Best keychain multi-tool

S

Slice n dice 27

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Jun 9, 2015
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What's a recommended keychain multi-tool. Something like a micra a or crosscut.
NO SAK'S!!!!!!!!
 
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gadgetgeek said:
swisstech micro-pliers is pretty good as well.
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Hm. I haven't had much luck with one. It seems to always buckle on me when pliering something, and the screwdriver in use doesn't want to stay put. What do you do with yours? Any unwanted fold up problems?

But I do like the Micra, too.
 
Leatherman squirt pliers version is similar but different and if you don't need pliers you can't beat a small SAK.
I'm carrying a minichamp so biggest of the small but still...
 
I kinda use them really choked up, more like stronger fingertips, rather than real pliers. they are light duty for sure, but for little stuff, they work alright.
 
gadgetgeek said:
I kinda use them really choked up, more like stronger fingertips, rather than real pliers. they are light duty for sure, but for little stuff, they work alright.
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When it comes to the SAK pliers I have never used them as actual pliers. Not to say I do not like the tool though. I actually LOVE the SAK pliers and they are very useful for a variety of things. Someone on another forum called the super tweezers which is a good description as they are very precise. They can do much more than tweezers though.
 
Leatherman Micra
Leatherman Squirt PS4
Leatherman Style
Leatherman Style CS
Leatherman Style PS
Gerber Dime
 
It's cool that the Leatherman Squirt PS4 has a file, but it's pretty useless in my opinion, it definitely needs to be improved.
 
Dry-cell said:
It's cool that the Leatherman Squirt PS4 has a file, but it's pretty useless in my opinion, it definitely needs to be improved.
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I agree with this. Even though I have successfully used a PS4 file once or twice, most of the time it is too small to be much use. Keychain files should be designed more for grooming, like on the Micra and earlier Squirt S4, where they do work somewhat well on finger and toe nails and also provide a point for poking things. Anyway, I still believe Leatherman got it right first time out with the Micra. The best. Got mine in 1997, in my 5th pocket right now. My wife, OTOH, hates the Micra, won't even touch it. She is not a hard core knife person, but likes SAKs, thinks Leathermen too "industrial" and not hand friendly.
However, she finds the S4 tolerable, and uses it often. It is her favorite toenail clipper out of several dedicated ones she owns.
 
I just picked up a Leatherman Style cs and am pretty impressed. They are on sale at a large retail store for about $14.
Bruce
 
The Leatherman micra and squirt are still fighting it out for the favorite small multitool. I have come to grudgingly love the micra, and it's trimmer lines and smoother appearance. But the squirt has earned a way into everyday carry.

Wednesday and Thursday was spent in my Toyota pickup hauling a U-haul trailer full of stuff for my sister-in-law who is moving back to Texas. Somehow my micra got left home in Maryland and the squirt was in my pocket. On the boring of the second day, I had to tighten up the radio antenna that was waving around. Later in Texas, breaking open some uncracked pistachio nuts. I also found out that the little flat phillips screw driver makes a decent nut pick for good old Texas pecan nuts.

Little my little, the squirt is edging out the micra because of the small pliers. Ten hers ago, I would never have thought this would happen, but at an age where arthritis in some fingers makes it hard to either manipulate or grasp certain things, the little pliers are finding more and more use.

As much as I love the micra, the squirt is slowly edging it out for the preferred pocket/keychain mulitool. But these little tools are still better carried in the pocket as they are a bit too big and heavy for the keyring. And the keyring handicaps you, and the tool i way more usable in the pocket as Dave has noted.

So here I sit on a Sunday morning 1500 miles from home listening to the doves in Georgetown Texas, with a squirt in my pocket, and I don't feel bad at all about that.
 
jackknife said:
The Leatherman micra and squirt are still fighting it out for the favorite small multitool. I have come to grudgingly love the micra, and it's trimmer lines and smoother appearance. But the squirt has earned a way into everyday carry....

