That was a great review! Comparison of both Center Drive models, versus one of the standard Leatherman‘s. No wasted words. All the features compared. And NO request to hit the like button and subscribe (because of that, I did subscribe). Thank you buddy!
This is an absolutely awesome review! Extremely thorough, yet objective. This tool seems to fit perfectly into my job as an excellent backup and even a primary tool in some scenarios. Thank you for the review!
i purchase recently the original center drive. i have 8 leatherman and 3 victorinox swisstool and centerdrive is my first gerber. For me its fantastic. few things but very good things (apart serrated blade thath need to be resharpened). It replace my best multitool leatherman surge in homework. is much more usefull and simple to use, have a great file. I dont understand why peaple dont apreciate centerdrive file enuff. Is the best croscut file on my 13 multitool, better then leatherman surge/wave/charge file, and better than victoriunox swisstool/seisschamp file. Only the leatherman old 1994 PST file is aupar, mabe better than centerdwrive. Leatherman surge have better wire cutter and great scissor, but if you use only blade, pliers and screwdriver, centerdrive is sure the best choise on multitool m
I have the original center drive multi-tool and love it even though I have only used a few of the features on it. I recently used the center drive tool to open a can of the sealer for my PVC pipe and was barely able to open it, but it did work.
I have the center drive and Leatherman surge. A lot of times the bit is too long on the center drive to get in tight areas. The surge is way more comfortable in the hand. I wish both tops had a detent at 45 and 90 degrees on the drivers to make them more versatile. The Leatherman has a better knife than any multi tool I’ve ever used. I have used both of these tools as edc for my industrial Maintenance technician job. I would say the Gerbers that you are comparing to the Leatherman aren’t an apples comparison. I had a skeletool that was worse than the signal except for the knife.
You make a strong arguement for the center drive. I bought a second gen wave for my birthday in 2012 to replace the vastly inferior gerber mp400, a tool I disliked because of the small blade, rattle noise, width of the open plier and number of screwdriver options. I carried my wave in a maxpedition micro pouch along with the full bit kit, a mini ratchet, three standard 1/4" bit holders and a string of small sockets. I found these tools to be adequate for all of the disassembling and assembling tasks associated with my job(packing households for international shipment)where packing flat bicycles, bookshelves, desks, beds and just about every thing in a house that can be taken apart for more compact shipment. The tool kit came in handy because I had no vehicle to store a toolbox in, the main toolbox brought to the job by the driver was usually on a different floor so having tools with me saved me from hunting for the right tool, going up and down stairs and all kinds of time. Never while using the leatherman bits was I at a disadvantage due to it's of center position, I just adapted to it and it worked, if I had to hold two bolts at opposite sides, the mini ratchet and 1/4" bits were on hand or vice versa. Opening a plier one handed was never a thought during these disassembles, the bits always worked I have zero complaints on the waves tool set. Now I'm thinking about getting the new curl, I never had much use for the saw or serrated blade and the curl has all the other tools I need.
THE ONLY VERY BAD CHOISE ON THEESE TOOL IS THE WIRE CUTTER MATERIAL. CARBIDE INSTEAD OF LEATHERMAN 154CM STEEL. CARBIDE is to much hard and to much brittle, and it broke with every hard cable...is only good to electrical copper wires and soft iron wires. The possbility to rotate them is useless in real: carbide dont get never dull, but it breake, and when it break you cant rotate it. Leatherman premium steel replaceble wire cutter are clearly superior in my cutting tests. For the rest centerdrive is a GREAT TOOL WITH GREAT CONCEPT BEHIND.
I work in a big box store I’m always putting stuff together or taking apart or opening boxes if only it had a small blade just for cutting up cardboard
Honestly just have a dedicated box cutter, it's not worth buying this and wearing out the knife out on cardboard, if you get an olfa or something you won't know it's in your pocket
Wish they gave you a jigsaw blade saw attachment rather than the pry bar. Would be similar width but really love the saw attachment on my Leatherman Wave and the Surge.
nice review , I like you calling them out about the things they calls tools that are clearly not... i have owned a Gerber multi tool but not the center drive … I go with Leatherman.. i own the Leatherman 200 , sidekick, wave + and just got the surge... the surge is my perfect multitool.. also if you open up the Leatherman tool when using the screwdriver its in the center of the tool... just saying
Thank you very much, yes the driver is then in the center of the tool but I find that the other arm of the tool makes it awkward to turn. I’ve heard that leatherman might be making a ratcheting attachment for their drive and if they do that I’ll try to pick one up and revisit that argument.
