Sent in a squirt, got back a micra.

jackknife said:
Soooo, the better half, my wife Karen, broke the file on her squirt while we were in California. So being the good spousal unit I am, I promptly box it up and sent it off while we were still staying at the daughters place in Mission Viejo. Figured with Leathermans prompt service it would be waiting for us when we got back to Texas. It was. Sort of.

We got our mail from the neighbor that had tended our mailbox while we were gone, and there in all the junk mail, bills, and other stuff was a small shipping padded envelope from Leatherman. Karen promptly zipped it open with her Vic Classic and the nice blue Leatherman micra fell out. Not quite what she was expecting. Nor was I.

I understand that they discontinued the squirt, but I expect most companies to keep some old stock on hand to cover warrantee issues. Nope. I guess Leatherman has figured out that all it takes is a change of an old model, discontinue the model, and no 25 year warrantee anymore. A bit of corporate slight of hand.

I was never a fan of Tim Leatherman, the squirt being the sole exception. Now they are gone, and I know that the Leatheman 25 year warrantee don't mean squat, I guess the Victorinox SAK with a mini plier will have to do.
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Same thing happened to me.

I recently spoke with our store's Leatherman sales rep.
He said all key chain size tools are going away because they were losing money on every one the sell. So Style PS is s doomed too.

The Squirt PS 4 may still be around but only for government contracts.

I'm not really a fan of the Micra.
 
billym said:
Same thing happened to me.

I recently spoke with our store's Leatherman sales rep.
He said all key chain size tools are going away because they were losing money on every one the sell. So Style PS is s doomed too.

The Squirt PS 4 may still be around but only for government contracts.

I'm not really a fan of the Micra.
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Yeah, I heard that too, and I think it a load of horse manure! My own opinion is that Tim Leatherman is a greedy sunofa..... and he's now only interested in selling the bigger tools that will make the most money. Theres a limit to how much people will pay for a keychain size tool, but give them something with 20 functions that is not really needed, but he can charge in excess of a hundred bucks for, and its a no brainer. They make a profit on the smaller ones, if they say they don't, then I call them a lier. If they are truly loosing money on them, then they don't know how to run a business as well as the Swiss!

Somehow, Victorinox has figured out how to make a simple SAK like the two layer ones, pack them up, ship them across the Atlantic ocean, pay import duties, truck them across the U.S. to stores where they are sold by independently owned stores for a profit. But Leatheman can't figure out how to make a simple small keychain size tool in Portland Oregon, ship them to dealers in the U.S. withtout loosing money on them?????

BULLS--T!!!

Why sell a 39.95 tool when you can just make a 150 dollar tool and increase the companies bottom line profit at the end of the quarter!

I guess Tim Leatherman needs more money to contribute to the anti-gun groups he supports. I'm glad I never bought a new Leatherman product. I certainly never will now.
 
jackknife said:
I guess Tim Leatherman needs more money to contribute to the anti-gun groups he supports. I'm glad I never bought a new Leatherman product. I certainly never will now.
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What?

First I've heard of this. Does he just not like guns, like MacGyver, or is he more of a Karen?
 
That is a shame. Expecting them to keep old models around indefinitely is not reasonable, but I think Leatherman didn't give the Squirt and Juice lines enough of a chance. I went to look for a(nother) Juice S2 to gift to someone and found they're discontinued. Too bad; what a perfect tool set in a compact package that is! I almost feel like I should retire it, but there's nothing really equivalent to it that I'm aware of.

Maybe it's the same with your Squirt.

Don't overlook the US-made Gerbers.

One last idea: Find a nice used Squirt on eBay. Leatherman won't get a dime of that money.

P.S. Speaking of "dime" have you tried a Gerber Dime? It would be a good Squirt replacement.
 
Smaug said:
That is a shame. Expecting them to keep old models around indefinitely is not reasonable, but I think Leatherman didn't give the Squirt and Juice lines enough of a chance. I went to look for a(nother) Juice S2 to gift to someone and found they're discontinued. Too bad; what a perfect tool set in a compact package that is! I almost feel like I should retire it, but there's nothing really equivalent to it that I'm aware of.

Maybe it's the same with your Squirt.

Don't overlook the US-made Gerbers.

One last idea: Find a nice used Squirt on eBay. Leatherman won't get a dime of that money.

P.S. Speaking of "dime" have you tried a Gerber Dime? It would be a good Squirt replacement.
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I was under the impression that the Gerber were made in a large Asian nation known for cheap labor, please correct me if I am wrong.

The squirt is the only Leatherman product I have owned, and it was gifted to me by a member right here on this forum in 2014. When I found out just a few months ago that they are discontinued, I found a clean used one in very good shape at a gun show for 15 dollars. So I'll just use what I have until they break down then toss them in the trash can. If I need a small pliers for EDC, I'll go get a little Knipex to put in a belt sheath with the Wenger SI.

Not to get political, but I have never been a fan of the Leathermans in general, and Tim Leatherman in particular, as being too big and bulky, and aside from pliers, not giving me anything a SAK can't. And I don't like to spend my money with a company that I don't agree with the politics of.
 
