Leatherman Raptor - In Depth, Long Term Review

[WCEDC]

Overview:
WHY:
Hey everyone, I've decided to do an in-depth review of the Leatherman Raptor shears, as I can't really find much in-depth, useful information about them anywhere else. Being someone involved in fire/EMS, as well as some LE functions as a volunteer, I thought I was pretty much the bread and butter of the target market for this product.
HOW:
I'm going to do this review in several parts, including my initial impressions right out of the box, general impressions after carrying it for a bit, and more long-term checkpoints as I use them more and more, and run into any issues or notable successes.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Right out of the clamshell
Disclosure: I got the Leatherman raptors at a price well below MSRP, due to a professional discount system from my previous job.
I was disappointed. Very disappointed. The fit and finish was nice and tight, good tolerances, everything seemed like it was put together really well, and was meant to fit. No wobbly or over-tight parts, like I’ve very seldom seen on other Leatherman products. However, there was a major problem:
For those of you who are not familiar with the Raptor, there are two triangular-shaped pieces which are spring-loaded, and lock the shears open, once deployed. On all the other Raptors I’ve handled (a few new out of the box), they had all locked open smoothly the first time, almost completely silently, except for a reassuring “click”. On mine however, one side did not want to lock open at all, unless you cycle that side open and closed pretty quickly and hard. On top of that, they feel very grainy (for lack of a better word) and are also very loud, like you can hear the coils of the spring rubbing against each other. I know it’s sort of nit-picking, but they’re loud, noticeable, and haven’t been on any of the other Raptors I’ve seen. Here’s my idea of why that might be the case…

I’ve been trying to buy a set of the Raptor shears for a couple months now. I searched every store, as well as their website, and factory store (I’m close to Portland) and they’ve all said they’ve been out of stock, and/or backordered, even the Leatherman Retail Store. I grabbed the first set I saw in stores, and I believe they rushed to make them, and therefore they might not be as perfect as expected.
Nevertheless, Leatherman has an awesome warranty, and if anything’s ever wrong with them, I know I’ll be fine (so long as they have them available to warranty out – they didn’t even have those when I wanted to buy them).
Other than that, I am pretty impressed with the included sheath (more on this below), and am glad that the pocket clip on the Raptor is actually fixed in place, and doesn’t wobble (like on the Rev or their other budget tools).
THE SHEATH: I’m glad that the sheath can store the tool in an open and closed position, and even has a locking feature when the tool is holstered open. However, the sheath doesn’t fit on wider belts (like the SnakeEaterTactical belt I wear everyday) or even a duty belt that some EMS personnel might wear, and what cops wear. Furthermore, the Raptor does not fit in most pants that have the dedicated trauma shears pocket/loop (5.11s included). This isn’t much of a surprise, as you’re getting a pretty robust tool, and it might be worth still carrying your $2 trauma shears in that pocket, especially if you’re used to them there (when under stress, everyone reverts back to their training). I have heard that there is a new sheath in the making, designed to fit wider duty belts, etc. This is great news, but, for the time being, the sheath fits my leather belt that I wear while on-duty w/fire perfectly fine. The only problem is, if I’m not at the station and get a call (most of the time, as a volunteer) I’m wearing my wider, SET belt (I believe it’s 1.75”).
Just to clarify, I’m not one of those moron’s that’s always wearing the tool. It’s usually in the car, in my bag, or folded in my pocket.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: After a couple weeks
I’ve had the Raptor on me every day for a couple of weeks now. I’d say there was probably a total of 8 hours (not including time spent sleeping) where the tool was not physically on my person, but rather in my bag, either inside the Engine, or in my vehicle.
Why was in in the engine? Well, I haven’t quite figured out a comfortable way to carry it if I’m wearing turnouts, and I’ve got a set of trauma shears tucked into my helmet band.
I did get a pretty cool shot of the raptor on my uniform pants belt, with my wildland turnouts over them. I posted it on my Instagram account, but I’ll try to post the photo below as well:

