SAK or Multi Tool?

D

digispam

Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Messages
188
I gotta vote for the Multi-tool (LM New Wave for me)

Don’t get me wrong, I love my SAKs, but every time I have both I end up going for the Wave.

Still for sentimental reasons, I can’t give my Vic up – My favorite one has lived on my desk for years. Every time I go to put it away, put it in the car, or anywhere else, I get all nostalgic, and think “if I leave it in the car, what happens if…” and it stays on the desk another month.

They’re smaller, and IMHO better made, better looking, easier to carry, and more sheeple friendly than my Wave. But still, throw me in the woods, the job site, the office, or wherever and I’ll pick the Multi-tool to get me out of the woods so I can get back home to stare at my SAK sitting on the desk

If only Vic would design a multi tool to my specs!
 
I've had a Victorinox Champion--what was once the top-of-the-line Swiss Army Knife, with the most tools (25 if memory serves)--since the early 1980s. It is now doing little more than gathering dust in a tool box, but it is in fact the single ANYTHING I have owned the longest in my life. I got it as a small boy from a next-door neighbour, a kind if somewhat grizzled old man who was a regimental sergeant major in the Canadian Army in the Second World War. He was like a grandfather to me (I didn't know either of mine). I guess partly for that reason I can't part with it, even though now I have a few other Vic SAKs, a small LM multi, and numerous pocket knives. In the days that I carried it, practically as my EDC (it's very thick, making it an uncomfortable lump in your pocket, so I tended to put it in a sheath), it got used and abused a lot, and it’s a bit scratched and dented and chipped as a result. I even almost lost it once or twice (like in lakes and in the middle of a humongous field—I found it the next day by tracking my path through the bent long grass). Anyway, I guess my point is a share Digispam's feelings.
 
I carried an old style Wave for a couple of years but recently converted back to SAK's. A little while ago I knocked my wave off my desk top on to the carpeted floor and it got all loose and sloppy, before the accident it was super tight. I Haven't really used it much since. And thats only A drop of about 2 feet. I once accidentally dropped a SAK (an old huntsman) off the roof of my house, Other than some scuffing and scratches it still works fine, i'm still using it today.
Nowadays I edc a Huntsman or my OH Trekker or my Alox Soldier comfortably in my pocket. I still like leathermans but to me the wave is a lot heavier and bulkier than necessary , its definitely a sheath knife. And really how many straight screwdrivers do you need? The vic canopener and bottle opener will do most of what i need.

I do however believe the Leatherman Micra is the best micro multi around. I have a Vic Classic and an Executive and i still prefer the Micra. I always have a Micra around my neck or on a keychain. However the new Juice XE6 looks interesting, it is smaller, shorter and lighter than the wave. It has pliers, a canopener, scissors AND a corkscrew! I have a thing for corkscrews! lol.
Anybody here have the XE6?

Also since i've gone back to SAKs i've realized that i'm actually perfectly happy with slip joints.
 
tholiver said:
I carried an old style Wave for a couple of years but recently converted back to SAK's. A little while ago I knocked my wave off my desk top on to the carpeted floor and it got all loose and sloppy, before the accident it was super tight.
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Send it back to Leatherman, they will replace it pretty much no questions asked. I really pound my LM though, no troubles yet.
 
tholiver said:
However the new Juice XE6 looks interesting, it is smaller, shorter and lighter than the wave.
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The Juice XE6 is not new; it has been around for several years now. It is not light either and I find it rather awkward to use because of it's bulk. For that size and weight tool you can get something more substantial. I like the smaller Juices, but the XE6 seems rather pointless to me.
 
felinevet said:
What specs do you want that either the SwissTool or Spirit doesn't have?
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Well, LM wave/charge type one handed opening and interchangable bits (but longer than the LM) user interchangable blades with choice of blade steel would be nice, curved comfy handles with tweezers and toothpick like a SAK, below $60, all locking tools, lighter weight, lifetime warranty.......

In other words, I'm impossible to please. More of a joke, really
 
digispam said:
Send it back to Leatherman, they will replace it pretty much no questions asked. I really pound my LM though, no troubles yet.
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Thanks, yeah i know Leatherman are good at honoring their warranties.
The waves not unusable or anything just loose. The day it happened i put it in the drawer and switched back over to my SAKs. I might be able to tighten it up i just haven't bothered to mess with it yet. If it had been that loose when i bought it it probably wouldn't have bothered me because that would have been its "norm", but the fact it used to be tight and now its not is a little disconcerting. To me the fact that it loosened up so easily from a minor 2 foot drop (onto carpet) was surprising. Anyway its now my desk multitool if i can tighten it up again i might upgrade it to edc again. But really like i said i'm happy with the saks. Actually another thing is i'm ambidextrous but generally carry/use left handed. The one handed blade opening on the OH Trekker is more lefty friendly than the Wave.
:D
 
This has to be personal taste and usage.

For me - it's the difference between carrying and using a Knife, or a pair of Pliers.

I have always wanted a Knife on me - hence the SAK.

Until the advent of the Leatherman I had never even considered carrying a pair of Pliers around.

I think of myself as a Knife person and not a Pliers person.

Of course in real life it's not as black and white as this - I do have multiTools and I have carried them when I know I need one somewhere. But that's rarely and only on known and occassional situations -

Whereas I know I need and want to carry a knife on a daily basis - thus an EDC SAK.

But please take a look at this repository thread for lots of other BF opinions -

EDC - What's in Your Pocket(s)??

