The orignal Leatherman was innovative. If you can USE and keep a Leatherman from bending or breaking after a few months, keep it. The best thing to come from Leatherman was the idea of the multitool. It took SOG, Gerber and Victorinox to make it a sturdy, reliable item! I will say it again, I have owned 5 Leatherman tools, all but one broke on limited use. The one intact has never been used for anything except to fill drawer space. Leatherman could design a titanium tool with gold inlay and a geiger counter, I will never own another one!! Oh, and if I have a cork in a bottle that I want out, I will get it out, corkscrew or no corkscrew. It may never go back in, but hey just drink faster:)

To bring this back post back to the point.....I have been a long time gerber tool fan........back from when the first tool was simply called the gerber multi tool, and there was only one model of it. Recently though i have added to my collection a new black leatherman charge ti. Thus far have put this tool throught the mill and it has proven itself a very reliable and sturdy tool. I seen leatherman tools in the past and i tool thought that they were cheap compared to other brands until this new charge came out. For some personal recommendations/personally owned/carried (EDC) models, i like the basic gerber tool, with standard pliers, the compact scout has a needle nose head, but its a very compact, sturdy tool that has proven itself very useful, the leatherman micra is a great little pocket tool..........its a part of my EDC keychain, and finally the new leatherman charge ti (black edition). As agreed with many of the previous posts, i too still love a basic SAK. They are still hard to beat for their specialty tools as well as basic functions and compact size. And hey they are "MacGyver" approved as well!!

Wow.

Ok. That's a Bag of Tricks. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

JUst added a Craftsman fingerdriver for 1/4" bits- better than the VersaDriver or the 1/4" extension with the PcoketWrench I carry with my Leatheramn for very tight locations.

Yeah, my poor Pack-Rat is going to get a belly ache one of these days.

Why the ear plugs , am i missing something <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> or just
being dumb ?

mike

With total disregard for the original thread subject. I know I carry ear plugs for a couple of scenerios.

1)when I fly, I am always seated in the psycotically crying baby section...earplugs keep me out of jail

2) I visted San Fransico for a seminar...wouldn't you know it, the hotel workers were on strike. (I am pro-union)...however I was on offical business and I could not move...(plus I would have just been moving to a non-union hotel anyway). Well I guess one of strike tactics is to BANG-BILLBOARDS TOGETHER until 11:00 pm. which is fine unless you are on East Coast time. Once again ear-plugs kept me out of jail.

3) when you just want peace and quite...and you don't want to go to jail.

Day to day, ear plugs are nice when I have to spend any time in a server room. Some of the new Dell rackmount servers develop thrust, I think. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Loud, anyway. And a whole room full of 'em... yikes.

I always wear a pair when I mow the yard. I'll put 'em to do any hammering or banging I need to do. When I was younger, and cared to go, I'd always wear 'em at concerts to (get this) hear the music better! I don't know why, exactly, although my guess is that at really loud volume levels our ears aren't as sensitive to the differences in frequencies. All I know is that, with the plugs in, the music sounded better.

You never know when you'll be in a dangerous acoustic environment. We talk about goggles for our eyes, a dust mask for our lungs, gloves for our hands... why not throw in a pair (they take zero space) of ear plugs?

1- Might get stranded with the wife <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
2- After use, they can be used as mini survival candles after collecting wax from the ears <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Ok. Ewww.

<img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Oh yeah. Server room sucks loud.

So does a water and sprinkler system that carries EVERYONE's music through the building, and all you want is for the headache to stop