CUT TESTS: I am going to break this up into three main sections: the main shears, the strap cutter, and the ring cutter:
Main Shears – Improvement on the current design
The main shears are wonderful. I enjoy the width of the shears themselves, especially the bottom portion, that’s grooved, to help keep material from sliding. They are considerably thicker than traditional trauma shears, and help keep material in place better, as well as cut more, instead of crushing. I tried the shears on tons of materials, including the following: nomex uniform pants, turnout jacket, paracord, fishing line, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, duct tape, high & low density foams, leather boots, synthetic shoes, stiff leather (guessing veg tanned?), a variety of clothes, both natural and synthetic materials, paper, cardboard, staples, wire (up to 10 gauge), a wire coat hanger, a penny, dime, quarter, and a variety of other materials I can’t remember. Bottom line is, it worked really well, and cut through everything. It should be noted that I didn’t cut through the coins with my own shears, but rather the store display. I was glad to be able to zip through materials, like you can with a pair of scissors and paper.

Strap cutter – expected disappointment
Disclosure: I am a huge, very biased fan of Benchmade rescue hooks – I own several, including a 5 hook, a few 7 hooks, one in my auto triage, and a couple of the houdinis before I knew better.
I was expecting the Leatherman strap cutter to get hung up on stuff, especially things like foam, etc. that might be found in shoes. Surprisingly, they worked pretty well. I’ll admit, it’s not as effortless as the Benchmade hook, but it works damn well, and I’m sure it’s easier to sharpen. It definitely does take some force though. I am very glad to see that you can have the hook deployed while using the shears, and it’s actually in a strategically good spot. The O2 tank wrench acts as a thumbhole to be able to get it open, and this works well, even with gloves on. To be honest, I personally will never have a use for an O2 tank wrench, as my agency has gone away from using those.

Ring Cutter – FAILURE
I’m going to cut to the chase with this one: I saw a bunch of people using the ring cutter to cut steel rings, and some small nails. I took a very small nail to the store (probably 1mm diameter), that was relatively flexible, and tried to use their ring cutter. IT BROKE. That’s right, one half of it just straight up broke off. I’d call this a failure. In reality, unless I had to use the Raptor to cut the ring, I wouldn’t. There’s a rotary ring cutter (best way I can describe it) in all the BLS bags, and it’s not something I’ve had to do yet, to be perfectly honest.

Glass Breaker – Unknown
Haven’t had to use the glassbreaker yet, slim chances I’ll reach for the Raptor, as I’m partial to the spring-loaded punches, which I’ve got. The basic, $4 Harbor Freight one, that works, and works well. Won’t bust up the plastic handles on the Raptor either.

Lanyard Hole – How do you not know what this is for?
I found myself using a military-style pistol lanyard (coil springy loop with clip on the end, that velcros to belt) on the Raptor a few times, just during training, to see how I like it. It’s nice to have the tool stick with you, and not forget it, but I’m just not a fan of having something like that hanging off me, which can get caught on things, and get me in a world of hurt. It might be nice if I get one of those fancy, heavy-duty retractable reels. Until then, I hope I don’t lose the shears. I got them laser-graved with my name & ID number recently, from Leatherman’s store. On a side note, a lot of people online didn’t understand why it had a lanyard hole, and I guess I kind of get it.

Miscellaneous Comments
Not autoclave-able. Honestly, I’ve never sterilized a pair of trauma shears before. I’ve always tossed them and grabbed a new set. Worried that the Leatherman Raptor can’t be autoclaved, and it’s got a ton of nooks & crannies to clean. It’ll be a tedious process to clean them, even if I get a tiny speck of anything on them. Definitely a major downside.
I will post more as I use the tool, and have better information to share.
IN THE MEAN TIME, IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, LET ME KNOW.
-WCEDC

 

[JJR512]

Based on your difficulty finding one to buy, I'm guessing this happened when they first came out. For the past several months if not longer, these have been fairly easy to find. Cabelas and REI have them readily in stock at most, if not all, store locations, and Amazon seems to always have them. But I'm on the other side of the country from you, so my experience may be different. I only had a problem finding them when they first came on the market. I was able to order mine from a web retailer in the first week of availability, though.

