I've been looking at large multi-tools for awhile now and have finally decided to go with a Swisstool over the Leatherman Supertool. But now which VERSION of the swiss tool? I've pretty much made up my mind, but I wanted to put the question to everyone here to see if there was anything I hadn't considered. It came down to the RS and the X
The standard Swisstool comes with a plain edge blade, serrated blade, file, and wood saw, plus various other accoutrements.
The RS substitutes a serrated sheepsfoot "seatbelt cutter" and scissors for the file and regular serrated blade.
The X has a plain blade, file, woodsaw and scissors.

Since the RS has all the benefits of the standard, with the added utility of a sheepsfoot blade, it's preferable in my opinion. The question is, which is more useful; A serrated blade (RS), or a file (X)?

As far as uses go, it will travel in my pack back and forth to school and work (about 15 miles round trip in DC metro area) and go with me on weekend to weeklong backpacking trips along the AT in VA/MD.

Thanks in advance,

Chris.

which one do/will you use more often ? i personally don't like serrated blade's and i personally won't need to cut seatbelts. i would vote for the X ( which i have ). If you want to have a tool to cut seatbelts, get a lifehamer with seatbelt cutter, easyier to grab and cut and you can ofcorse smach your window with it.

As a rule of thumb you could say that a plain edged blade can do the work of a serrated blade but any blade can´t do the work of the file.
I would definitly miss the file on my multitool. IMHO the file is an added utility while the serrated blade is just one more blade. So I would choose the RS only if I had a dedicated use for the serrated blade in mind (I don´t but maybe you do) otherwise I´d go for the X.

It all boils down to what you do on a daily basis. I just left DC and I used my Swisstool RS all the time, mostly the scissors and regular blade as well as the bottle opener. I did wish that I had a file on a rare occasion, but the feeling quickly faded. Either one you buy will be a good piece of gear. You will use it alot, if you are like me.

I know I am not much help but it really depends on what you want to do with it. If you are set on the file than get it, because I rarely use the sheepsfoot blade, although I have used it in the past to cut rope, straps, etc.

Hope this helps,

Garrett

I actually have found the file very useful on my multi-tools, moreso then the serrated blade. As long as you know how to sharpen a regular blade you shouldn't need the serrated much.

Why don't you just be a good little capitalist, and buy both? <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

In what kind of environments did you deploy your SwissTool? I am wondering if you attracted any unwanted attention, especially in D.C.

I have owned both and I much prefer the 'X'.

I look at it this way (and I think this idea was touched upon in an earlier response, but bears repeating):

You can probably do anything with the Plain Blade that you could with the Serrated Sheepsfoot. There certainly may be circumstances where the Serrated Sheepsfoot may be a bit better suited to the task, but there's probably not going to be a situation in which you need to cut something and the Serrated Sheepsfoot would do it and the Plain Blade just WOULDN'T!

On the other hand there are a great many things you can do with a File that you can't do with ANY other tool.

That being said, no Multi-Tool will cover all the bases for EVERY situation, so you need to decide what will work best for you.

-John

Thanks guys, I had basically decided on the X, but I always feel better when my decision is seconded <img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> Thanks again.