Thanks very much for the excellent descriptions of both. It may just be me, but a better background choice would have made it easier to see the tools more clearly.
Thank you very much. And yes. I’ve been using a new background in my more recent videos I’m not sure if it’s much better but I think it’s a little improvement
I had only had chinese made gerber before a MP 600. US made Gerber is great. This is my next purchase. In Australia these are half the price of a similar leatherman
When you use the bit on the Leatherman it's not meant to be closed I don't know why everyone closes the tool to try to use the screwdriver if you leave it open and the handles are straight it is in line with the bit driver it works like a regular screwdriver it's not meant to be closed
They should have put a full size serated blade, file and saw on the outside and scissors, and a small bit driver on the inside and figure out how to make the pliers have the same gripping power as the leatherman. Also, plastic is a big no no for me on a multi tool. Drop it from a ladder on concrete and I bet the plastic will break !
@@echoededge6669 I read from someone online that their sheath wasn’t staying closed. So Gerber sent out a replacement leather sheath. Guess I’ll find out. I’ll keep you updated.
I watched ur video before buying the center-drive. Should have changed my mind when u said that u chipped ur pry bar, but i bought it anyway solely because i like the design a lot. So bought mine... Used the awl, and chipped it. But luckily it's only a small chip. Grind it and it's sharp again... Lesson learnt, should have stick with leatherman... But great reviews👍
Leatherman dose have a long Adapter that will fit the standard regular bites which you can replace from Lowe’s and Home Depot. So to say that leatherman cannot use the Standard bits is False leatherman offers more to their tools then Gerber does
I’m aware that leatherman offers this product. It is however an additional cost as well as being something else too carry. (I’m also aware that they can be fitted into some leatherman sheaths). All of the adapters I have seen remain off center like the standard leatherman driver and required additional steps to deploy the driver when needed. Since some leathermans have space built into the tool to store leatherman bits it’s very likely that you end up with a mix of bits which I would find very annoying. All of these are the reasons why I didn’t feel the need to mention the adaptor and why I don’t have any desire to carry one. All of that being said I’m sorry if you feel that I was miss leading with something I said. I have also heard that leatherman may maybe ratcheting bit extenders and if they do I try to make a video about that in the future.
@@echoededge6669 I understand what you are saying ,please accept my apology I did not mean that you didn’t give a good review. I do like Gerbers strong arm knife and thier prodigy knife but I’ve always felt like they still lack in the quality of their multi tools if they would add a saw to it and improve their cutters I could take a look at it but until then there’s a lot of complaints still with their cutters on their multi tools. I do think this gerber too is a big Improvement from their other multi tools from over the years they were cheaply made specially the knives on the old multi tools. Like I said you did an excellent job on the review.
@@charlesborum3910 thank you very much. I absolutely understand that. I would have liked to have seen a saw as well. And while it is a big improvement is I’d definitely less well made than most leathermans. But the one hand operation and the driver are big positives for me.
@@echoededge6669 D I do like the one hand operation and the driver on the outside. I don’t use the leatherman bits on my leatherman surge I don’t like them either, I keep standard bits and socket in my backpacks and my truck for the leatherman surge. I have a leatherman surge one in my Bug out bag and I have one in my hunting backpack. I have the leatherman Mute that I use in the Army for my AR. Leatherman make a Multitool similar to the mute but the difference it’s made for EOD.
@@charlesborum3910 ah okay. When I’m at the farm I often have my centerdrive on my belt and no bag so it all being in the sheath maybe matters a bit more for me
Gerber wire cutters are not good. You can buy them from different companies and they are made of much stronger steel. I’m not sure if I want to get this or the new leatherman arc.