As much as I love the micra, the squirt is slowly edging it out for the preferred pocket/keychain mulitool. But these little tools are still better carried in the pocket as they are a bit too big and heavy for the keyring. And the keyring handicaps you, and the tool i way more usable in the pocket as Dave has noted....
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You know, Carl, the funny thing is that since I sent you my Squirt PS4, I have picked up a Squirt P4 (no "S") in soft gray, no less — and I find I like it more than the old PS4. It just feels smoother and more pleasant in the hand. (Also, it's a used model, stolen by TSA thugs and eventually coughed up on the 'Bay, so perhaps the usedness is relevant: it's broken in a bit.)

Anyway, I like it. But of course, it has no scissors (that "P" only, no "PS"). So what to do?

Easy — just carry the old Vic Classic in addition! So now I'm three-fold: Camillus Engineer knife, Vic Classic, and Squirt P4. At least for now. We'll see how all this hardware works out.
 
AreBeeBee said:
You know, Carl, the funny thing is that since I sent you my Squirt PS4, I have picked up a Squirt P4 (no "S") in soft gray, no less — and I find I like it more than the old PS4. It just feels smoother and more pleasant in the hand. (Also, it's a used model, stolen by TSA thugs and eventually coughed up on the 'Bay, so perhaps the usedness is relevant: it's broken in a bit.)

Anyway, I like it. But of course, it has no scissors (that "P" only, no "PS"). So what to do?

Easy — just carry the old Vic Classic in addition! So now I'm three-fold: Camillus Engineer knife, Vic Classic, and Squirt P4. At least for now. We'll see how all this hardware works out.
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Same thing here. I like the P4, always felt the PS4 gave up too much trading an awl and eyeglass screwdriver, both of which I sometimes use, for dinky scissors. Vic can get away with Classic scissors because its tiny size is offset by its precision. Those on the PS4 are sharp, but relatively thick. The lack of scissors on the P4 is no issue for me because I always carry it partnered with a SAK that has them. Also, the earlier Squirt feels better in the hand, although the PS4 isn't bad at all.
 
I like all of them, and carry all of them on rotation. But for me, and as others have noted, anything bigger than a Victorinox Classic is too big to hang on the the key ring. Sometimes I will tie a little paracord on a PS4 or Micra, making it easy to find in the pocket.

Mr. Slice, you may want to try the Micra to start with and see how it goes. Its a ton of utility in a very thin, easy to carry package. The only minor downsides are interior tools (requiring the MT to be opened to access them), and scissors that are not as precise as SAK scissors. But everything is a compromise. It just depends on the compromises that you choose.

I love your PS4 experience, Mr. Carl.

My preferred method is some derivation of a PS4 + Vic Classic/Manager + AAA flashlight on their own, dedicated key ring. There is some redundancy, but the SAK adds a pen, mini phillips, precise scissors, and tweezer.

EDC2_zps65086b72.jpg
 
With the Leatherman Style series, I always liked the fact that you can attach it to you pant loops. You can use the tools while it's clipped to your pants, and you have quick access to the tweezers, no Nite Ize S-biners needed.

3%20Leathermans_zpsriekelxx.jpg
 
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znapschatz said:
Same thing here. I like the P4, always felt the PS4 gave up too much trading an awl and eyeglass screwdriver, both of which I sometimes use, for dinky scissors. Vic can get away with Classic scissors because its tiny size is offset by its precision. Those on the PS4 are sharp, but relatively thick. The lack of scissors on the P4 is no issue for me because I always carry it partnered with a SAK that has them. Also, the earlier Squirt feels better in the hand, although the PS4 isn't bad at all.
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Znap, I agree about the PS4 scissors, and also the bigger ones on the Micra. So — Vic wins overall, at least for my needs.

Anyhow, I recommend that if you want a keychain MT, then don't be limited to only those models in current production. There's older ones out there, too. Finally, I'm definitely not a keychain-tool-user anyway — the tool(s) just get in the way of the keys, and emphatically vice-versa, as there's usually more keys than tools — but ya pays yer money and ya takes yer choice.... Mileage varies for all.
 
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