--
Vincent
http://clik.to/UnknownVT2007
http://clik.to/UnknownVT2006
http://clik.to/UnknownVT2005
http://clik.to/UnknownVT2004
http://clik.to/UnknownVincent
 
gatch said:
The Juice XE6 is not new; it has been around for several years now. It is not light either and I find it rather awkward to use because of it's bulk. For that size and weight tool you can get something more substantial. I like the smaller Juices, but the XE6 seems rather pointless to me.
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Yeah i know its been out for a while. But "New" is a relative term isn't it? It came out after the Wave so to me it is new or at least "newer". As far as that goes 5 seconds after something comes its no longer new but 5 seconds "old".lol.
Ok thanks i appreciate your input on the XE6 thats what i was looking for.
I like the Squirts also but they don't do anything my Micra can't do.
To me The XE6 looks good on paper being smaller/shorter than the Wave. And according to http://multitool.org/content/view/34/71/ it is lighter (albeit not by a great deal), the original Wave is 223 grams and the XE6 is 188 grams.
What did you think of the quality/usability of the XE6 tools?
 
tholiver said:
Yeah i know its been out for a while. But "New" is a relative term isn't it? It came out after the Wave so to me it is new or at least "newer". As far as that goes 5 seconds after something comes its no longer new but 5 seconds "old".lol.
Ok thanks i appreciate your input on the XE6 thats what i was looking for.
I like the Juices also but they don't do anything my Micra can't do.
To me The XE6 looks good on paper being smaller/shorter than the Wave. And according to http://multitool.org/content/view/34/71/ it is lighter (albeit not by a great deal), the original Wave is 223 grams and the XE6 is 188 grams.
What did you think of the quality/usability of the XE6 tools?
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The Juice series is old enough for one of it's models (KF4) to be retired!

I don't actually own an XE6, though I have handled one in a store and decided not to purchase it - went for a KF4 instead. But I do have the Juice Pro which is basically an XE6 will a few more bells and whistles (tweezers like the Squirt S4 and a corkscrew assist and foil cutter). I keep the Pro as part of a collectors item rather than a tool to use, as like the SAK XXAT it is more an every model tool than anything of practical use.

I think that the Juice build is rather flimsy, but OK for medium to light use; I have seen snapped plier heads, though have not abused one of my own to that extent. I personally don't like the corkscrew on the Juice series as it bends easily and people have also had problems with the assist chipping the bottle top.

I EDC a Juice S2 along with a SAK, and I do love my S2. The Juice series is basically a SAK with pliers.

This is just my personal preference as I have seen that some do EDC a Pro or XE6.
 
The multi-tools are in my opinion a better tool. I have one in my toolbox, and rarely use it - the SAK is in my pocket and I use it every day or two.

I vote SAK.

I do agree that if I had both with me I'd use the multi-tool more often than the SAK.
 
I vote for the SAK. The "multitools" are nice, but the only thing they have that a SwissChamp does not have is bigger pliers. If I need to have a pair of bigger pliers around, I will carry a 7-inch Sears Robogrip with curved jaw too. You may laugh at them, because they look cheap, but they are very, very tough and the self-sizing feature is wonderful. I generally don't need or want the new things that Sears keeps coming out with, but Robogrips are the exception. They are the most useful pliers ever made in my opinion. The 9-inch with curved jaw grips so well that I very rarely use vise-grips anymore.

The icing on the cake is the Roboguards that you can get for them so you can grip things without marking them up. They are cheap durable little plastic things that go over the jaws.

I know this is off-topic because Robogrips are not multitools, but when traveling, give my a SwissChamp in my pocket and a small pair of Robogrips in my pack. Also, the SwissChamp pliers are very good in their own right.

This does not take away from the fact that the multitools, particularly the Victorinox ones, are engineering marvels. I just get more functionality (features), at a lower bulk and weight, out of a SwissChamp.
 
I'd choose a plier based tool if I had to...BUT, it's smart to carry a plier tool, and a SAK. What if you needed to hold a nut AND turn a bolt? Sure you have a bunch of drivers on the plier tool, but the plier is holding the nut..that's where the SAK drivers come in:)
 
If I know I'm going to need all the goods that come with a Spirit Plus, I take it. Otherwise, a SAK (like my brand new Compact, bought it today, lovely!) is my EDC. Macgyver saved the world a hundred times just by using is SAK, he can't be wrong. ;)
 
For decades I was fine with a SAK, never considered anything else until ten years ago when introduced to a Leatherman Super Tool. On the instant, I went for the additional functionality of a useable pliers and locking implements, more like real tools than those on my Swisschamp.

There followed a period in which every time I carried the ST, I missed the Swisschamp and vice versa. Carrying both was out of the question, so was trying to anticipate what I would need on a given day (if I really knew that,
might as well bring the proper tools to begin with). This was mildly irritating, but eventually I found that a Super Tool, supplemented by a Micra, made me happy most of the time. That became my primary EDC for the next few years. When traveling, I always bring all three.

These days, I interchange between multi-tools and SAKs easily and without anxiety. That's because I'm older and have gained wisdom, to wit; how can I spend any more of my only life on earth obsessed with such trivial bulls--t?

Note: wisdom is NOT the same as intelligence. I'll go through this again.
 
UnknownVT said:
This has to be personal taste and usage.

For me - it's the difference between carrying and using a Knife, or a pair of Pliers.

I have always wanted a Knife on me - hence the SAK.

Until the advent of the Leatherman I had never even considered carrying a pair of Pliers around.

I think of myself as a Knife person and not a Pliers person.

QUOTE]
Can't say it any better. I vote SAK.
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