The one I got from a PX the year after it was released is epic. Have carried it for 23 years. It has seen everything and outside of scraping the knife sharpish again, has never been maintained. I misplaced it for a bit (under friends driver's seat for about a year) and couldn't find a replacement "upgrade". Did the Leatherman wave2 for a bit. Couldn't take it, hit up eBay, got 3 more Gerber L800s (later release, still in boxes)...so bad. They just felt cheaper. When we stumbled upon my old Gerber, I kept the new ones for parts. Replace my knife with a new one...it already has rust dots on it. My old one after decades of abuse and being sharpened to half it's starting width, doesn't have a spot of rust on it.

ANYWAY....yeah...what OP said.

[–] JamesTBagg@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah, Gerber fell the fuck off. They became just sloppy.
I feel Leatherman has stayed the course.

[–] Freefall@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Yeah, Leatherman seems to have come out ahead. I used the Wave2 for a while, and most folks I know have Leatherman multi-tools. The lack of spring on the pliers took a long time to get used to. The Gerber pliers and scissors springs are still going strong, so I never bought the "it is just going to fail" argument for not having them. The Gerber also had external access tools decades before people were praising the wave for its originality in having external tools lol. Honestly those are two selling points that kept me from ever getting a new multitool....well, now there is sentimental value for a tool that has been through hell with me and is still strong...but I probably won't be recommending Gerber any time soon.