I would check your local ACE and other hardware stores to see if they have any Squirts left in their display, some stuff tends to sit awhile in places like that and I've gotten a few discontinued knives from my local ACE that way.
If I remember correctly the Victorinox Pocket pal had been discontinued for 2 or 3 years when I bought mine.
 
jackknife said:
I was under the impression that the Gerber were made in a large Asian nation known for cheap labor, please correct me if I am wrong.
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A lot of what they make is made overseas, but they still have their Oregon factory going. For multi-tools, these are made in the USA still:
  • MP400 (smallish plier-based multi-tool)
  • MP600 and MP600 Pro Scout (full size plier-based MT)
  • Center Drive (full size MT w/center axis bit driver)
  • Diesel (another full size MT)
  • MP600 blunt nose

They make higher-end knives in the USA still too. This page is a good reference, even though a lot of these MTs/knives are out of production now:
jackknife said:
Not to get political, but I have never been a fan of the Leathermans in general, and Tim Leatherman in particular, as being too big and bulky, and aside from pliers, not giving me anything a SAK can't. And I don't like to spend my money with a company that I don't agree with the politics of.
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I agree that it's a shame when companies, founders and CEOs get political and alienate a big part of their market.
 
I would also pose the rhetorical question: Is it better to support a Swiss company with Swiss manufacturing or an American company with American + foreign manufacturing?

Even if you bought the product of the American company with Chinese manufacturing, you'd still be supporting an American company and (indirectly) American workers. It's likely that some of the revenue from the Chinese-made Gerbers is used to pay the salaries of the American workers.

Supporting the Swiss company keeps $0 onshore, even if they have better ethics.
 
I think all the manufacturers have a disclaimer stating equal or greater value replacement. As disappointing as this is I wonder when the squirt was discontinued? At some point Henry Ford stopped stocking Model T parts
 
The political pshychosis aside, those knipex wrenches outperform any needlenose pliers when it comes to grip and the XS is pretty thin too. Not quite as minimalistic to carry them however.
 
Smaug said:
I would also pose the rhetorical question: Is it better to support a Swiss company with Swiss manufacturing or an American company with American + foreign manufacturing?

Even if you bought the product of the American company with Chinese manufacturing, you'd still be supporting an American company and (indirectly) American workers. It's likely that some of the revenue from the Chinese-made Gerbers is used to pay the salaries of the American workers.

Supporting the Swiss company keeps $0 onshore, even if they have better ethics.
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This is a helluva good point.

And, I've not seen any anti-gun comments by Tim Leatherman.

What did he say?
 
Smaug said:
Is it better to support a Swiss company with Swiss manufacturing or an American company with American + foreign manufacturing?
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In my opinion, yes. Some folks don't support Company X because of their stance on Issue Y (in the case of Leatherman, critics point to Tim's 2A comments). Well, choosing to collaborate with China is an issue that I care about. So I'd prefer to hand my money to Victorinox. (Of course, there's the added factor that Victorinox makes GREAT products!)

Now, taking it back to the issue of Leatherman discontinuing their keychain-sized line: I sure hope Victorinox sees it as an opportunity. Man, if those Swiss engineers could come up with a keychain-sized version of their SwissTools, I'd be first in line to buy one. Well, I'd probably be second in line ........ right behind J jackknife Carl. :)
 
To the original post: Getting a Micra from a Squirt is NOT the same, as the later has much more to offer. If they cannot match it, then they should either contact you and ask. And, even if they were to send a Micra, also return the original Squirt anyway as it may have sentimental value.

Smaug Smaug , that's a very interesting question. As in many things in life, I think that the answer is "it depends". Even if T. Leatherman hadn't publicly taken the political positions that he took, would I be buying a lot of Leatherman's? No. I have a couple of their models but most are overpriced. And who am I supporting with the extra profit? Does Leatherman give fat bonuses to its employees when the profits are good? Are we supporting the workers and company or greedy bosses looking to line their pockets? That latter part is what I care about.

Of course, that's really hard to know. So, I use functionality, quality, and overall value as the metrics. If they care about the customer, product, and innovation, then it is possible that they treat their employees and overall company health with the same care. If is a product made in America, outstanding! There are unfortunately many cases of companies which simply slap the "Made in America" sticker in there and then they pocket the profits rather than investing in their companies and innovate, as if trying to milk us with no care for how that will position their companies to be sustainable and competitive in the future. I better not fully get in my soap box...
 
A.L. said:
The political pshychosis aside, those knipex wrenches outperform any needlenose pliers when it comes to grip and the XS is pretty thin too. Not quite as minimalistic to carry them however.
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I carry mine in a belt slip. Only time I know they are there is when I need them. With me every day to the point my wife makes fun of me for being such a boy scout.
 
Enkrig said:
<snip> If is a product made in America, outstanding! There are unfortunately many cases of companies which simply slap the "Made in America" sticker in there and then they pocket the profits rather than investing in their companies and innovate, as if trying to milk us with no care for how that will position their companies to be sustainable and competitive in the future. I better not fully get in my soap box...
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Well, they will care when (not if) they get caught, as it is enforced pretty strictly: ;)
 
E Enkrig : I agree, I'd rather support American workers than American executives. I can't speak to Gerber's company policies, but I work for an American tool company, (Snap-on) and at a certain pay grade, we start getting bonuses based on company performance. It's not only executive level, but it's not laborer level either. I do know we employ a lot of Americans: laborers, office, lab. all levels. People work their whole careers here, so it must be OK.

There are no big companies that I know of pay bonuses down to the laborer level. We have to trust the employees to leave if they're not being treated well.
 
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