Leatherman Free P4 price madness?

[michaelh162]

Just saw a Leatherman Free P4 being sold on Ebay (in brand new condition) for $421 USD.

Why so expensive?

(Even my Leatherman Wave + only retails for $130.)

 

[Murphy Slaw]

Wasn’t it P.T. Barnum who said “there’s a sucker born every minute” ?

I’d sell you my Jeep for half a million bucks.

 

[afishhunter]

IMHO, LM prices in general are complete madness.
I suspect I am not the only one they have priced out of buying one of their tools, and into the arms of their competitors.

My guess is roughly 80 to 85% of the price is for the name ... possibly more, since they stopped including the belt sheath, and other accessories that used to be included ... and doubled the price on the accessories.

 

[afishhunter]

I’d sell you my Jeep for half a million bucks.

In a year or three that may be quite the bargain.
I remember when a jeep CJ was under $3,000, off the lot.

Scary Comparison:
A late 1960's/1970's Hemi 'Cuda, Challenger, Road Runner/Charger/Super Bee sold for well under $10,000.
(in 1971 the girls at my high school taking Drivers Education, learned to drive a stick shift in a 1971 Hemi Cuda, loaned to the school district by the local dealer. I "think" the dealer would have sold a few more of them to high school students, if the guys had that car when they learned to shift for themselves.)
Us guys learned in a 1971 standard (not "super") VW Beatle.

Any running original Hemi cars (with the original hemi engine) sell for between 6 and 7 digits left of the decimal point now.

 

[Lesknife]

I think part of the problem is the flippers who buy up the in stock supply and then resell for a steep price because the market is sold out. I’ve seen this in the price of ammo going back to the 2008 panic. The prices skyrocketed after panic buying and the flippers were buying up all available stock. I couldn’t find any ammo in local stores or online but ebay and other marketplaces had tons of ammo priced at 10 times what they bought it for. Before the panic I could buy 550 rounds of 22lr ammo for around $12-13 at the local walmart. After panic prices were $150 for the same 550 round box at gunshows and on ebay. They created a false supply shortage to jack up the prices even though there was tons of it on the flipper market. Then retail dealers followed suit and did the same thing.

 

[SharpBits]

P4 is discontinued so the eBayer's think it is now worth more than it is. The collectors market for LM tools is relatively small, so they will be sitting on their "treasures" for a long time. The prices have nothing to do with Leatherman as they don't set the secondary market prices.

 

[Maximumbob54]

There seems to be a collector for everything these days and things don't have to be remotely rare to get people to pay bonkers money for them any more. And it looks like they discontinued the Free line in favor of a new line so if you're a LM collector and just gotta catch'em all...

 

[Maximumbob54]

This thread came to mind late last night as I was thinking back about trying to find a deal on an old Ruger Security Six. I had traded my old 6" to a friend and was looking to replace it. I found one in a pawn shop and my jaw dropped at the price tag. I asked why the high price and they guy said they aren't make more of them and a lot of retired cops want their old carry gun back. There cannot be a shortage of old Sixes out there. But that thing had a $1K price tag on it. Granted it was in near mint condition but still. It feels like not that long ago they were $300ish or so if not less. I ended up finding one in not as good condition but I don't mind since they're all tanks. But still. Budget guns going for bonkers collectors prices now. There is truly a seat for every butt.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

In a year or three that may be quite the bargain.
I remember when a jeep CJ was under $3,000, off the lot.

Scary Comparison:
A late 1960's/1970's Hemi 'Cuda, Challenger, Road Runner/Charger/Super Bee sold for well under $10,000.
(in 1971 the girls at my high school taking Drivers Education, learned to drive a stick shift in a 1971 Hemi Cuda, loaned to the school district by the local dealer. I "think" the dealer would have sold a few more of them to high school students, if the guys had that car when they learned to shift for themselves.)
Us guys learned in a 1971 standard (not "super") VW Beatle.

Any running original Hemi cars (with the original hemi engine) sell for between 6 and 7 digits left of the decimal point now.

I’m a Mopar guy from WAY back. My first car was a $400 used1966 Chrysler 300 with (yep) a 383 in 1974. I still have a 2016 Ram crew 4x4 Bighorn and the 2025 Jeep Wrangler.

Mopar and Leatherman.

I’m a rebel…

 

[afishhunter]

I’m a Mopar guy from WAY back. My first car was a $400 used1966 Chrysler 300 with (yep) a 383 in 1974. I still have a 2016 Ram crew 4x4 Bighorn and the 2025 Jeep Wrangler.

Mopar and Leatherman.

I’m a rebel…

I had a 1966 Chrysler 300 4 door (white with red interior) with 383 back in 1975. I think I paid around $350 for it.
Wish I still had it ... and around 50 of the 81 cars, pickups, and motorcycles I owned in this "lifetime", before going car free in 1995.
(I got bored with a car, I hit the California Green Sheet, to find something "interesting" I could trade even across for, when I lived in smoggy So. Cal, from early 1975 to mid 1980.)
Nice car, though I did have to replace a front sway bar mount, and the oil filter. (oil filter more than once. the busted sway bar mount liked to put a hole in the filter.)

