With all of the excitement currently centering (no pun intended) around the Gerber Center-Drive you may have missed that SOG has begun hinting about some new cool stuff they will be releasing soon.

The clock is ticking down on this one, but there is still time to get in on this month's Donation Draw prize- a 1948 Victorinox Soldier!

Ok, the title may make it sound a bit more exciting than it really is, since you know, it's just me, and I'm the same lazy middle aged bag of hot air that you all talk to every other day, but I'm determined to make myself feel special if it kills me!

It has been a while since a multitool has come along that has generated so much excitement and anticipation as Gerber is doing with the new 

Center Drive Multitool.
I don’t believe any tool has created this much of a stir since the releases of the Victorinox Spirit and Leatherman Skeletool. Best of all we should have one on the way shortly for a review!

As those of us in the Northern Hemisphere get read for Winter's onslaught once again, there was still time for one last camping weekend, and, being the outdoorsy types we are, we had to take it.

Some of you may recall some of our previous adventures in Gatineau Park:

Breakfast in Gatineau

Summit Hike

This time I was finally able to bring our kayaks, and so we headed for one of the three lakes in the park- Meech. We'd driven by Meech Lake in the past but until now we'd never seen the boat launch. Plus, this being a less popular season (technically it's fall here now) there was no charge for parking, which we also appreciated. Still, we wasted absolutely no time getting the boats in the water and got on with our adventure.

With six of the ten contenders already arrived, the Fantastic Five Dollar Challenge is in full swing.  I figured that while we waited for the remaining four tools to arrive we might as well recap the initial impressions of what is in already.  I have to say, the results so far have not been overly positive, with what I consider to be three out and out failures, although forum members seem to disagree on one of them.  Of the two I considered worthwhile, well, let's just say they were worth $5, but I'm not sure even a hardcore multitool and gadget junkie like me would spend more than that on them!

As part of the Fantastic Five Dollar Challenge I knowingly purchased what I assumed were fake versions of a few brand name tools.  I did the same during the Two Dollar Challenge last year as well, and I think that it is important to mention that folks really shouldn't be fooled by fakes that come in what appears to be real packaging.

Multitool users are always being told to use the right tool for the right job, and I agree for the most part. Whenever possible the right tool (usually a dedicated tool) is preferable to using a multitool, but what about the type of situation where a multitool is the right tool?

Some time ago we introduced Merit Badges on the forum for members who wanted to share parts of their collection or what they'd accomplished with them.  Since they were introduced we have almost doubled the number of available badges, including a number of Challenge Badges.  Now, we introduce another Challenge Badge, but this one has a little twist.