I mentioned in another thread that I bought an XE6 for an ocean cruise. I used it almost not at all, because the comedy of errors that is security in 2004 contrived to make it relatively easy to carry while on board, but extremely inconvenient to take OFF the ship... so I carried it for a week on board, but did not have it with me for the city, hiking, snorkeling and rafting trips ashore where I might have actually needed it.

In typical paranoid fashion I had to add to it- I found a device that's essentially two split rings joined by a narrow sewn nylon strap, and attached that as a "tail" on the XE6. The strap now sports a watchband compass, and the outboard ring has a tiny aluminum whistle, a BSA HotSpark ferrocerium rod, and a Photon 3. All of which wasn't much needed aboard, of course, except the compass, which came in handy a surprising number of times when I got turned around in the lab-rat maze of the below-decks. This problem might have been aggravated by the ever-present recreational beverages aboard. <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> I used the Photon a couple of times in the stateroom at night, and to peer under the bed for missing objects. I didn't have to carry my usual key ring, so the whole thing didn't seem to add much to my pocket load, and at least it made me feel a little less helpless.

I wasn't sure a compass would work properly aboard what is essentially a huge piece of steel floating in salt water, but to my surprise it did fine. I also tried the one on my Suunto Yachtsman watch.. might have been a few degrees off, but it seemed to work fine as well.

My overall impression is that the Juice is a better engineered tool than any of my other Leathermans, including my Wave. The sub-3-inch length of the knife blades makes it less conspicuous and alarming in an urban/suburban setting, and makes it legal to carry in some places that the larger tools are not.

Though I may not have used it much, I'd be very surprised after a week if it had a pair of tweezers in there somewhere. I wasn't aware that there was a "Pro" line, and actually find that sort of annoying- I like having the tweezers when I carry a SAK, miss having them with the Juice, and I had THOUGHT I had researched the purchase. It shouldn't be so hard to find out what's available from Leatherman.

It seems that, as of tomorrow, I'm again facing a subway commute through a major metropolitan area, which will place me some 40 miles or so away from my vehicle during the working day. Unless I decide to sell the XE6 and upgrade to a "pro", it seems a natural to carry with me.