I've only ever had one Raptor but have never had any trouble with it, certainly not like what you described. Mine have been very smooth.

Like you, I find the cutting power of the shears to be quite impressive. I've never used the strap cutter or the ring cutter, or the glass punch for that matter. The oxygen wrench does occasionally come in handy for me, though. For me, neither the strap cutter nor the ring cutter would be my first choices, but it's good to know they're there, and I consider them to be backups to dedicated strap or ring cutters. I have little faith in the ring cutter, to be honest.

Speaking of the strap cutter, Leatherman also came out with a more specific-purpose strap cutter, I believe at around the same time as the Raptor. It's called the Z-Rex. I have one, have you tried it? It's basically a plastic handle with a reversible and removable cutting head. The head has two cutting blades, so if one wears out, you can reverse it (tools needed), and if the other one wears out, you can replace the whole head. Overall, the cutting hook is much larger on this tool, so it ought to be a much better cutter than the Raptor. I have to admit I've never actually used it, though.

The holster is great. I was able to get it on my 1.75" belt from 5.11 Tactical, though it did take a bit of force to get the hook on the bottom to go over the bottom edge of the belt.

What I like most about this tool, though, is the very purpose-oriented design. It is called a "multitool" but you'll find no knife blade, no pliers, no saw, no file, not even the ubiquitous bottle opener/can opener that most multitools seem to have as if by requirement. Leatherman clearly did a lot of study into what features the user of this tool would need, and put just that, nothing more, into the design.

Finally, a comment on being able to use this with an autoclave. Leatherman has chosen not to claim it is safe to use in an autoclave, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Raptor probably won't get hurt or damaged in an autoclave. That being said, is it really that important? An autoclave is used to sterilize equipment, and I've never found it necessary, as an EMT, to have sterile equipment. Clean, yes, but not sterile. You aren't going to use trauma shears to do invasive procedures, so they don't need to be sterile. As for protecting you from things being spread? Wipe them off with hospital-grade sanitizing wipes, the kind you find in any ambulance. If you're worried about nooks or crannies, use a spray bottle of disinfectant to spray into the places you can't reach with a wipe, and let soak (often the instructions on the disinfectant bottle, at least the stuff I'm used to, says to leave the disinfectant in place for five minutes before wiping off). Or soak in a bleach/water mixture. Or just try it in the autoclave, if you're going to throw it away anyway.

 

[WCEDC]

JJR512,
You raise some valid points, and I've got some responses....

First off, I bought them fairly recently. I used to work at Cabela's, and they were backordered company wide (at least for the western & Midwest markets distribution centers). I also contacted Leatherman, as a consumer, as a retail employee, and asking a coworker who left Cabela's to work for Leatherman, and they all told me the same thing: they were backordered. I was honestly surprised by this... REI & Sportsman's did have them in stock, but I couldn't get a pro-deal or matched price. I honestly really wanted the Sportsman's Warehouse exclusive color (weird zombie green), but didn't want to pay almost twice as much for them (and then get a set of black ones the first time I warranty them out).

The new strap cutter they came out with (relatively new) is the aluminum-handled Z-REX cutter. I've considered it, but it's a little large for me, and uses the same style cutting blade as the Raptor's strap cutter. Look at the Benchmade Rescue Hooks (for example the Model 7). I've found that these work better than traditional, straight-edged hooks.

I realized I can get the holster on my everyday belt, that I believe is 1.75" as well, but it takes a good amount of force, and bending the belt (it is very stiff). I'm worried this will wear the holster over time, and I'm not really looking forward to replacing it at $15 a pop.

