Today I’m going to review my Leatherman Wave multi tool. The wave comes with 17 tools built in and 2 screwdriver bits. It weighs in at 8.5 oz. It features all locking blades and tools. A must have on a multi tool. It’s made of stainless steel. A good thing too since mine has gotten wet several times in the field. It comes with a very well built leather sheath. The sheath has to carry option vertical or horizontal. The horizontal mounting is a bit tight though.
I got my Wave about three years ago and have every day carried (EDC) it since then. I find that it come in very handy at work situations. It has saved me tons of time at work having the right tool with me all the time. I work in a retail environment and the most common features i use there are the pliers/ cutters, main knife, screw drivers and the saw. I even used the bottom of it as a hammer for banging in things before and not even scratched it up. I also make sure that I always carry it when hiking or camping. In those situations the saw and main blade definitely take front stage. Ive easily sawed through three inch diameter branches with it. It does a great job at making notches for things like the bow drill base. Since I tend to be a big knife fan the small locking main blade on the wave makes a great companion when trying to go lite. I could see how the pliers could come into use in the outdoors but I have not really had need of the rest of the tools yet. redundancy is king though. Two is one and one is none as the saying goes. Also I prefer to dull my Wave first and save the edge on my main blade when possible
- Funky serrated blade
The real winners for the wave are the main blade and the saw. That’s a solid combination for me. They make up the majority of my Wave uses. The pliers are great. They are strong enough for most everyday tasks. The cutter on them is adequate for most things you need to cut through. The four main tools, Main blade, serrated, file and saw, are all accessible from the outside. That’s a big plus to me to be able to easily get to my most frequent used tools. The scissors on it are really good for precisely cutting something when not around real scissors. But only if you don’t have much to cut.
Although I use the screwdriver tools often I find that they can be too short for some tighter spots. It’s also awkward turning the entire Wave when using the screwdrivers. I hate the serrations on the serrated blade. I find them to be worthless. It seems that they were more designed to be an aesthetic pattern than useful serrations. I am not too fond of the bottle opener either. I like to drink pop top beer’s and it does a awful job at opening them. The point on it is too sharp to make a good bottle opener. the only negative part to the pliers is the pinch point when closing them. If your not careful you can really pinch yourself baddy. I only had to learn this lesson once.
The wave has been around several years and finding one is not too difficult. Online you can find them between the 50-70 dollar range. In retail stores expect 70+tax. I bought my in a store and with the 25 year warranty don’t regret the high price on a tool of this quality. If your looking for a multi tool to EDC and want to make sure that you get top quality and versatility I fully endorse the Leatherman Wave. After having used cheaper multi tools, most lacking in the locking tools/blades is will never go back. Let me know in the comments what your favorite multi tool is.
I recently received a Wave as a gift and at first found the bottle opener to be a problem. I like to drink wobbly pop(beer). At first a two step process. First step, put your finger around the bottle just under the cap then bracing the bottle opener against your finger to use the tip to pry up the edge of the cap. Second step, use the bottle opener, as intended, where the cap edge was pried up to open it. That was a pain and it bothered me that I had to do this extra step to open the caps. Then I realized that if you leave the wave handles open while using the bottle opener it was easier to hook the cap with the bottle opener and they came off as expected. Next time try that and see how it works for you.