Leatherman Charge XTi at Cabela's

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Sep 30, 2001
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I just got the new fall catalog from Cabela's and the Leatherman Charge XTi was listed for $99.99. I called and sure enough they had them in stock. Even though I have another one on back order I ordered this one. It should be here Thursday. I'll post first impressions when I get it. (Unless someone else gets one first. ;)

By the way, here's the link if you're interested. Leatherman Charge at Cabela's
 
:D Thanks for all the postings which helped me decide I had to have one of these. Leatherman seems to have taken care of most of my complaints that I had with the original wave. Cabelas does not give you a choice of sheath type, it is leather only. The shipping is based on price not weight. Choosing express shipping made my total $115.94.
 
Well guys I just got my leatherman Charge XTI and overall I am pretty impressed. First thing is it comes with a nylon sheath not the leather one that I thought it was supposed to come with and the crimper is ok, it doesn't crimp electrical connectors very well, not sure if that is what it's intended for, the larger area of the cutters is a big improvement you can cut whole electrical cords in one bite. But overall this thing is nice and is very smooth, the blades are much much smoother than the old leatherman's. It is pretty large when in the case about a 1 & 9/16 thick and 4 & 1/2 inches long. It's also very nice to get a scary sharp edge on the main blade, I didn't have much luck getting the old 420 blade on the wave to get sharp or stay that sharp. I kind of wish that someone had the regular charge in stock because I miss the full length needle nose pliers and the sissors. :(
 
Just got my Charge XTi in Monday's mail. It was supposed to come with a quick release lanyard ring, but didn't. I called Cabelas and they said they would ship one to me in 7 days. Well we will see. My sheath was also the nylon one.

Haven't had much time to play with it. Did compare it to the Wave. Open or closed they are about the same length. The Charge is about 1/8" thicker and a little wider than the Wave. So all in all the Wave feels like a slimmer and more compact tool.

I was a bit disappointed by the fact that the pliers had machining marks like scratches on it. The 154 cm blade had a bur on it. Nothing that can't be fixed with my dremal or some 000 steelwool, and honing on my Handamerica strop. Still...

Did try to fit it in the Wave sheath with the pocket clip attached. It was a very tight fit. When I tried to take it out the clip came off. Will think twice about using it with the pocket clip. The other thing I noticed is that twice when trying to close the Charge it was really hard to close like there was some kind of obstruction. I had to reopen it to close it. Every other time it closes very smoothly and easily. Don't know why this is. About the last thing I can say is that when closed and laid on a flat surface it wobbles. The Wave doesn't. Don't know why - maybe the torx heads are different thicknesses. When closed the thing feels more like the Wave than the Supertool ie the two handles have greater play with respect to each other - you can wiggle them.

All in all though the Charge feels solid. I have switched it with my Wave as my edc and give it a good workout. I also kind of wish that the Charge XT was available as I miss the scissors.
 
I was wandering about the quick release lanyard, and it does have one it's built in, if you look on the opposite side of the side that takes the clip you will see there is a little piece of metal in there, it slides out and you know have a lanyard :D
 
Hi Cman. As you point out there is a fixed lanyard, but its different from the quick release lanyard ring. The quick release lanyard allows you to detach the Charge from a lanyard and reattach it to the lanyard just by using the lock release button on the handle of the Charge. (I guess the best way to visualize this is suppose you wore the Charge on a lanyard around your neck you could detach or reattach the Charge without having to remove the lanyard) You could probably use a quick detach key ring with the fixed lanyard ring and get the same results.
 
LaBella said:
villagers demand pics!!! :D

M2!

And a Q:
Is the Titanium models worth it? It seems lager and more bulky. Is the new Wave (no Titanium model) not better?

new_wave_extb.jpg


What do You think?
 
Danish Viking said:
M2!

And a Q:
Is the Titanium models worth it? It seems lager and more bulky. Is the new Wave (no Titanium model) not better?

new_wave_extb.jpg


What do You think?

The titanium is purely a cosmetic thing, it saves you nothing. BUT the REAL difference is that the new wave will have the same old blade steel, BUT the charge will lhave a 154CM blade.
 
Just a follow up to let everyone know that there is a quick release lanyard ring. I got mine from Cabella's - actually from LM. Will be looking for a lanyard to test it out with. I polished out the scratches from the plier jaws and sharpened the blade. I'm very happy with the Charge XTi, but do miss the scissors and may be wanting the XT.
 
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