Leatherman Wave > Reviews > £100 well spent..........

Author's product rating:   

Durability
Value for Money

Advantages:	High build quality and components, Brilliant warranty service
Disadvantages:	High Cost

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

When the leatherman tool company launched its first product, the PST it revolutionised the pocket knife market as it incorporated not only a good quality blade of reasonable length, but also incorporated a set of full sized pliars, something never done before. The PST, PSTII and Supertool soon became a sucess but one feature they all had in common was the "sharp" or thin handle edges. When applying pressure whilst using the pliars the user would find the thin steel digging into their palms - not exactly a pleasing sensation.
The Wave was designed to combat this problem, plus a number of others.
In recent years many other manufacturers began to incorporate new features such as one handed blade openings, something that all leathermans were at a distinct disadvantage as all blades were enclosed within the handles.
Not so on the wave. Two blades, a standard clip point and a lambs foot serrated blade are found positioned on the outside of the handles and can be opened with one hand by right handed users. It is possible (via a technique using finger and then thumb) to open one handed via the left, but at the users risk of getting things wrong and cutting themselves on the razor sharp blades. Out of the two, the serrated edge is the sharper but its lack of a point can be annoying altough argueably it is safer.
Both blades lock automatically and the lock is in a position where the user could disengage it by accident.

Also located on the outside ais a two sided file - one side coated in diamonds and the other a standard wood file. Its diamond edge can be used for sharpening blades although my fellow venturer scouts (mainly females) seem to think its great for filling nails!!! The other side is quite useful for smoothing off wood etc...

The other external feature is a "two way" saw. It does work very well as it cuts, although its short length of about 3 1/2 inches limits its usefullness although rumor has it, US special forces in Afghanistan used one in a field amputation......
Again, both file and saw are locked in the same secure way as the blades.

Moving inside the tool are a wide range of screwdrivers, from the stardard flat type to a dedicated philips combo screwdrive. In addition to this an extremely effective pair of sicissors are found and the mechanism uses the resistance of the high quality steel handles rather than the small piece of tensioned steel found on the swiss army knives to provide the spring action. The blades are effective on a wide variety of materials including cardboard and rope/twine as long is its or reasonable size! Also there is a can/bottle opener along with a wire stripper, not to forget the compulsory lanyard attachment!!

Finally onto the main tool itself - the pliars. These are of needle nose variety and combine a set of soft wire cutters and deeper inside the jaw, a hard wire cutter. Again these are effective and the rounded edge of the tool enables one to squeeze down hard on the handles - thus increasing user comfort.

Problems : Only the outer four blades lock, really for this sort of money, everything should lock, check out the Supertool 200 and Pulse as well, they do alot of what the wave does for cheaper

Price :£100+ = UK and Irish consumers are paying through the nose for this tool. It can be purchased in the states for next to nothing (I paid $77) and can you really justify spending £100 on a knife?

Warranty : brill, early waves had a problem where they would "Wobble". I requested leatherman tighten mine and instead was told that this was not available - have a new Wave Sir!!!!

Finally, its available with either a highquality balistic nylon case (better for "field use") or a brown leather case which may i say looks very well with scout uniform!

UPDATE : One of the main gripes i had mentioned was the lack of locking blades on the wave. This has been solved by the new leatherman CHARGE TI. It weighs in just slightly heavier than the wave but sports an all locking blade system. It uses titanium handles and will be available in June/July of this year (2004)