EricV
Basic Member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2008
- Messages
- 2,673
Back story is in blue and the important stuff is in black if you want to cut to the point 
I'm a boatman/coach/maintenance worker for a rowing boathouse here. Lots of time on water, lots of little mechanical things to fix, motors/boats/more boats that sort of thing. All the other coaches here that have been around a while have carry leathermans. Between all of us we've had just about every leatherman model of the years except the charge ti (but I've got a tti) or the alx ones.
During our last race and cleanup I loaned out my wave to someone and never got it back, my coworker had the same thing happen to him. Its not uncommon and its more inconvenient than anything as its just a good excuse to pick up a new tool
We met up after the holiday weekend to shoot the breeze and decided to go leatherman hunting. We stumbled upon the wingman model at homedepot for the grand total of about twenty bucks. After spending some time looking over the tools and discussing what we needed vs cost. Ended up walking out with one wingman each.
These have what looks and feels like a stonewash finish on all the steel except the plier head which is the typical "as ground" or satin'ish finish. Where this gets important is with the little tools. They open up much easier than the wave of other models that have a bead blasted finish. Everything on these is quite polished and it really makes everything just work better.
The plier head is spring loaded, which is just plain brilliant. The cutters are more of an anvil style vs the typical shear/scissor type on the wave/supertool/charge models. They also have a hard wire cutter portion. Honestly the plier head is the only part of the tool we weren't entirely sold on, it seems a bit thin compared to what we're used to, and a little small. The cutters also don't seem like they'll work with fine wire like cat5 (my other job is in the computer field) but both of these things will have to be discovered in time/use.
This one doesn't come with a sheath, but it does come with a pocket clip that allows for right hand, tip down carry. Its a moderately long but narrow clip thats fairly low riding. The weight on this guy is about 7oz, which isn't too bad, I'd even clip it onto my dress pants. Its non adjustable, but looks to be removable.
The blade is a combo edge, V grind with a combo edge, ground fairly thin, and its plenty sharp, its got a phosphur bronze washer for too, and quite a good detent with smooth opening once its overcome. The liner lock engages almost all the way over, which is fine by me, as this setup is more like the old electricians knives with liner locks in that even if the lock doesn't touch the tang it will still keep the knife from closing. (I know, this thread needs pictures badly, but I don't have a camera yet) The scissors are also great, somewhat similar to the scissors on the Surge model in size and use.
The trick with this tool is that you can push open the tools that are inside the handle, from the opposite side thanks to an opening under the tools. This means that if your fingers are filthy or you don't have long finger nails, you can just push them open from the other side. Again the polished tools on this model make it easy for even my to open the small tools with the nail nicks, this is pretty rare for me since I keep my nails very short. Much much easier than the wave.
While we're on the subject of tools, this model has a pretty good spread. The small ruler is good for an about an inch, which is all I usually need a ruler for. The can opener is in the usual leathman style, which has always worked great for me. It also has the wire stripper notch at its base, which also works well. The back of the ruler is a file, seems ok. Its not a diamond file like on the wave, but it looks like it'll work for taking off burrs and a bit of light rough sharpening at best. The flathead screwdriver seems fine, pretty normal with nothing really exceptional or lacking about it. The phillips driver is nice, its done with the oblong style that the interchangeable bits from the wave are, but obviously, if you've seen the pictures, is a single piece. It looks like it'll work well, I personally love this style driver as it works well in #2 and #3 screw heads. The only puzzler is the package opener, why would we need that when they gave us a dandy little knife blade?
To some things up, buy the darn thing. The polished and stonewashed finish alone is worth the cost, heck I'd love this finish on all their models. Its a 20 or so dollar leatherman, backed by their great warranty and.......MADE IN THE USA! I'm floored that they can offer these at this price point.
Hope this thread wasn't a complete waste of your time, post up if you've got any questions.
I'm a boatman/coach/maintenance worker for a rowing boathouse here. Lots of time on water, lots of little mechanical things to fix, motors/boats/more boats that sort of thing. All the other coaches here that have been around a while have carry leathermans. Between all of us we've had just about every leatherman model of the years except the charge ti (but I've got a tti) or the alx ones.
During our last race and cleanup I loaned out my wave to someone and never got it back, my coworker had the same thing happen to him. Its not uncommon and its more inconvenient than anything as its just a good excuse to pick up a new tool
We met up after the holiday weekend to shoot the breeze and decided to go leatherman hunting. We stumbled upon the wingman model at homedepot for the grand total of about twenty bucks. After spending some time looking over the tools and discussing what we needed vs cost. Ended up walking out with one wingman each.
These have what looks and feels like a stonewash finish on all the steel except the plier head which is the typical "as ground" or satin'ish finish. Where this gets important is with the little tools. They open up much easier than the wave of other models that have a bead blasted finish. Everything on these is quite polished and it really makes everything just work better.
The plier head is spring loaded, which is just plain brilliant. The cutters are more of an anvil style vs the typical shear/scissor type on the wave/supertool/charge models. They also have a hard wire cutter portion. Honestly the plier head is the only part of the tool we weren't entirely sold on, it seems a bit thin compared to what we're used to, and a little small. The cutters also don't seem like they'll work with fine wire like cat5 (my other job is in the computer field) but both of these things will have to be discovered in time/use.
This one doesn't come with a sheath, but it does come with a pocket clip that allows for right hand, tip down carry. Its a moderately long but narrow clip thats fairly low riding. The weight on this guy is about 7oz, which isn't too bad, I'd even clip it onto my dress pants. Its non adjustable, but looks to be removable.
The blade is a combo edge, V grind with a combo edge, ground fairly thin, and its plenty sharp, its got a phosphur bronze washer for too, and quite a good detent with smooth opening once its overcome. The liner lock engages almost all the way over, which is fine by me, as this setup is more like the old electricians knives with liner locks in that even if the lock doesn't touch the tang it will still keep the knife from closing. (I know, this thread needs pictures badly, but I don't have a camera yet) The scissors are also great, somewhat similar to the scissors on the Surge model in size and use.
The trick with this tool is that you can push open the tools that are inside the handle, from the opposite side thanks to an opening under the tools. This means that if your fingers are filthy or you don't have long finger nails, you can just push them open from the other side. Again the polished tools on this model make it easy for even my to open the small tools with the nail nicks, this is pretty rare for me since I keep my nails very short. Much much easier than the wave.
While we're on the subject of tools, this model has a pretty good spread. The small ruler is good for an about an inch, which is all I usually need a ruler for. The can opener is in the usual leathman style, which has always worked great for me. It also has the wire stripper notch at its base, which also works well. The back of the ruler is a file, seems ok. Its not a diamond file like on the wave, but it looks like it'll work for taking off burrs and a bit of light rough sharpening at best. The flathead screwdriver seems fine, pretty normal with nothing really exceptional or lacking about it. The phillips driver is nice, its done with the oblong style that the interchangeable bits from the wave are, but obviously, if you've seen the pictures, is a single piece. It looks like it'll work well, I personally love this style driver as it works well in #2 and #3 screw heads. The only puzzler is the package opener, why would we need that when they gave us a dandy little knife blade?
To some things up, buy the darn thing. The polished and stonewashed finish alone is worth the cost, heck I'd love this finish on all their models. Its a 20 or so dollar leatherman, backed by their great warranty and.......MADE IN THE USA! I'm floored that they can offer these at this price point.
Hope this thread wasn't a complete waste of your time, post up if you've got any questions.