Definitely agree with you on the purpose-oriented design. That's a reason why I'm a huge fan of the OHT. It has the stuff I really need (blades, saw, pliers, wire cutters) but doesn't have crap that I don't NEED (obviously for my lifestyle) like eye-glass screwdrivers, etc. Just remembered the OHT has the same style rescue cutter as well, and again, it works decently well, but there are better stuff available out there (especially for cutting through shoes).

The autoclave part is just nitpicking, you're totally right. I think it's one of those features that I want it to have, and would probably never use. I'm a huge germ freak, so I'll definitely decon them after every use, pretty heavily.

 

[JJR512]

The availability might be a regional thing, since you're in the west and I'm in the east. I've seen the Raptor in a local (Columbia, MD) REI over a year ago ago, which surprised me, because it doesn't fit well with their general product line. I saw them in stock in the Cabelas in Christiana, DE both last summer and a couple weeks ago, and in Bristow, VA last week. The first two times were the black-handled versions, and the most recent times were the black and orange handled versions. So maybe it's a regional thing, or maybe I was just getting lucky at the particular moments when I happened to be in those stores.

I'd be interested to see the zombie green version, so I'm going to go look for that in Google in a minute.

It's been awhile since I've even looked at my Z-Rex, I guess I misremembered the handle type. I actually just saw a Benchmade rescue hook, two different versions, the 5 and I think 7, being shown in a video reviewing the Benchmade Triage knife. This, too, is something I was previously unfamiliar with, as I mentioned just recently in another thread in this same sub forum. For quite awhile, I've been carrying the Raptor and the Gerber Hinderer Rescue knife as my main two rescue tools, as well as a Leatherman Charge TTI for general EDC. Anyway, the Rescue Hook as well as the Triage, which has basically the same design for its hook, seemed to cut through rope and webbing quite easily. I'm definitely going to get probably both products. But I've never actually cut rope or webbing with any Leatherman product, so I don't know how they compare.

(On a side note, the most...interesting...experience I've ever had with a strap cutter was with the Emerson NSAR. This is a rescue knife Emerson made specifically for the Navy, with a strap cutter cut into the main blade. After I got one—incidentally, the first one they ever sold to the public, since it was previously available only through military sales channels—I went to clip it inside my pants pocket, so I put it inside my pocket with the clip facing outwards. I pushed down on the knife, thinking I was pushing the pocket clip over the pocket edge, but my hand just kept going. The strap cutter had hooked onto the pocket, the thick reinforced part of 5.11 pants, and slicked right through it like it was nothing.)

My 5.11 belt may be ever so slightly smaller or thinner than yours, perhaps that's why my holster fit on my belt with less difficulty than you experienced. But 1.75" is a not-uncommon belt type being used by the kind of people that the Raptor is targeted to, so it is a bit surprising that the holster was not designed to be more accommodating of this belt size.

 

[JJR512]

I've looked on the sportsman warehouse site you mentioned as well as on google and can't find any green version of the Raptor. I did find one with orange for both handles, which I've never seen before, as I've only ever seen the one with one orange and one black handle (in addition to the all black version and the version with two tan handles). I wonder if it's the same zombie green that Leatherman uses on some of their other products. Anyway, I would've loved to see it, and probably would've bought it.

eBay doesn't even have any.

 

[JJR512]

Do you happen to have any pictures of the Raptor with green handles, or have any information on its availability?

 

[WCEDC]

JJR512,

Here's a picture of the green raptor at Sportsman's warehouse

When we first got the Raptor at Cabela's, it was the all black version. Then it was all orange, and now it's the orange/black. It's a little unusual, but it's growing on me. I'd still love that odd zombie-like green that Sportsman's warehouse sells.

