The Gun Counter

I want a new multi tool. My budget is $75. I need pliers, a blade, a Philips head, a straight head, a bottle opener, a can opener, and I'd like a saw. I want something tough. Any ideas on specific models?

I haven't carried one in years (decided I didn't want it to become FOD), but I had a Gerber that I liked.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... ition=used

Swisstool X, by Victorinox, slightly out of your $$ range, $85 & change shipped, used. New, they go for +/- $100.
I love mine, and gifted one to baby brother.

Another vote for the Victorinox Swisstool - at the price Aesop found, that's a steal! They are as tough as all get out - fantastic steel.

Aesop wrote:http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... ition=used

Swisstool X, by Victorinox, slightly out of your $$ range, $85 & change shipped, used. New, they go for +/- $100.
I love mine, and gifted one to baby brother.

I would love one of those, but they're a little too high for my liking even used.

From personal experience I'd suggest a Leatherman (I know, so buy used) Wave. The old-style one without the fiddly useless drivers and bits. Those seem to go around $50 or so used. I've been using mine regularly for over 10 years.

I was given an original Leatherman for a birthday present in 1986. It's still going strong. Though the wire cutters leave a lot to be desired, everything else works just fine.

I have been issued basic Gerber multitools, but they don't have saws. I do, however, carry my letherman wave daily which has pliers, replaceable/interchangable large and small slot and cross drivers, pliers, scissors, and bottle/can opener and retialas around 60-70

Here's another vote for the old Leatherman Wave.

I have an original Leatherman PST which I leave in my range bag. When I'm out and want a multi tool handy, I have the Wave.

I've used other people's various multi-tools, and the Wave seems to have just enough stuff, but not too much, and two features that really make it great for me:
- the handles don't bite your hand when you use the pliers,
- you can open the knives with one hand, and... er...

Three features make it make it great for me:
- the handles don't bite your hand when you use the pliers,
- you can open the knives with one hand, and
- the way you open the pliers is more comfortable than the way Gerbers open

Other features that others may share:
- I like the wide variety of slotted screwdriver sizes - from tiny to wide
- the phillips head seems to fit a wide variety of screw sizes adequately
- the file has a metal side and a wood side

I haven't handled the New Wave, but it looks a bit "cooler" while looking a bit less generally useful.

I had a Wave briefly. Liked it better than the Gerber I have now for the above mentioned reasons. Lost it from my belt pouch somewhere in the dirt under a house while working on a waste line. Didn't realize it until later and wasn't about to crawl back into that stinky space again.

I have owned both the Swisstool and the Leatherman Wave for a number of years. The Swisstool is a bit bigger, but they're both tough and fairly comfortable to use. To make a choice, my opinion is even though the Leatherman has scissors and the Swisstool doesn't, I still prefer the Swiisstool as it feels more "right" to me. Maybe it's the added heft or slightly bigger size. If I need scissors, I use my Leatherman micra I have on my keychain.

Hope this helps.