New leatherman rescue knife

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gadgetgeek

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May 19, 2007
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I'd like to take credit, but I'm sure they got a heap of emails regarding the idea, and so its come to be. The Skeletool RX, full serrated 154CM blade with a more sheepsfoot tip than standard. Window breaker insert for the screw-driver, and all the rest of the standard skeletool features. Orange Cerecote. Looks pretty good I think.

The only downside is that the pliers look standard skeletool, which means they are pretty small, but for biners and such, they are plenty good.
 
Looks cool. I dont know about the 102 price tag. Thats getting into benchmade triage territory. Not saying it wont do well, just a tad higher than I thought it would be. Im guessing street price will be more like 75 bucks, which for what you get seems reasonable. I like the glass breaker, the pliers as you said leave a bit to be desired. Cool color change. The plain skeletool is a nice all around knife/tool - a huge plus that this is in 154 instead of 440. I will probably wind up buying one and retire my sideclip which has been a fantastic tool. I do have a hang up on the glass breaker on the RX though- usually when you need to use one you dont have to open a tool to do that and it appears the caribiner covers it which makes me wonder how it would function, Im sure a video will pop up eventually. This would be be a uniform carry though and wont be replacing my OHT in my turnout gear should I decide to grab one.
 
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Since its close in RRP to the CX, the extra few bucks probably comes from the carbide, which would end up on ebay if I get one, no need for breaking windows anywhere I'd be carrying it. I can see why they did that, as far as keeping the feature, since most will find the screwdriver more useful more often, and a sharp carbide tip doesn't need a huge amount of force to do a window.

I can see it mostly for climbers, riggers, and other rope access folks, firefighters have and need bigger tools, but for volunteer fire-rescue guys it could be really handy due to it being compact and light. There are plenty of options for those who don't require pliers. As always, every added feature adds a layer of compromise. Thankfully this one doesn't seem to have gotten too silly.
 
Looks like july is when they are going to be available at resellers. REI should have them in june.
 
I like it I think its interesting looking and I am willing to bet hunters or outdoorsmen might like it as well since the handles are blaze orange and the blade could be used as an emergency saw.
 
Looks great! I was planning on buying a Benchmade triage, but this is definitely going to be what I'll get, I recently started as a local fire department explorer, and am training to become a ski patrol volunteer next winter. Looks like I've got an excuse to buy another multi-tool!
 
I had not heard of this Leatherman product before now. I've just taken a quick look at it on Leatherman's website. I see no compelling reason to get one; it doesn't appear to be significantly better than any existing product.

The glass breaker in particular appears to be of limited use. To use it, you need to open the tool. I have a regular Skeletool, and in my experience, when opening it the pliers might tend to stay with one half of the handle, or the other half, or split open. So after opening the tool, you might need to fiddle with it for a moment to get it in a state that's comfortable to grip securely. So it seems to me that this is not a particularly speedy way to deploy a glass breaker.

I'm also unfamiliar with another tool that's been mentioned here, the Benchmade Triage. I've looks that up as well and will do some more research on it.

As an EMT, there are two tools I carry in my uniform pants all the time. The first is the Leatherman Raptor, which is primarily trauma shears. It also features a glass breaker, strap cutter, ring cutter (albeit of dubious usefulness), and oxygen tank wrench. The second tool I always have is the Gerber Hinerer Rescue Knife, which has a fully serrated blade with blunt tip, glass breaker, strap cutter, and oxygen tank wrench. Either one of these would make a better glass breaker than the Skeletool RX, because the punch tip is already out in the open to begin with, so all you have to do is grab the tool and punch the tip into the glass.

So the only thing the Skeletool RX has that either of these tools doesn't have is the pliers, and the bit driver. But besides my two "rescue tools", I also carry a Leatherman Charge TTI. So the Skeletool RX cannot replace any single tool I already have, nor allow me to consolidate multiple tools into one. There is nothing it can do that can't be done with a tool I already carry.

That being said, I may end up buying one partly because I like the Leatherman brand, and partly because I like rescue tools. I'll probably end up getting that Benchmade Triage as well, for the same reason. But I doubt anything will cause me to change what I carry now.
 
JJR, you seem to have your kit pretty well sorted. One of the things I dislike about a lot of rescue tools is that they try to be all things to all people. One of the reasons I kinda like the look of the RX is that it seems to have a goal in mind. Adding the glass breaker was probably a move by the marketing department because it seems that you can't sell anything to firefighters unless it has a window breaker (even though none of them want or need more window breaking stuff)

Another reason I'm stoked about it is that over a year ago, after getting a CX, I emailed leatherman with some ideas regarding a rescue version. Makes me feel good that I was thinking along lines that they already were, or that it sparked an idea there. Either way, they seem to listen.

No tool is the best tool, unless its the one you have with you. The hard part is figuring out which tool is worth bringing. Like I said, sounds like you are pretty sorted, and understand your needs pretty well. For me up a tree with a rope, the RX just might come my way.
 
Is this actually available for sale anywhere yet? Leatherman's announcement said it would become available after SHOT Show 2016 which was in January. There is a product page for it on their website, but the "add to cart" button is grayed out. No availability date is given. It's not on Amazon at all. There's a page for it on Knofe Center but it just says "preorder" with no known availability date.
 
No info. Leatherman isn't great on that, I was on the email list for the tread release, but didn't find out it was in stores until I saw them showing up on the bay (thought they were fakes at first) It will ship when it does I guess.
 
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