This Christmas I was gifted a black Gerber Strap Cutter Crucial combo from Beerplumber. He prefaced the tool being Gerber and I, being more of a Leatherman guy, was cautious but was not going to look a literal gift-tool in the plier teeth.
With all tools new and shiny, I would be optimistic about the form, looks, function and carrying potential. In this review I am going to attempt to address them all.
This is a tiny, tiny little one piece tool that nonetheless manages to pack a ton of functionality in.
Before I get any further in the review though, let's just get this out of the way - yes, it looks to be "inspired" by the Atwood Fixer. Same size and same basic functionality, but different materials, size, blade shape and tool loadout. Whether or not this bothers you is entirely up to you. There are enough changes (including some rather clever engineering ideas) that I think this tool really does stand up on it's own merits and shouldn't just be dismissed as "just another Chinese copy".
Plier based multitool fans should probably look away now- Gerber’s Fit multitool will probably not appeal to you at all. It is however likely to appeal to the masses of folks at big box type stores because of it’s functionality, reasonable cost and stylish aesthetics. Available in blue or orange it catches your attention the way few multitools have in the past. But, here at Multitool.org, pretty is as pretty does, so let’s get down to the nuts and bolts of this one.
Usually Dave Bowen handles the one piece keychain type tools as he’s the expert, but in this case I thought I’d take a stab at it . Why the Shark appeals to me, I don’t really know, but I do like the simplicity of it . While it may not have a lot of functions, what it does do, it seems to do quite well.
When it comes to keychain tools, there are two distinct camps- the ones that try to pack as many features into a small package as possible, and the ones that put only a few, more effective features in. The thought behind both concepts is sound- by giving more features, it's more likely you will have what you need when you need it.By going with less features, you can minimize manufacturing costs and make certain that the tool will perform it's functions more effectively.
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.