The Buck X-Tract hit the multitool scene last year and made quite a splash. Buck had wanted to break out of the mold and had designed a multitool that could be operated entirely by one hand. The tool has become quite popular and a lot of that is due to the fact that the knife blade plays a major factor in the tool rather than the pliers. This year Buck decided to give the fans a one-two punch with the X-Tract line, they released not just one but two new models. The Buck X-Tract LED is simply an X-Tract with an LED placed into the side of the thermoplastic handle. The LED is not real high intensity but works well for finding your way in the dark when no other light is available. I think the LED is more of a novel idea then convenience, a lot of us usually consider a built in electronic device makes for just one more thing to go wrong with the tool. The LED is a nice idea but it's not Buck's bread and butter, the other tool they released was called the FIN. Buck took their popular X-Tract model and aimed the design towards fishermen.

The SOG Powerlock has been out for quite a while and has remained the company's flagship. SOG is a company that is slow to make changes in their tool line. They feel that what they make is darn good and they make changes to their products when they feel the time is right. SOG took a second look at their very popular Powerlock model, made a list of all the pros and cons they have noticed over the years and decided to give this old gal a facelift. Some of the things that SOG focused on with this remodel were the gears that drive the compound leverage of the pliers, new locking system for the tools and the ability to keep their tools from clumping when finding the tool you need.
The first thing you notice when handling the Powerlock 2.0 is the new plier head. SOG worked on a collaboration effort with Paladin tools to create a multitool line for the telecom industry. Those tools became a testing ground for what would become the new Powerlock design.

Similar to it's more affordable cousins, the standard Skeletool and the yet to be released Freestyle, the Skeletool CX is the premium model in this particular line. It boasts the same features as the standard model, but with a few extra bonuses.

If ever there was the One Tool to Rule Them All, it’s Leatherman’s Pocket (or Personal) Survival Tool, affectionately known as the PST. This was the original Leatherman production model, and the source of inspiration for all current issue multitools, and the One Tool (see?) that was single handedly responsible for resurrecting a virtually extinct niche market and bringing it to the masses.

Another member of Leatherman’s Charge family, the Ti is now discontinued, along with it’s original titanium handled sibling, the XTi . While the XTi was replaced by the ALX model, the Ti was replaced by both the AL and TTi models.