My Top 5 Leatherman Tools

welcome back to the tool crib today i want to talk to you about my five favorite leatherman multi tools and why they are my five favorites so the ones i have here on the table are actually not in my top five list but i brought them out here because i know that they're going to be in a lot of people's favorites list so the first one is the juice s2 now unfortunately the juice line is completely discontinued what made the juice s2 one of the more popular versions of the juice series of tools is the fact that it was slimmer in profile so it had less tools but it was because of that it was incredibly pocketable uh it had a nice set of pliers on it one thing i like about the juice series is how snappy they are when they open up you just they really lock in really well and it has one of the better drivers that you can get on their leatherman multi-tools one of the one of the best phillips drivers they ever produce and you can hear how just crisp that snaps into place is one of the things that i really liked about the juice series though i didn't carry them much because i always leaned towards a more a larger multi-tool for blue-collar work for industrial applications so while the juice series is a fantastic tool it didn't make my list uh though i can't appreciate how well engineered it was done so on the outside it came with a knife blade and again this one has scissors which makes this one one of the more popular of the juice series of multi-tools also includes a can opener bottle cap lifter can opener works pretty decent on there bottle cap lifter not so great but overall good set of screwdrivers great little set of slim needle nose and a knife blade as well as the scissors makes for a very pocketable and very great multi-tool in fact i wish leatherman would turn some attention back to this size of multi-tool because i think they're missing out on a huge market by not having something in their line that fits that that genre another great tool from leatherman is the skeletal cx now this is based on the original skeletal series the difference is obviously apart from aesthetics with the carbon fiber integrated into this one is that this one includes a better knife blade steel so this one comes with their 154cm now they don't do this often the skeletal cx and the leatherman charge series which are the better versions of the leatherman wave are really the only two multi-tools where they come out with better knife blade steels for a current model i really wish that they would do that to a couple of other models because i think it would it would serve them well to have some premium versions of some of their other multi-tools now this one also includes integrated into the frame has a serves as a carabiner or bottle cap lifter i like bottle cap lifters that don't take up space in the tools but rather are integrated in the frame like that and the skeletal cex is one of the better ones another thing that has on here is one of the best drivers that you can have or one of the best driver retention mechanisms for their proprietary bit so a little thumb press will release that set that back in and it locks in incredibly firmly so this is great for the bit exchanger also comes on board with an extra bit which is one of the only multi-tools there's a the mutt does too and and and uh maybe the signal yeah the signal has an extra bit on board but they don't do this a lot in a lot of their multi-tools but it's great that it's on the skeletal cx to have that extra driver capability and it's just overall it's a very pleasing looking multi-tool with a great knife blade has integrated pocket clip and so it's not hard to understand why this is a a favorite among uh for people edc'ing this particular multi-tool because it's not trying to do too much but what it does it does really really well and i think maybe that's the hallmark or that's the that's the goal that leatherman should set for their multi-tools that are not necessarily trying to be the toolbox approach like you'll get with a wave or a surge is to do a few things and do them extremely well and i think that would bode well for them in the future the next one is going to be the most popular multi-tool on the planet and that's the leatherman wave plus this is the third generation uh comes with great set of needle nose pliers integrated well needle nose pliers and then replaceable wire and hard wire cutters that come with this as well as on the back of the pliers and the third generation they added the ability to do wire crimping capabilities on the interior tools you have your bit exchanger uh because that comes with just a single bit so you have your combination number one number two phillips and your 3 16 flat driver then you have oh by the way these also the anytime it has an exchanger will accept their uh their different extensions as well then it has the combination tool with their great can uploader this is a fantastic can opener doesn't really work that great as a model cap lifter but it does work and then the wire stripper that comes down below it that i get a lot of use out of on the other side it has a selection of different a couple different drivers so you have your larger quarter inch driver and then you have your micro driver and then the wave also comes with a set of scissors now the scissors on here they're pretty decent they they do a decent job i just find that because they're on the interior of the tool they're a little hard to get out uh i think you know the one tool that the wave really lacks by most people's opinion is going to be the all and they might have been served better by leaving out the scissors in this one and using the awl instead and then on the outside of the tool is the four outside accessible tools so you have your standard knife blade in 