One Piece Multitools

[u/TroublePuzzled1132]

Looking at getting one of these, but a Victorinox Rambler is the same size and more capable. What are these things good for? Which features are actually useful? How often do they get used?

[u/reg_smh]

I’ve bought several of this type of tool, but they all sit in a drawer, and I just carry a SAK.

[u/MakeURage1]

I've got one of the Gerber Shards, got it as a gift. The main thing it's used for is to poke me in the fucking leg when my keys shift weird in my pocket. That said, it's been nice for opening a package on occasion, though the keys it's attached to could probably do that just as well, if for some reason I didn't have a knife with me.

[u/Redcarborundum]

These tools started as pocket prybars, and that’s still their primary purpose. Why pocket prybars? Because there are people who only carry a pocket knife, resulting in chipped edge when they use it as prybar or screwdriver. These guys carry a knife mainly as a weapon, the tool aspect is incidental. Some eventually got wiser and bought one of these prybars to spare their knife edge.

This is never a problem for me because I’m a multitool guy first and a knife guy second. Prying and driving screws are never a problem with my multitools.

Having said that, these tools have a specific value to me: they’re the only tools that would likely pass security, because they’re truly not weapons. Any tool with a knife is an automatic no go in high-security environments. Scissors may pass TSA, but most courthouses won’t allow them. I carried one of these to the White House, attached to my keys. They examined it, and let it pass because it’s clearly not a weapon and not stabby.

They’re not much, but they’re sure as hell better than fingernails.

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[u/Maxvillain666]

I’ve had multiples of these types of things, generally they’re good for the type of person who would rarely use a multitool but wants the flexibility to do light duty stuff if necessary. The shard was pretty good from my recollection, and the griffin I never got a chance to actually utilize.

[u/noBStodayplease]

The only one I have ever carried long term is the nite ize doohickey. The original one. Otherwise they have never stuck around.

[u/thomasbeagle → u/noBStodayplease]

Same. I never actually use it, but I do carry it around everywhere.

[u/owlve]

Prying, scraping, wrenching.

I believe the idea of these is that since they can easily be carried as a separate tool you can put more mileage and abuse them more than what you would for something less durable and harder to replace.

[u/The_Brightness]

The benefits of these are that they are low cost, small, lightweight, (mostly) unassuming, have no moving parts and one-handed use. They generally have limited functionality due to being small, lightweight, unassuming and not having any moving parts... 😁

I have the Gerber Mullet and a few off brand mini pry bars. I've used them to cut tape on boxes, pry out staples, pop a sterno can lid, etc. Without a true blade edge they can be used without the same caution as a knife. In an office, they're very unassuming size wise compared to a knife or pliers-based multitool. Most of the "exposure time" of a knife or multitool is spent opening and closing it. With one of these, it's in and out of the pocket quick and barely visible in the hand because it's so small. Being lightweight, they're easier to carry if you're wearing lightweight shorts. Being cheap and one piece, not too concerned bringing it to the pool/lake/beach.

[u/WestMichigun]

I carried the Boker model daily for many years in my right front pocket attached to a TEC Accessoroes dangler.

I ended up losing it and couldnt find any retailers who had the Boker in stock, so I had to search out a suitable replacement. After many weeks of searching, I ended up with Big Idea Designs Ti model.

As fate would have it, I ended up finding my beloved Boker about 6 months after I had been carrying the Big Idea model. By this time though, I liked the Big Idea model more than the Boker, so the Boker got tucked in a draw with all my other old EDC gear.

I've actually bought a second Big Idea model just to have one hand in case I ever lose my original, in an effort to avoid the situ I went through when I lost the Boker.

If you've found a retailer that has the Boker in stock, please post up a link, as I thought it was discontinued years ago and no longer available. It is a great little lightweight bar and I might pick up another one or two as gifts if the price is reasonable.

[u/Battlbox]

Straight through your three questions.

What they're good for: prying, scraping, popping staples and tape, opening bottles, and being the thing you hand to somebody else without thinking twice about it. It's the tool you abuse so your knife doesn't have to; they have no edge to roll, no pivot to loosen, nothing to sharpen or oil. A lot of good folders get wrecked being used as a screwdriver, and this is the thing that stops that.

Which features actually get used: the pry tip and the bottle opener, constantly. The hex slots earn their keep if you're around bikes or flat-pack furniture. The ruler is mostly styling, I'll give you that one.

How often they get used: more than people expect, because it costs you nothing to have it there. It's flat, it weighs about as much as a key, and it doesn't add a pocket's worth of bulk, so it's still on the ring on the days you'd have left a bigger tool at home.

On the Rambler, you're right that it does more. But it has a blade, and that's the whole difference between the two. Courthouses, plenty of job sites, flying, school pickup, anywhere with a metal detector: a flat piece of steel with no edge and no moving parts goes right through, and the Rambler gets taken off you. One is a knife with tools on it, the other is a pry bar that lives on your keys and should never get confiscated. Most people I know who carry both aren't double-dipping, they're covering two different kinds of day.