I'd have to throw in another vote for the Wave, although in all fairness I've never used either of the Charge models.

Pluses of the Wave:

One-handed blade opening without having to open the whole tool - VERY useful!!. The Charges use a better grade of steel for the blades, but hey, I'll take what I can get (especially since I value my money).

Locking primary blades - very important!

Crosscut file, diamond file, a decent saw (great for relatively small branches and yes, PVC), good scissors - all very useful tools.

The pliers on my Wave (the old one) are much beefier than on the original Leatherman PST or any of the other "original" series, and the new Wave is better yet.

Frankly, now that I own a Wave, I'd never want to go back to using *any* multitool that does not have one-handed opening of at least the primary blades, and I'd never use a non-locking blade for anything but the most trivial task.

I also carry a Micra - I find the scissors a little more "balanced" in the hand, and it's more PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER.-friendly. It looks more like a novelty than a "weapon" in their eyes, so when I'm in mixed company I'll go to that first.

I carry a Flair sometimes, mainly for the corkscrew.

Another vote for the victorinox swisstool <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I think that after few posts you realized that main advantage of Wave and TI series is one hand blade opening. If you carry no backup blade or if multi tool will be your primary "toy" than one handed blade opening can't be beaten. I don't need one handed opening on diamond file or wood saw but blade is extremly important. I think this is where leatherman comes up better than swisstool. Everything else is just minor and consists of little differences.

The fact that the Leatherman Wave and Charge can utilize a pocket clip seems like a plus to me also. I say "seems" because I still haven't received mine yet due to shipping issues beyond my control. Hopefully I will get it this week and can see if it makes pocket carry easier.

That's exactly it - the one-handed blade opening trumps all else.

I didn't fully realize it until I "inherited" the Flair from a friend of mine - the Wave was my first Leatherman (before that was all SAKs).

For such a simple modification, putting the blades so they come out on the outside, the advantages are manyfold. One-handed blade opening, locking blades (although some of the new Leathermans have all locking blades on the inside as well), the handles are more comfortable because when you use the pliers you're pressing down on the rounded blade covers and not the metal edge, and as an undocumented feature, when the pliers are open you can use the space between the file and the serrated blade as an impromptu crimper (or nutcracker, I suppose).

Frankly, I'm shocked that anybody still makes multi-tools, other than the tiny ones, in the "old" way.

I also can't understand the fascination with putting a zillion screwdrivers on these tools. Anyone who has serious need for screwdrivers will buy the tool adapter. The blades included on the tool are next to useless because they are off-center and at least to my clumsy hands, the blade keeps sliding out of the slot because I'm driving off-center. It doesn't help that they're polished either. And the space used for the screwdrivers could go toward much more useful tools - I'd love to see a Leatherman with an awl. A corkscrew would be nice too, or a mini-fork or butter knife (these are the tools found on the Flair, and nowhere else, and if I think I'm going to use any of those, I carry the Flair). Another possibility would be a strikable flint for firestarting.