420hc which is a great length blade for this tool uh liner locked really locks in there nice and firmly on the other side you have your serrated blade which some people like a lot myself included and then others would like to see them change this out for something different and then you have your diamond file combination edge file cross cut and diamond file diamond file is something that i love on the leatherman multi-tools and then on the opposing side you have your integrated saw blade which all the outer tools again liner lock in place not hard to understand why the leatherman wave plus is one of the more popular multi-tools or the most popular multi-tool on the planet now the next one is one that i carried for a long time this used to be in my favorites it's since dropped out of my top five not because it's a bad tool in any way shape or form in fact this is one of the better engineered multi-tools that leatherman ever produced it was a completely new concept they just just engineered this one from scratch and boy they did a bang-up job this is one of the best engineer tools leatherman ever put out comes included with a great pair of shears which is its uh hallmark and then you have a belt a strap cutter integrated oxygen wrench has glass break on it as well as a ring cutter also has the ability to carry this with the integrated pocket clip or the case that comes with it will allow you to carry in an open position or in its folded position great tool for first responders and for me i used it on the job site a lot to cut through a lot of different stuff so there's one tool that i don't have out here right at the moment that also should be included in this and that is the leatherman micra which is i'll tell you what let me grab it real quick so the micra is one of those really super compact tools from leatherman i like this tool because the fact that it has and this is probably the second best pair of scissors that leatherman puts on a multi-tool the scissors on the micro are fantastic comes with a variety of different personal care tools so you have the nail file as well as a nail cleaner it has a couple of different drivers a little chisel ground knife blade on the opposite side you have this is this is your bottle cap lifter and this is your screwdriver and then it has the flattened phillips as well as a pair of tweezers now you only get tweeters on a lot of different leatherman multi tools but you do get it on the micra and so this one is one that i carried a lot uh i don't carry it much anymore not because i don't think it's a great tool just that i don't really have the need to carry the micra anymore once in a while i will but it's not an everyday thing but the leatherman micra definitely deserves to be on the honorable mentions list as well now let's get into my personal favorite five leatherman multi-tools so the number five on my list is gonna be a model that's also discontinued i happen to have this is one i've had for years and years and years and gotten a lot of use out of and i still carry this one to this day not every day but once in a while so the squirt es4 the square es4 is the only multi-tool that leatherman came out with that instead of having scissors or pliers included a pair of wire strippers i love that because it's great for doing little repair work now much like the micro it's going to have uh some additional smaller tools that are not necessarily the most useful though a couple of them do come in handy but the wire strippers are really what sell this one and it's so light and so compact that it's incredibly easy to carry as a supplemental piece on your edc so it does have a nice little cross-cut file and single cut file the file on here works really well this also serves as your larger flat driver on the front then it has a little chisel ground blade to come with it as well and then on the opposite side you have a pair of scissors on here which are kind of i think the wave scissors are going to be a little bit larger but these will get little cutting tasks done these would be great for cutting little stuff like fishing line i don't remember how well these work on paracord i think they struggle a little bit so they're not fan they're not awesome scissors but they're useful scissors we'll put it that way then on the opposite side you have your driver so the first is and the can opener i forgot a bottle cap lifter i'm sorry comes with it so you have your another large flat driver and then you have this serves as both a little a flat driver on the very front but the shape of it is also designed to serve as one half of a phillips driver and for i'll tell you where this driver comes in really useful is when you're taking off screws on battery compartments for electronic tools and stuff like that that little driver actually works really really great for that so this is number five on my list the leatherman squirt es4 i hope at some point leatherman comes out with another version of an electronics tool number four for me is one of the newer leatherman tools this is the leatherman raptor response now this was based off the leatherman raptor the original but the raptor response kind of took the place of the raptor for me now i'll explain why so the raptor is more designed for first responders that's why it has some of these extra tools like the ring cutter strap cutter the o2 wrench and the glass break great tool to use don't get me wrong i like this tool a lot but because of the way i had to handle this tool usually to to work it had to have three fingers in the second loop down here it does have your your four finger rest here but if if you're using it for long periods of time it gets a little bit uncomfortable well they solved that somewhat with the leatherman raptor response you notice where the thumb rest is