 

[Maximumbob54]

You guys are killing me with a flood of kid memories. My step father had a '72 Challenger with the 440. It of course sounded amazing to me and watching the car twist when he hit the pedal was impressive. And the pistol grip stick shift was just icing on the cake. I was horrified when he let that one go for a Subaru SVX. He just thought it was a cool car and had had enough of muscle cars. In his defense he had a Road Runner and a Firebird earlier. At least it was before the whole fast and furious scene so it wasn't just a fad for him. And it was an interesting car but proved to be a slightly flawed little thing in the end.

 

[SharpBits]

The SVX was a bold experiment. Might have better if it included a Leatherman in the glovebox, to bring back on topic.

 

[Maximumbob54]

The SVX was a bold experiment. Might have better if it included a Leatherman in the glovebox, to bring back on topic.

He was super not happy with how often the transmission gave him a hard time. Not sure even a Leatherman stuffed in there would have helped.

But speaking of Leatherman again, What is it about the Free line that was so favored? I've seen a few times now that people really liked it more but not why.

I never upgraded from my original Wave. The blade is awful but I never carry any multi tool for the knife. I'm more of the mind they could include another tool in place of the blade and I can just carry a far better knife with it. But I did nearly upgrade to the Skeletool when I saw it came with a 154CM blade. I just didn't like the giant clip on the end. I even got minorly excited about the knife only Skeletool until I saw it only seems to be 420HC. Yuck.

 

[Lesknife]

He was super not happy with how often the transmission gave him a hard time. Not sure even a Leatherman stuffed in there would have helped.

But speaking of Leatherman again, What is it about the Free line that was so favored? I've seen a few times now that people really liked it more but not why.

I never upgraded from my original Wave. The blade is awful but I never carry any multi tool for the knife. I'm more of the mind they could include another tool in place of the blade and I can just carry a far better knife with it. But I did nearly upgrade to the Skeletool when I saw it came with a 154CM blade. I just didn't like the giant clip on the end. I even got minorly excited about the knife only Skeletool until I saw it only seems to be 420HC. Yuck.

The Free series uses magnetic retention instead of detents to secure the blade and tools. It made it easier to open and close and some liked that they could flip them open and closed like a ninja. I have the Arc and it has the magnetic retention like the Free series does and I like how much smoother and easier it is to operate than my Wave and other LM models. The difference is noticeable. I like my Wave but I love the Arc especially with the Magnacut blade and all outside accessible tools . The only reason to open the handle is to use the pliers.

 

[Maximumbob54]

The Free series uses magnetic retention instead of detents to secure the blade and tools. It made it easier to open and close and some liked that they could flip them open and closed like a ninja. I have the Arc and it has the magnetic retention like the Free series does and I like how much smoother and easier it is to operate than my Wave and other LM models. The difference is noticeable. I like my Wave but I love the Arc especially with the Magnacut blade and all outside accessible tools . The only reason to open the handle is to use the pliers.

I bought a Free T2 thinking it would be a handy little thing almost like a LM take on a SAK. Which I guess it sort of is. But is an absolute pocket CHUNKSTER. Four slots needing that much room??? I don't know what I was thinking. I hope someone out there likes them. I don't even know where mine ended up. Thought it was here in the office desk drawer. If someone helped themself to it then good riddance. Maybe I should look at the Arc.

 

[Lesknife]

I bought a Free T2 thinking it would be a handy little thing almost like a LM take on a SAK. Which I guess it sort of is. But is an absolute pocket CHUNKSTER. Four slots needing that much room??? I don't know what I was thinking. I hope someone out there likes them. I don't even know where mine ended up. Thought it was here in the office desk drawer. If someone helped themself to it then good riddance. Maybe I should look at the Arc.

The Arc is very close in size to the Wave but it comes with a pocket clip that you can change sides. I also have the sheath that it came with that has storage for the driver bits and flashlight and extension side loops. So you can carry it clipped in pocket or in sheath.

 

[Maximumbob54]

The Arc is very close in size to the Wave but it comes with a pocket clip that you can change sides. I also have the sheath that it came with that has storage for the driver bits and flashlight and extension side loops. So you can carry it clipped in pocket or in sheath.

Looked it up and it puts my current Gerber Suspension to absolute shame. It's an extra two hundred bucks but looks worth it. Added to wishlist as a definite maybe.

 

[SharpBits]

Looked it up and it puts my current Gerber Suspension to absolute shame. It's an extra two hundred bucks but looks worth it. Added to wishlist as a definite maybe.

Check the Exchange. They do pop up from time to time. That's where I got mine at a decent savings.