Leatherman Skeletool CX

Summary

This is a very well designed multitool. It packs all the features you really need, is full size, comes with a real knife and weighs only 5 oz.

I had a Leatherman Wave I lost a few years ago. I replaced it with a SOG but it was way too heavy a 10oz for backpacking. The CX at 5 oz is lightweight and the knife is large enough to negate the need to carry a "real knife".

Summary

Excellent multitool, nice contemporary design, the pliers are very strong. Not as light as I'd expected.

A nice contemporary design, the clip-on feature is very handy. I use this knife when I go hiking in trout fishing season, the needle pliers are just perfect for carefully extracting lures. The blade is very sharp, but could be a little larger.

The only features I miss, that are on my Swiss Army multitool, are a small pair of scissors, and a pair of tweezers — very useful for extracting those tiny splinters and thorns from fingertips. It's also a bit heavier than it appears at first glance. The cut-outs don't actually save much weight.

The driver bits are tucked away cleverly, although they can be a bit fiddly to extract with cold hands.

This is the fourth multitool I have owned. Two of the previous three were Leatherman products. The Skeletool is by far the best looking tool I have ever had. As for its performance, I regret to say that I am somewhat disappointed.

Let me start off by saying why I got this tool. I wanted a main blade that could perform tasks from the every day to the extra-ordinary. I also wanted pliers that could manage the simpler tasks. The Skeletool, for the most part, has stood up to my expectations.

Here is where it came short: spreading peanut butter, cutting summer sausage, and other cooking related tasks (goo often gets caught in all of the holes and cracks making cleanup very unfortunate).

Pliers often flex even when manipulating or cutting thin hangar wire (no damage but I sometimes feel limited with what I am willing to try to bend or ply). I often worry about losing the driver bit that is stowed in the handle.

These shortcomings have never resulted in longterm damage in the tool, they just cause me to think twice about using the tool for a specific task (something that I do not want to have to do).

I'm sure you can read all about the good things in the descriptions above so I will leave you with my top two favorite features: For its size, it fits in a pocket really well and finally, any time someone asks "does anybody have a Leatherman on them?" I am proud to hand them this awesome piece of engineering.