it has it's kind of smoothed over here so it kind of it's just more comfortable overall to use now on the back has your four finger rest two fingers in the main or in the second loop here and then it has a pinky rest as well and so i find this so much more useful so much easier to control so much more comfortable to use than the original raptor now it comes with some of the tools that the original raptor comes including the o2 wrench it's integrated into the handle and the ring cutter and obviously the great shears which haven't changed from one model to the other still a fantastic set of sheers and it still folds down now it doesn't have the glass break and it doesn't have the the strap cutter it also doesn't include the case that comes with the the great case that comes with the leatherman raptor but rather has just the pocket clip to use as a pocket carry but this is not a tool that i carry on me and one that i rather i keep him the console my truck so times when i need it to cut through a variety of different materials then i can very easily grab them and have a great set of shears out on the job site so this is the leatherman raptor response number four number three on my list has been on my list for a very long time this is the leatherman crunch now leatherman is one of the only manufacturers except for a chinese knockoff that still makes a vice grip style multi-tool this is what makes the leatherman uh crunch so great is the fact that it is a a fantastic set of of uh vice grips now or locking pliers i guess you should say vice grips is actually a name brand but though it's used you know to describe locking pliers i wish that they would make a bigger version of this this is a four inch frame i wish they'd have a four in four and a half inch frame much like they do with the wave surge i would probably use that one as well now i don't carry this uh that often maybe three or four times a month at work it's the only time i'll carry it i do keep it in my truck so that if i ever need quick access to it i have it but it's so convenient and for me it's valuable to have this style instead of just a regular pair of vice grips because it compact it folds down so compactly so it's one of the reasons i like this very much now it has different sets of interior tools you have the file the this one a little tough to get out your driver small driver your phillips driver phillips driver is not quite as good as what you're going to find on super tool 300 or the rebar but it does broaden out which gives you a full dimensional phillips that works as a number one and number two phillips then you have your second flat driver actually there's three flat drivers so the small the medium and then the file also serves as your larger driver and then this one comes included with a serrated blade as well which i found very handy over the years so this is number three the leatherman crunch oh one last thing item on this one you pull out the adjustment screw and you can fit regular quarter inch bits on the end of it though it's a little long-winded to get that screw out so number three on my list the leatherman crunch now if you've watched this channel for any length of time you would have probably assumed that the leatherman surge was going to be my number one pick for my favorite multi-tools but in fact it's number two so i actually carry a modified version of them in surge the leatherman surge is really the big brother to the leatherman wave it just has bigger tools all together so you get your four outside accessible tools that are a little different than what you get with the wave so this one's going to have integrated scissors on the outside and the way they accomplish that is by using a t shank adapter for your both your saw blade and for your file which this one also comes with the diamond file as well so you can exchange that for either one of those tools or you can use aftermarket accessories on this as well which makes it very very convenient to be able to handle a lot of different tasks especially when you're talking about specialty saw blades the surge overall is just bigger it's four and a half inches it's it's a more robust tool it's one of the strongest if not the strongest in leatherman's entire lineup uh the frame is just fantastic on the wave and surge series of tools this one's going to come with your bit exchanger with your combination tool like you get on the wave on the opposite side because this one doesn't have interior scissors you're going to get it all with it as well as your large driver which is even larger than the one on the wave and then your medium flat driver as well as those interior tools or the exterior tools this one also comes with behind it also not only does it have wire crimpers but it also has a hard wire or string excuse me stranded wire cutters so if you have a large wire you need to get through this will work for hard wire cutters i know for certain because i've used them in that fashion then you have your really really robust needle nose pliers with regular pliers and then replaceable hard wire and wire cutters it is one of the most capable multi-tools in the entire leatherman lineup and my personal adc and it comes in at number two for me now the all-time my all-time favorite leatherman tool is the leatherman wave the original now a lot of people might that this the original for them might be or or the first multi tool from leatherman they ever had might be something like the pst or the pst2 or any number of different other multi-tools but the leatherman way for me was the first one that i actually owned i bought my first leatherman wave in 1999 and one of the things i loved about it is it came with this really great molded leather case for it it's just a fantastic case that came with the original leatherman