Gerber replaced the whole tool for me because of that. So you might want to get in touch with their warranty people. I was being far less sensible when I broke mine 😂
i dont agree with you on quality construction. i have 8 leatherman (1994 PST, sideckick,2 micra,skeletool,wave , charge g10,surge) and i think the construction quality on gerber center drive is au par. The rattle is typical of all multitool with sliding pliers. For example the tolerance and the play on leatherman sideckic spring pliers is much much more than on centerdrive. All my leatherman change a lot in term of tolerance after a time of use. As news are so stiff and them almost much smoot. Gerber centerdrive seems to be much more stable in term of mechanism stability. Refgard to the torx screw on leatherman, are more easy to disassembly BUT also gerber is easy. I disassembe compleatly the centerdrive screws simple with needlenose leatherman sideckick plier....
@@echoededge6669 Sure you will do achieve it. Regard quality construction, the only thing that seems better on leatherman is the play of the blade...but also some specimen of leatherman can have a certain play. On my gerber centerdrive, the blade have a certain play...the screwdriver donthave any play. is question of tolerance, and many knife with linerlock have these problem. I resolve this blade play on centerdrive and leatherman sideckik: hammering a little the piece of metal on the rear of the blade. So, these piece of metal get 0,1 mm longer and the play it desappear. Its difficult to me explane these in english...im italian and never sudied english. I learnt a very little with youtube subtitle these year......... Take care
I've owned a center drive along with many other multi tools and the center drive is the biggest piece of crap out of all of them. It's poorly made and it's features are gimmicky and not actually useful. Most multi tools are made to show off a bunch of so called features in order to sell well but aren't that functional and the center drive is one of the worst examples of this. Over time I've ended up going to one tool over and over again and that's the Leatherman crunch. Made for pure functionality and it dominates.
This is the truth. Leatherman far surpasses gerber. My wave has tons of miles on it, and has been abused. My gerber has been replaced several times because it's trash. I only use it because it's what is on inventory at work and they replace it for free.
Sorry you feel that way. Center drive has preformed very well for me. But multi tools are very subjective. Glad you’ve got tools that work well for you
Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge , opinion and uploading.
That was a great review! Comparison of both Center Drive models, versus one of the standard Leatherman‘s. No wasted words. All the features compared. And NO request to hit the like button and subscribe (because of that, I did subscribe). Thank you buddy!
Glad you liked it 👍 thanks for the comment
This is an absolutely awesome review! Extremely thorough, yet objective. This tool seems to fit perfectly into my job as an excellent backup and even a primary tool in some scenarios. Thank you for the review!
Bogumił Modrzewski thank you very much! I’m very glad you enjoyed it 🎉
Super great review....And yes...I bought a center-drive plus tonight...been on my bucket list for over a year
I hope you like it!
i purchase recently the original center drive. i have 8 leatherman and 3 victorinox swisstool and centerdrive is my first gerber.
For me its fantastic. few things but very good things (apart serrated blade thath need to be resharpened).
It replace my best multitool leatherman surge in homework. is much more usefull and simple to use, have a great file. I dont understand why peaple dont apreciate centerdrive file enuff. Is the best croscut file on my 13 multitool, better then leatherman surge/wave/charge file, and better than victoriunox swisstool/seisschamp file. Only the leatherman old 1994 PST file is aupar, mabe better than centerdwrive.
Leatherman surge have better wire cutter and great scissor, but if you use only blade, pliers and screwdriver, centerdrive is sure the best choise on multitool m
OUTSTANDING! Very good, thorough and well executed review. Nice job!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it 👍
Thank you very much for taking the time to show us 🇫🇮
I got the center drive mainly because of the screwdriver being on the outside I don’t have to open tool if i just need the driver
I have lots of multitools, but neither Center Drive so I was interested in your evaluation. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for the kind comment. As a new reviewer I found it very encouraging 😀
I have the original center drive multi-tool and love it even though I have only used a few of the features on it. I recently used the center drive tool to open a can of the sealer for my PVC pipe and was barely able to open it, but it did work.
a trick: you can watch movies at Flixzone. Been using it for watching a lot of movies these days.
