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If you have a Leatherman, is there a reason to buy an SAK?

Joined
Aug 8, 2013
Messages
979
If one has a Leatherman, other than being able to carry the SAK in your pocket as opposed to carrying a Leatherman in your belt sheath, why would one want an SAK if you own a Leatherman already?
 
There is always a reason to add another knife to the mix.

I carry a Vic Huntsman in my right front pocket attached to the car keys, and a Leatherman Sidekick in the Left Front pocket.
 
Because for me the sak is not as bulky as my leatherman and i don't allways need the pliers . Plus i like lots of knives lol
 
Simple question to answer:

If you need the blade more: Get a SAK!
If you need the pliers and tools more: Get a Multitool! Leatherman's QC is lacking atm though imho! So get a Victorinox SwissTool instead!

Best wishes,
Bernd
 
There is always a reason to add another knife to the mix.

I carry a Vic Huntsman in my right front pocket attached to the car keys, and a Leatherman Sidekick in the Left Front pocket.

Do you find the Leatherman hard to carry in your pocket instead of putting it in the belt sheath?
 
The SAK scissors are 28x more precise, for clipping skin boo boos, hang nails, etc. Plus you get the tweezer, and depending on which flavor, maybe a mini driver or mini phillips. So at least add a Classic or Rambler to your keys.
 
Because for me the sak is not as bulky as my leatherman and i don't allways need the pliers . Plus i like lots of knives lol

This, and I only carry my leatherman at work in as sheath on my belt. If I had a sak I would get a smaller one to keep in my pocket.
 
I used to carry a Leatherman juice...

One night one of my buddies' car had its idle air control motor crap out. Luckily we were within walking distance of an auto zone and could find a replacement. I whipped out my juice to handle the 10mm bolts holding it in place. It took a lot more torque than I expected to undo the first one and when I went to get ready for the second I noticed that the juice's frame was bent. when closing it back up it was askew pretty badly. My buddy had a Vic super tinker in his glove box and I kid you not, the 91mm vic pliers were able to undo the other two bolts without self destructing. It took a bit more effort to spin them of course, but after the pliers snapped right back into place, ready for another job.

So that's why i carry a sak now. Slimmer, lighter and apparently, tougher. Sure you may lose some tool selection but I'm cool with it. After the incident I sold my rusty surge and my swisstool is now the only full size I have left. I always thought leathermans were tougher, not sure why, maybe just the brand image vs vic. However, until leatherman can match the swiss build quality, I'm done with them.

I realize this was just my experience, I'm aware that Leatherman builds solid gear that serve many people very well on a daily basis.
 
I know you already excluded this reason, but theres already too much stuff on my belt. besides, in a weird way an allox SAK is purrdy
 
I love my super tool 300, but the Swisschamp has moar gizmos. So between the two of them you have pretty much everything thing you need.

And once you have more than 3 knives do really need an excuse to buy another one? Lol.
 
Yes of course!? First of all WEIGHT. Victorinoxs are so much lighter compared to Leathermans. A five layered Ranger weighs 4.1 oz; while the smallest Juice S2 weighs already 4.4 oz. Then, in my opinion, everything is better on a Victorinox except for the pliers. Victorinox offers the best scissors in the business, the best can-opener, the best cork-screw and much better blade steel compared to the 420HC of a lot of Leathermans. See JDavis882's cut-test with a Victorinox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peO0akVMNbg . Especially compared to the Juice series the tools on a Vic are more useable. See for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6dgyzEr52s . The cork-screw sucks on the Juice models in my humble opinion and the scissors are not sharp compared to a pair of Vic scissors which I do not even need to manipulate, because just push-cut with them. On top of that you can get tweezers, a toothpick, a pin and mini-screwdriver with almost every Victorinox. The Climber and the Compact are my favorites.
 
This, and I only carry my leatherman at work in as sheath on my belt. If I had a sak I would get a smaller one to keep in my pocket.

+2, I find SAK's a lot more pocketable. I would rather carry my SAK cadet that even the smallest Leatherman. I keep a Leatherman in the truck, tackle box, backpack, and one in the junk drawer in the house. I hardly ever carry one on my person though. On the other hand I always have a classic on my keys and more often than not a cadet in my pocket.

So, to answer the OP's question, absolutely buy an SAK even if you have a Leatherman.
 
SAK is much better in terms of fit and finish.

But if the scissors don't have that spring I won't buy it.

Leatherman is wonderful, but is gritty and the knife blades are a joke.
 
If you need the blade more: Get a SAK!
If you need the pliers and tools more: Get a Multitool! Leatherman's QC is lacking atm though imho! So get a Victorinox SwissTool instead!

Pretty much is my opinion. Or get a SOG multitool versus the Leatherman.

I won't carry a multitool (pliers type) unless I know I have a use for it, but I always carry a SAK.
 
Here's my Cabelas Leatherman Pulse given to me as a birthday gift from my father about 12 years ago. When doing side jobs or home improvement jobs, it's been a great tool to have on my belt when I wear it. It's extra special to me but the tool also works for me. The knife blade has cut everything I've tried to cut but I've used common sense and not tackle something too big a job for that size blade. All of the other tools on there have been reliable when I needed them. I think my pulse is discontinued but it makes no difference.

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