Three Small Multi-tools- A Review

[Matches]

Originally posted by John Jay:

You no longer have an actual workingman's tool if the pliers are replaced with small scissors,which might be convenient for certain tasks,but aren't an invaluable tool as pliers can be.

I have wrestled with this same question and have come to a couple conclusions.To avoid splitting hairs, any combination of implements can be considered a multi-tool regardless of what those implements are. I consider the "traditional multi-tool" to include pliers (blunt or needlenose).
Many SAKs can be considered multi-tools,but we call them SAKs.Of course,the Swiss Tool is a "traditional multi-tool".
Unless someone has a better classification system,I would still refer to a multi-tool which has scissors (instead of pliers) as a multi-tool.The scissors may be more important to one user and another may vote for pliers.
I happen to agree with you though,in a pinch I can get around scissors one way or another.If I need pliers or wire cutters,the scissors don't help at all

 

[John Jay]

A final note - the Squirt P4 which I broke about 3 weeks ago while attempting to bend a piece of coat hanger wire,was replaced,free of charge,by Leatherman,and received today.They can be counted on to honor their warranty,no questions asked.As fond as I am about the Squirt P4,I am forced to now consider it as a Gentleman's small multi-tool,not a no-nonsense workingman's tool as the Sebertool M4.

 

[RokJok]

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Originally posted by John Jay:
As fond as I am about the Squirt P4,I am forced to now consider it as a Gentleman's small multi-tool,not a no-nonsense workingman's tool as the Sebertool M4.
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This lines up exactly with my assessment of the P4 vs M4 mini-tools.

The little Leatherman Squirt P4 has very sleek & svelte lines, with precision fit & finish. It operates very smoothly and has a somewhat dressy appearance. It does come off as a "Sunday go to meeting" gentleman's mini-tool. But the lateral jaw flexing I experienced with it took it right off my list of tools I would depend on when the chips are down. It's nice to hear that Leatherman is excellent about warranty replacing broken tools. But it's even nicer if your tool never breaks and you don't have to find out how good the warranty is or is not. Nonetheless, I do still carry the P4 on occasion and find its needle-nose pliers pointed enough to work on computer drive jumpers.

OTOH the Sebertool M4 is like the warthog of mini-tools. It's butt-ugly blocky & chunky looking. It wastes nothing on dressed-up scales, split-ring attachment, or whiz-bang opening springs like the P4. But the M4 is sufficiently tough to easily do the job that had the P4's jaws flexing enough that I was worried about snapping a jaw completely off. So the M4 gets the nod as the go-to mini-tool.

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Originally posted by John Jay:
The final improvement involves smoothing the sharp corners at the end of the handles which tend to bite into the palm when applying much force while using the pliers.
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Thanks for the tip about smoothing down those sharp little tabs at the corners of the M4 handles. I found it much easier to just complain about them than to go ahead and fix them. I'll have to fix the handle sharp corners on my M4's, since that is one of the few complaints I had on the tool.