@Caiden Cristiano yup, I've been using flixzone} for since november myself :D
I have the center drive and Leatherman surge. A lot of times the bit is too long on the center drive to get in tight areas. The surge is way more comfortable in the hand. I wish both tops had a detent at 45 and 90 degrees on the drivers to make them more versatile. The Leatherman has a better knife than any multi tool I’ve ever used. I have used both of these tools as edc for my industrial Maintenance technician job. I would say the Gerbers that you are comparing to the Leatherman aren’t an apples comparison. I had a skeletool
that was worse than the signal except for the knife.
Good point about using pliers as wedge - I do same with SOG and LM OHT.
Find the gerber rotating cutters fail catastrophically.
Good review :-). Thank you. Very well thought out and great demonstrations! Subscribed.
You make a strong arguement for the center drive.
I bought a second gen wave for my birthday in 2012 to replace the vastly inferior gerber mp400, a tool I disliked because of the small blade, rattle noise, width of the open plier and number of screwdriver options.
I carried my wave in a maxpedition micro pouch along with the full bit kit, a mini ratchet, three standard 1/4" bit holders and a string of small sockets.
I found these tools to be adequate for all of the disassembling and assembling tasks associated with my job(packing households for international shipment)where packing flat bicycles, bookshelves, desks, beds and just about every thing in a house that can be taken apart for more compact shipment.
The tool kit came in handy because I had no vehicle to store a toolbox in, the main toolbox brought to the job by the driver was usually on a different floor so having tools with me saved me from hunting for the right tool, going up and down stairs and all kinds of time.
Never while using the leatherman bits was I at a disadvantage due to it's of center position, I just adapted to it and it worked, if I had to hold two bolts at opposite sides, the mini ratchet and 1/4" bits were on hand or vice versa.
Opening a plier one handed was never a thought during these disassembles, the bits always worked I have zero complaints on the waves tool set.
Now I'm thinking about getting the new curl, I never had much use for the saw or serrated blade and the curl has all the other tools I need.
THE ONLY VERY BAD CHOISE ON THEESE TOOL IS THE WIRE CUTTER MATERIAL. CARBIDE INSTEAD OF LEATHERMAN 154CM STEEL.
CARBIDE is to much hard and to much brittle, and it broke with every hard cable...is only good to electrical copper wires and soft iron wires.
The possbility to rotate them is useless in real: carbide dont get never dull, but it breake, and when it break you cant rotate it.
Leatherman premium steel replaceble wire cutter are clearly superior in my cutting tests.
For the rest centerdrive is a GREAT TOOL WITH GREAT CONCEPT BEHIND.
I work in a big box store I’m always putting stuff together or taking apart or opening boxes if only it had a small blade just for cutting up cardboard
Honestly just have a dedicated box cutter, it's not worth buying this and wearing out the knife out on cardboard, if you get an olfa or something you won't know it's in your pocket
Wish they gave you a jigsaw blade saw attachment rather than the pry bar. Would be similar width but really love the saw attachment on my Leatherman Wave and the Surge.
nice review , I like you calling them out about the things they calls tools that are clearly not... i have owned a Gerber multi tool but not the center drive … I go with Leatherman.. i own the Leatherman 200 , sidekick, wave + and just got the surge... the surge is my perfect multitool.. also if you open up the Leatherman tool when using the screwdriver its in the center of the tool... just saying
Thank you very much, yes the driver is then in the center of the tool but I find that the other arm of the tool makes it awkward to turn. I’ve heard that leatherman might be making a ratcheting attachment for their drive and if they do that I’ll try to pick one up and revisit that argument.
Gerber wire cutters have a tendency to fully broke in few pieces, not just get damage to their surface. Also their cutting surface is a bit too short
Luckily there are aftermarket high speed steel cutters that are extremely durable 👍
Thanks very much for the excellent descriptions of both. It may just be me, but a better background choice would have made it easier to see the tools more clearly.
Thank you very much. And yes. I’ve been using a new background in my more recent videos I’m not sure if it’s much better but I think it’s a little improvement
I had only had chinese made gerber before a MP 600. US made Gerber is great. This is my next purchase. In Australia these are half the price of a similar leatherman
Great review! Clearly know your stuff!