REI has red-handled Raptors as their exclusive color. I was a little surprised by this as well, but it makes a little sense. I've seen some posts of people using the raptor as a can opener, as well as it'll serve well in the wilderness first-aid side of things. They seem to have classes for that pretty regularly.

If you really want a green raptor, you should be able to order it from Sportsman's warehouse. You might have to give them a call, as their website kind of sucks in my opinion :O

The NSAR looks super cool. It's a similar hook, with less curvature, compared to the Benchmade-style hook. I'm pretty sure the hooks on the 5, 7, and Triage are identical, so you can't go wrong with em.

 

[JJR512]

I'll definitely have to call them because it's not listed on their website. I looked for both Leatherman and Raptor and I found the all-black one easily. But even in the page for that product there's no mention of any other color. But just so I know I'm looking in the right place, please confirm that this is the place you're talking about: http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.com/

I'm no expert on the Benchmade hooks since I just found out about them. From what I can tell, the 5 and 7 are the same in the hook, just the 7 having the longer handle. The hook on the Triage looks a bit slimmer to me, but even so, it can completely take apart a thick padded boot like a tactical boot. I gotta say this impressed the hell out of me, in this video starting at about 54 seconds in. This is something I always thought I'd need a Raptor to do, but honestly I think the Triage (or any similar hook) would be faster, now that I've seen it done, since a hook can just be pulled through rather than having to make scissor cuts: http://youtu.be/XkRMujcznS4

I'm almost certain going to try to get the green Raptor and I might even try to get the red one from REI. I like having stuff that not everyone else has. Not everyone has a Raptor but even the few people I know that do, they just have the all black one like me.

 

[Eyegor]

While I may only use it part of the time, as an EMT/SAR guy who spends a lot of time on the water, we lanyard everything: packs, knives, sunglasses, etc. If not, it WILL end up over the side sooner or later.

 

[JJR512]

I just called Sportsman's Warehouse. The girl who answered the phone said that if they had it available in green, it would show up on the website, and since it doesn't, that means it's no longer available in green.

Then I realized that in your photo, a SKU number was visible and it was different from the item number on the website. So I called back and had her try that number. She said that based on that number, it was an item they had in the past, but is no longer in stock in their warehouse. She said it's possible some individual stores may have it in stock. She said she could check all stores at once, only one store at a time. Unfortunately, even if a store does have it in stock, there's no way the store could sell it to me directly; someone would need to go to the store to buy it. And since I've never even heard of this place, I don't think there are any anywhere near me.

 

[Nap]

And since I've never even heard of this place, I don't think there are any anywhere near me.

Funny. I was about to compliment you on your resourcefulness re the SKU number, and then laughed out loud when I read the above quote.

I googled Sportsman's Warehouse, then the ZIP code for Brooklyn Park, MD, and you are quite correct. Their web site says that there isn't one in 300 miles.

Sad. I think I'd like the Raptor in the funky colors; unfortunately, since I just gave Brian Evans about €150 (despite the fact that I already own his knife), my toy budget is blown for May and it'll have to wait until June. It won't kill me if I have to settle for black, though.

 

[JJR512]

Funny. I was about to compliment you on your resourcefulness re the SKU number, and then laughed out loud when I read the above quote.

I googled Sportsman's Warehouse, then the ZIP code for Brooklyn Park, MD, and you are quite correct. Their web site says that there isn't one in 300 miles.

Sad. I think I'd like the Raptor in the funky colors; unfortunately, since I just gave Brian Evans about €150 (despite the fact that I already own his knife), my toy budget is blown for May and it'll have to wait until June. It won't kill me if I have to settle for black, though.

I'm 40 years old and I've lived in Maryland for the last 33. I work for a private ambulance company which means I travel all over the state, and sometimes into the surrounding states. I've been doing this job for ten years and before that, I had a very different job that also had me traveling all over the Mid-Atlantic Region.

