While I currently own enough Leatherman Tools to be referred to a professional for help-
if you admit you have a problem turns out it just goes away.
Or just buy a different tool- like the Victorinox Swiss Tool.
People have been bugging me for a while to do a review on it, and assured me it was way
better than Leathermans and it would change my life and what not- and they were absolutely
right.
I feel real different.
There are two main plier based Swisstools, the full size Swiss Tool and the lighter Spirit.
There are a few sub revisions of each, but if we’re converting those to Leatherman
sizes- the full size Swiss Tool is similar to the Surge or Supertool and not the Wave.
But before we get into all the real interesting stuff let’s look at the dimensions.
Oh I mean this is also very interesting.
I’ll measure the stuff I do on the Leathermans as not to upset the blue line cult.
Like the weight first.
Now admittedly the sheath here isn’t the original but it’s an old Camillus sheath
that I have long since lost the knife for- but had when I was a teenager.
And I’m providing the weight just to be a little irritating.
Now the closed dimensions length height thickness.
It took me while to review it because I had a hard time finding a cheap one on eBay.
Plier size open and grip area.
And the way things work is I accidentally won two around the same time, so I should
have just bought one new and saved some goddamn time.
How about the main blade, and cutting edge, and spine and whatever knife guys get off
on.
Why do multitools seem nerdier than knives?
Is carrying a multitool on the belt like one of those guys who carries a phone on their
belt.
And the length of the serrated the file and the saw.
Now most people know, even idiots that the standard pair of pliers found on a garden
variety Swiss army knife are cheap pieces of garbage.
If you need to seriously plier something, which is what standard human males who use
pliers say, you’ll need either real pliers or a nice plier based multitool.
Ok so to maintain your emotional connection to Victorinox products you want the SwissTool
instead of a Swiss Army Knife.
A knife no one in any army would ever use.
Now the full Size Swiss tool comes in several varieties denoted by additionally confusing
letters.
The X which adds scissors and deletes the serrated.
The RS which stands for rescue safety and modifies the look of the serrated.
And the Swiss Tool BS which stands for bullshit.
I am reviewing the original here, but I would recommend the X because I feel the scissors
are important, especially if you’re a barber.
For the purpose of this review lets say the model I’m reviewing here is pretty comparable
to the Leatherman Super Tool in function, tools, and size.
The main differences being the Supertool now has removable and replaceable Wire cutters,
more needle nosey pliers, and combines the can opener and bottle opener into the same
tool, which must be patented or the Swiss still don’t have the technology down yet.
The other big difference is that you have to open the Leatherman to get to all the tools,
and on the Swiss tool you can access all tools other than the main plier from the outside
with hard to find fingernail grooves.
Let’s take a look at the tools of the Swiss Tool, all of course are locking, which turns
out isn’t something that occurred to knife and multitool makers much earlier than when
cellphones became popular.
First the pliers.
The pliers head on the swiss tool is beefy and similar to a Leatherman Tool, except Leathermans
tend to have the thinner needle nose heads and mostly replaceable wire cutters nowadays.
I have seen many broken Leatherman plier heads over the years…
I mean mostly on the internet- which of course is entirely covered by their 25 year warranty.
I have not seen as many broken plier heads on Swiss Tools, but that’s because no one
buys them.
Or, ok, ok- because maybe they’re better quality.
But yeah the interior ribs for ratcheting bolts, and wire cutters.
You have the ruler metric and Merica- so that’s like 2 tools.
Now the other tools.
Close it up.
First up the metal file, it’s got I think the same texture on both sides, and the file
on the bottom a metal saw as they call it.
Leatherman usually has different texture on both sides.
Now the 2mm head width tweaker flat head screw driver, not quite the small bit size on the
wave or surge, but not the large size like on the current super tool.
So it’s pretty good.
I still prefer the old Leatherman tweaker because it’s slightly less wide or the bit
drivers on the wave/surge/charge.
The Philips head.
It’s a nice size, the Super tool has a longer neck by a few millimeters and a thinner neck.
I prefer the super tools.
Not a huge difference though.
Next the Awl, I have no real use for the awl, so I can’t tell you why one is better.
The Super Tool one has a hole in it’s the Swiss Tool does not.
Still awake- only two dozen tools to go.
Now the serrated blade.
A good sharp straight edge is always my favorite over a serrated.
However if you cut a lot of things, and use your blade the most, having two blades to
spread out the work is a great idea.
Serrated blades work best on imprecise tasks like cardboard or bread.
We’re on the other side halfway home!
First is the straight blade.
A longer blade then on a standard 91mm Swiss army knife.
This is about a 2.5 inch cutting edge, and a 91mm has about a 2 1/4 inch edge.
A Supertool 300 has a nearly 3 inch cutting edge and a pointier tip on the blade as does
the surge.
