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After being so pleased with the Juice KF4 I received a couple of months ago, I decided it was time to take the plunge and get the big boy of the series, the XE6. Mostly, I missed the scissors of the S2 .
One of the most overlooked little tools in the multitool industry is Leatherman’s Micra. I say this because little is ever said of this keychain wonder, and yet just about everyone has one- at least had one judging by the vast number of used tools available at TSA auctions! Much like the Victorinox Classic or Wenger Esquire models, the Micra is one of those tiny little tools that you completely forget about until you need it, and you probably use it a lot more often than you realize, which is something you will only find out after it’s gone!
Ordinarily I'd find a pretty, shiny new tool to take pics of, but this time I felt it best to show off my battered old Micra to illustrate how useful this little gadget really is!
If you’ve never handled any of the Squirt tools by Leatherman, think of them as a cross between a Juice and a Micra. The handles have brightly colored aluminum scales, with outside opening blades, like the Juice family of tools. But the Squirt is small, like a Micra, and uses the same type of “spring-loaded” jaws as a Micra.
Leatherman continues to dominate the multitool market; this is due in part by two things, advertising not only to its pre-existing customer base but to the newcomers as well and most importantly it’s the drive to continually innovate on the designs of their tools, Leatherman is constantly refining and changing the shape of the tools themselves and how the public as a whole views them. I believe most of Leatherman’s success is just the shear dominance of name brand, they pioneered the market and ever since 9/11 they have become more common place as they are more appealing to the public than a regular pocket knife.
Rather than add to the existing Juice Series Review already posted here I decided that the KF4 was a standout enough tool to warrant it’s own article. Besides, as a discontinued model (the only discontinued Juice model) it really is in a class of it’s own.
What kind of people would write collect and review multitools? Quite simple really- we are designers and do-ers, outdoors types and indoor types, mechanics, doctors, problem solvers and problem makers. As such, we have, as a world spanning community, put every type, size and version of multitool, multifunction knife, pocket knife and all related products to every test we could manage in as many places and environments as there are.