not at the quality level of Swisstool, but then they are not priced as highly either. If you search this forum I'm sure you will find reports of breakage of Gerbers, just as you will find reports of breakage for a lot of other brands of multi-tools. Of the few co-workers that have had the 800 series, one broke the tool, and they all had the rubber bits on the sides of the handles fall off. YMMV
 
I have a 400 given to me by my father back in 2001, and the fit & finish on it seems to be a lot better than the 400's I've seen today. Same for the 600 I've got: I bought it for $25. here on BF about three years ago, and I think it was several years old at the time I got it. It's definitely nicer than the more recent 600's I've seen.

My only complaint with the 600 is that if I really squeeze the tool hard with the pliers deployed (as in when I'm really clamping down on something with the pliers), they pliers get really stiff for a while before loosening up.

Some of our Scouts have Gerber tools, and they seem to hold up pretty well, even after 5-6 years of use on campouts, hikes, job projects, etc.

~Chris
 
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