Apparently in my attempt to write concisely, I caused you to believe I was laughably ignorant. I'm glad I could entertain you for a moment, but I can assure you your interpretation is not accurate. From my life experience, I knew for a fact that there wasn't one of these stores in a reasonable driving distance from where I live. I'm quite familiar with how commercial websites are typically designed, and I had in fact already visited the SW website prior to the message that made you laugh, and was aware they had a store locator. But since I already knew there was not one reasonably close to me, I didn't see the point in finding out just how far away the nearest one is.

But thanks for the info of 300 miles. I appreciate the effort you put into doing something I'd already figured out was pointless.

 

[Nap]

I'm 40 years old and I've lived in Maryland for the last 33. I work for a private ambulance company which means I travel all over the state, and sometimes into the surrounding states. I've been doing this job for ten years and before that, I had a very different job that also had me traveling all over the Mid-Atlantic Region.

Apparently in my attempt to write concisely, I caused you to believe I was laughably ignorant. I'm glad I could entertain you for a moment, but I can assure you your interpretation is not accurate. From my life experience, I knew for a fact that there wasn't one of these stores in a reasonable driving distance from where I live. I'm quite familiar with how commercial websites are typically designed, and I had in fact already visited the SW website prior to the message that made you laugh, and was aware they had a store locator. But since I already knew there was not one reasonably close to me, I didn't see the point in finding out just how far away the nearest one is.

But thanks for the info of 300 miles. I appreciate the effort you put into doing something I'd already figured out was pointless.

And apparently in my attempt to be amusing, I caused you to take offense. My apologies!

Obviously, anyone with your kind of wherewithal could do what I did. I just found the contrast funny. Again, sorry that you took it otherwise. I truly didn't mean it that way.

 

[JJR512]

And apparently in my attempt to be amusing, I caused you to take offense. My apologies!

Obviously, anyone with your kind of wherewithal could do what I did. I just found the contrast funny. Again, sorry that you took it otherwise. I truly didn't mean it that way.

No apology necessary. If anything, my statement (the one that made you laugh) was perhaps poorly written, and I see how it produced the amusing misconception.

 

[JJR512]

WCEDC, I was trying to find a place to buy the all-orange version, and came across this video. In it, the presenter mentions that the central pivot can be taken apart allowing the entire tool to be disassembled for cleaning. I'm sure this has been mentioned in other places as well, but this is the first time I've actually noticed it, probably because of the way you were talking about cleaning. Did you know about this, and have you tried it?

At about 2:05... http://youtu.be/bM0douxGfog

 

[ScottsBad]

Thank you for the review. I've been looking for something like this to put in a family medical kit.

 

[WCEDC]

JJR512,
Yes, that Sportsman's Warehouse. I found out about it through Leatherman's chat support thing. I asked them who else had exclusive colors, and they told me
I've been carrying a benchmade hook for several years now, probably close to 5. It's definitely come in handy, except it doesn't make the more precise cuts, that are sometimes nice to have shears for. The best example I can come up with now is modifying O2 tubing for other uses, or to connect to other stuff. Think about using nasal cannulas for eyewashes, etc.

You can find the Benchmade hooks for CHEAP on eBay, just make sure they're real.

 

[WCEDC]

Totally agreed. I lanyard up tools when I go rafting, fishing, and even hiking. Just sometimes, being in the city (around traffic especially) I don't like having stuff lanyarded to me. Too many close calls. That's where that Velcro pistol lanyard comes in handy. I'll try and post a photo!

 

[WCEDC]

If you want me to get you one, if they're still available, let me know. Shipping would probably be around $6 by USPS.

 

[WCEDC]

JJR512, sorry for all the replies. I'm replying as I read the posts.
YOU ARE THE MAN. It's funny that coming from a Leatherman guy, except that NO WHERE in the manual does it say anything about this. Funny. You'd think they'd include it with the "emergency user guide" or whatever....
Haven't tried it yet, no!