wave the the original leatherman wave really changed the game in the world of multi-tools especially in the world of plier-based multi-tools because it's it's the first that had the outside accessible tools with this incredibly strong frame because of the way that they break the wave in those four different breaks actually it's one two three four five six different breaks per handle makes it incredibly robust and incredibly strong had a great set of needle nose pliers on it now unlike the the current generation of the leatherman wave it did not have the replaceable hard wire and wire cutters it also doesn't have the wire crimpers in the back but uh this one just really holds a special place for me because of you know it was the first when i tell you before i got this uh i was using victorinox uh knives and victorinox makes great knives and i i really like victorinox knives but when i first went to a plier-based multi-tool with the leatherman wave it was a game changer for me at work to be able to handle so many different tasks so many times i needed pliers and not just the little dinky pliers that you can get on some uh swiss army knives but rather a fully a full set of robust pliers and the leatherman wave just offered that now at the time they had other tools out you had the super tool 300 that i could have picked up the surge wasn't in in existence yet uh it wouldn't come for another seven years so when when i finally did switch over the surge uh it was almost immediately after it came out because it's just the more robust version of the wave but on the interior you'll notice that the tools changed up a little bit the original was a little bit different had a little different uh design on their combination tool didn't have a bit exchanger but rather independent bits so this one you'll notice that the phillips driver kind of flares out which allows you allow them to tuck a lot of tools in there but it broadens out to a full set a full dimensional phillips as well as your quarter inch flat driver also has a little lanyard hole here and then on the opposite side it has one driver there that's a little tough to get out at times so it has a this is probably where they messed up on this tool is that uh they could have let me let me get these scissors opened up right first there we go so instead of having multiple flat drivers that they do they have a really small one then kind of a medium and then the larger one and then the extra large one i guess here on the other side if they would have replaced one of these with an awl that would have made it even better but another thing with the original wave was because it didn't have those knife locks that they eventually came out with in generation two and then onto generation three they were able to put a different design set of scissors in here and though they're a little tough to get out and to use as scissors you notice these are three piece so you have one two and three the handle this is just the way it folds over which made for a really great set of scissors not the easiest to get to but really worked very very well and then everything folded up and because you didn't have any tool locks it set very neatly into the bottom and so when everything folded back down it just made a really compact tool it's one of the things i really liked about the original leatherman wave is how slender it is now it doesn't again it doesn't have the knife locks for the exterior knife blades that you're going to get in current generations but it does have a more slender set of knives so let's bring in the third generation here which is basically identical to the second generation with the exception of the replaceable wire and hardwire cutters but you'll notice that now the the wave plus kind of flares out a lot more with the knife blades so it's a little it's a little larger or a little wider in profile as far as the width on them they're pretty much the same the tools on here did not have your locking tools so in second generation they came out the locking tools and then on the third generation but i never found it really to be an issue because of the slip lock mechanism on here actually lock those tools in pretty nicely so let me just pop that open so you can see that it's just a slip lock on the back but it has a pretty good retention on it and so i never really had a problem with the slip lock though i was grateful when they came out with the full locking tools which just made this tool all the better uh so this tool is the one that changed the game for me and it holds a special place for me because it was my first multi-tool and the leatherman way when it hit the market really changed the game of mult in the multi-tool world to begin with and there's a reason why the leatherman wave and and now the leatherman wave plus is the best-selling multi-tool leatherman has ever produced it is always going to be my number one multi-tool because it was my introduction into plier-based multi-tool this is the original leatherman wave and it holds the number one spot in my list of my top 5 favorites my name is ben you've been watching the texas toolkit i appreciate you watching i'll see you in the next one

Channel: TX Tool Crib

Views: 73,054

Keywords: leatherman, edc, everyday carry, best multitool, best leatherman tool, leatherman multi tool, leatherman wave plus, leatherman charge plus, leatherman crunch, leatherman surge, leatherman micra, leatherman squirt es4, leatherman raptor response, leatherman raptor rescue, leatherman juice s2, leatherman wave, leatherman pst, leatherman pst ii, leatherman skeletool cx, leatherman skeletool, leatherman super tool 300, leatherman signal, leatherman rebar, leatherman mut

Id: DlDbLos8934

Length: 23min 29sec (1409 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 21 2022