Leatherman or Gerber?

Hi,

I was just browsing in a knife shop here in New Zealand and I spotted the Leatherman micra and squirt (p4 & s4), and Gerber shortcut and clutch. Clearly Gerber's offerings are intended to be comparable to Leatherman's.

They are about twice the price here (compared to REI online), but the Gerbers are cheaper than the Leathermans. I might find them cheaper elsewhere in NZ, but really I'd like to know what to choose. My wife wants one with scissors (therefore Gerber shortcut). I EDC a Swiss Army Champ, but I quite like the small size of the clutch.

Are the Gerber tools ok? Are the Leathermans worth the higher cost? I am sure this will provoke a lively debate...

Thanks,

A

This is a "Ford - Chevy" kind of personal opinion. I personally really like Gerber, and really don't like Leatherman. It's not a qulaity issue, it's a fit and function one.

I prefer Leatherman. I EDC a Juice CS4. The Micra is a good little tool, fits right into a change purse.

I picked up both a Gerber Clutch and Leatherman Squirt recently. Form and function aside, I was disappointed with the quality of the Gerber product. The Squirt had a much more precise "feel".

I own several of both brands -- I use the gerbers.

TRO

It's your choice. If it was mine, Leatherman would win hands down.

I'm new here but I wanted to say a word or two about these tools. I own both but hardly use my Leatherman. I think it's a matter of getting used to one or the other. I used a Gerber for years before receiving the Leatherman as a gift and still prefer my Gerber. I carried the Leatherman for about 6 months to try it out but went back to my Gerber. No complaints about the Leatherman - I was just used to the Gerber.

Big thumbs up to LeatherMan!

I gave my Gerber to my son. The screwdrivers, saw, knife blade, can opener, etc. are so much better on my Leatherman! Gerber is the wannabe; LeatherMan is the real deal! <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I am partial to leatherman's. I own several. The micra has siscers. I also own a SOG, which I hardly ever use. I do not own a Gerber, but have used several. I still prefer my leatherman and wear it every day, except in the office.

Hi. Thanks for all your comments. From what I can tell, it comes down to personal preference. I went to the Mall at lunchtime (with my wife, who is very tolerant of my propensity for spending money on gear, although in this case the pocket tool is for her).

We looked at the micra, squirt, shortcut and clutch. Here are my obervations, based on handling them and what the shop assistant said.

* The micra is old, and effectively superceded by the squirt p4/s4
* The squirt is smaller than the micra and the Gerbers (shortcut and clutch)
* To me, the squirt 'feels' nicer than the Gerbers. You know what I mean.

I can see why people would be *particularly* pleased with whichever one is their favourite- they are all well designed and look good. Our next task is to find a cheaper place to buy one than the Mall. The price we saw for the squirt p4/s4 was NZ$99.90 (inc. sales tax) which is about US$66.

Thanks for all your comments,

A

Drop me a PM, I might be able to special order one for you.

After losing my leatherman micra, which I had for several years, I stopped at a local sports shop to purchase a squirt P4 as a replacement. They were our of the squirts but had the gerber shortcut. I purchased the gerber and in less than 24 hours, with absolutely no use or abuse to the tool, the rivet at the scissors pivot point self destructed and I had two tools and no scissors. Luckily when I returned to the store the next day they had received a shipment of the leatherman squirts, took back the gerber without question, and I happily paid a little extra for a squirt P4. My reason for wanting a P4 is that the knife can do the majority of the tasks a scissors can do and I found with my old Micra I would sometimes be lacking for a small pair of pliers.
Its leatherman for me. Just my own experience.

I own several of the Leatherman Micra's, they are very good.
About a month ago I purchased the Gerber Shortcut. As I was taking it out of the plastic package, one of the torx drive rivet heads popped off. The diameter of the rivets is very small. I returned it for a refund the next morning.
I haven't been too impressed with Gerber's quality in recent years. Seems to me some of their items are good and others are not.
I own some older Gerber knives and they have gave me very good service. Personally, I would pass on the Gerber Shortcut.

Smitty

I own both Gerber and Leatherman equipment. I also own quite a few Fiskars items as well (they now own Gerber). Based on fairly extensive use of various knives and tools, I would say Leatherman "wins" for me. I think if you compare two similar Gerber and Leatherman items side by side, you'll see better LM build quality and metal. That's not saying there might be exceptions and certainly there are plenty of tools on both sides that have no comparable item from the other manufacturer. And you'll find that as the price goes up so does the quality of build and materials for both manufacturers.

But the Gerber Shortcut is made in china and looks like it. Just the milling of the metal looks kinda half-a$$ed to me. I've read other reviews about how cheaply it's put together, not including the ones here. Gerber makes some decent items, but their quality has gone down and they have outsourced most if not all of their new tools to China and the change shows.

Anyway, make up your own mind... you may get a nicely built Shortcut, but my Micra has been through the ringer. I've used every tool on it many times, and some of them quite extensively. It looks the same as it did the day I took it from the package despite EDC with other metal items in my pocket and heavy use.

I carry the LM Micra and New Wave and e307x on an EDC basis. I used to carry a small Gerber knife and multiplier, and they were both good. But, I didn't like the "looseness" of the pliers, nor the fact that you had to open it completely to take out any other tool. I'm not saying I couldn't be swung back by a killer design and quality, but for now, and the forseable future, LM is it for me. I've used other tools from SOG and a few other manufacturers, but I've either not liked their design, their weight-to-tool ratio, or their quality.

Let us know your experience once you make a decision. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Oh, and if you saw some stuff about LM and made in the USA, this helps clear it up: http://www.leatherman.com/news/press-releases/article.asp?section=2&articleID=207