I prefer those, and they have a slightly thinner blade stock than the Swiss Tool.
Next the large flathead about 8mm wide I measured as the head.
Then the medium 6.5mm wide head flat head.
It has some wire benders, strippers here.
I never find these much use, but I’m sure someone out there loves them.
Looks like the prior owner here didn’t use them either.
Now the bottle opener you have about a 4mm wide flat head on the tip, and the other part
opens your beer.
Remember a Leatherman combines Both the can and bottle opener into one.
Which brings us to the can opener.
I will not open a can with one here, because every time I do someone says your going the
wrong way despite the can still fucking opening and it only taking about 10 seconds longer
than going the right way.
I would assume the only people who ever open cans with one of these are soldiers.
Backpackers watching their weight don’t carry cans in their backpacks… as for car
camping or cooking, I always have a real can opener near by for that, because even using
these the right way still takes longer.
In a pinch the tip can also be used as a Philips or flat head because it’s a little thicker
tip than the tweaker.
And now the saw.
I don’t see much difference between this and a Leatherman saw.
Comparisons.
The part where I talk about my Tool Preferences as you become even more comatose.
First the Swiss Tool.
It is a nice clean looking well engineered product.
Almost Swiss like in it’s execution.
The argument that the tools are better from the outside vs inside isn’t as black and
white as people make it seem- I’d listen to whoever screams loudest.
On the outside when you have as many tools as this, means you have to hunt for the fingernail
groove for each tool, when a lot look the same from the top.
When you open a Leatherman the tools are more unique looking and you can pick out the one
you need faster.
Also judging from the tool damage I might make an anecdotal observation with no real
evidence because it’s Youtube and its my right…
I feel like the tools in Leathermans with their clean breaks tend to be more brittle
and the Swiss are more soft because of the janked up edge surfaces.
Also all the tools in the Swiss Tool are more polished and not matte finished.
Next the Leatherman Surge. 336 grams versus the 280 of the Swiss Tool- it’s heavy.
Out of all the large tools, this is my favorite.
One weird thing though is that to get the file you need to swap it out for the saw.
It’s thin enough and fits in the holster.
Handles slightly more comfortable, it has large and small bit drivers unlike the Swiss
Tool, that you can swap out with a lot more stuff if you choose.
Bottle can opener combined into one.
Now the Super Tool.
This one is about on par with the Swiss tool in ease of use and flexibility.
Again smaller knife on the Swiss tool.
The tools are easier to get with a finger nail than the swiss tool, but you also have
to open the whole tool.
There really isn’t a huge advantage to the speed in either one, and it comes down to
what your used to, not how one is way better- again unless you yell louder.
The handle is more comfortable on the Swiss tool, If I had to choose it would be the Leatherman
because I’m comfortable with the 25 year warranty and there’s a the longer blade
and thinner needle nosed pliers.
Victorinox has a vaguer worded lifetime warranty and it says it covers workmanship not wear
and tear.
Leatherman covers basically everything and you’re only out shipping to the repair center.
I will say the Swiss tool feels a little sturdier in the hand than the super tool though- only
a 7 gram difference in weight the super tool being heavier.
Now the Leatherman Wave.
By far the tool I prefer out of the whole bunch.
Lighter and smaller, same amount of functional tools for me as the larger ones.
I like the bit driver system over the slightly different sized flat heads a lot of multitools
are filled with.
If you need a bigger hand grip go with a larger one by all means.
I did a review of this… you’re like didn’t see it.
Some may ask, what’s the closest in tool functionality to the Swiss Tool in a Swiss
Army Knife.
I’d say if you need a lot of tools to fidget with a SwissChamp might work, it also has
the small pliers in a pinch…
I don’t have that model but I have the older discontinued Champ which doesn’t have the
pliers but has a cork screw and a magnifying glass.
The SwisChamp looks to be about 3 ounces lighter than the full sized Swiss Tool.
Wrapping it up?
As I’ve bored you with above.
I’m used to Leathermans, and like them and prefer lighter ones.
The Swiss Tool is a great piece of equipment, however I like scissors so my recommendation
would be to go with the Swiss Tool X.
I haven’t tried the smaller Swiss tool spirit yet, but I’m sure I will one day when I
find a decent deal on one.
However if you have a Swiss Tool think it’s better than Leatherman and think I’m wrong
good for you.
If you live outside of the US though, Leathermans warranty would be a pain in the ass as a few
subscribers have let me know.
Cool.
The Swiss Tool is arguably about as good as the Super Tool 300, but I think the Surge
is probably better if you can tolerate the weight.
However I prefer the smaller Wave most of all so I’m interested to try the smaller
lighter Spirit X one day.
If you like this review, subscribe to the channel.
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little more than my giveaway shipping, and this month won’t even cover the gear I bought.
Boo hoo dumb youtube gear review needs money.
I know, thanks for watching.