The pry bar is also a can opener
When you use the bit on the Leatherman it's not meant to be closed I don't know why everyone closes the tool to try to use the screwdriver if you leave it open and the handles are straight it is in line with the bit driver it works like a regular screwdriver it's not meant to be closed
I’ve tried it that way too. It’s better for some situations but I find it quite slow for normal screws
They should have put a full size serated blade, file and saw on the outside and scissors, and a small bit driver on the inside and figure out how to make the pliers have the same gripping power as the leatherman. Also, plastic is a big no no for me on a multi tool. Drop it from a ladder on concrete and I bet the plastic will break !
If that’s the tool set your after then there’s definitely better options out there.
Great review, thanks for putting it out there
Sir what the name of the folding KNIEF AT beginning that you show ?? Name of folding knief plz
Hi. It’s a ZT 0055BLK. Thanks for watching!
I had the same issue with the Velcro on my nylon sheath. I emailed Gerber warranty hopefully they can get me a replacement or stitch new Velcro.
Hopefully. Years ago they told me that sheaths aren’t covered by there warranty but hopefully that’s changed.
@@echoededge6669 I read from someone online that their sheath wasn’t staying closed. So Gerber sent out a replacement leather sheath. Guess I’ll find out. I’ll keep you updated.
That would be great. Hope it gets sorted out. If they send you the of the leather ones that will be a nice upgrade.
I watched ur video before buying the center-drive. Should have changed my mind when u said that u chipped ur pry bar, but i bought it anyway solely because i like the design a lot. So bought mine... Used the awl, and chipped it. But luckily it's only a small chip. Grind it and it's sharp again... Lesson learnt, should have stick with leatherman... But great reviews👍
Thanks for watching. Is a chipped Awl enough to ruin the tool for you? Sorry to hear you didn’t like it
@@echoededge6669 nope, the driver works very well, even better than my leatherman, and for the awl, as i said, after i ground it, it's sharp again👍
Need a saw in place of the serrated blade! And an AR site adjustment tool in place of the scissors!
I’d love a saw instead of the serrated blade
Got a Gerber CD plus on a 35% sale. Thx for a good video mate. But that Leatherman Signal did look really good. hmm 🤔 🤔
Only Gerber would count the lock as tool.
Leatherman dose have a long Adapter that will fit the standard regular bites which you can replace from Lowe’s and Home Depot. So to say that leatherman cannot use the Standard bits is False leatherman offers more to their tools then Gerber does
I’m aware that leatherman offers this product. It is however an additional cost as well as being something else too carry. (I’m also aware that they can be fitted into some leatherman sheaths). All of the adapters I have seen remain off center like the standard leatherman driver and required additional steps to deploy the driver when needed. Since some leathermans have space built into the tool to store leatherman bits it’s very likely that you end up with a mix of bits which I would find very annoying. All of these are the reasons why I didn’t feel the need to mention the adaptor and why I don’t have any desire to carry one. All of that being said I’m sorry if you feel that I was miss leading with something I said. I have also heard that leatherman may maybe ratcheting bit extenders and if they do I try to make a video about that in the future.
@@echoededge6669 I understand what you are saying ,please accept my apology I did not mean that you didn’t give a good review. I do like Gerbers strong arm knife and thier prodigy knife but I’ve always felt like they still lack in the quality of their multi tools if they would add a saw to it and improve their cutters I could take a look at it but until then there’s a lot of complaints still with their cutters on their multi tools. I do think this gerber too is a big Improvement from their other multi tools from over the years they were cheaply made specially the knives on the old multi tools. Like I said you did an excellent job on the review.
@@charlesborum3910 thank you very much. I absolutely understand that. I would have liked to have seen a saw as well.
And while it is a big improvement is I’d definitely less well made than most leathermans. But the one hand operation and the driver are big positives for me.
@@echoededge6669 D
I do like the one hand operation and the driver on the outside. I don’t use the leatherman bits on my leatherman surge I don’t like them either, I keep standard bits and socket in my backpacks and my truck for the leatherman surge. I have a leatherman surge one in my Bug out bag and I have one in my hunting backpack. I have the leatherman Mute that I use in the Army for my AR. Leatherman make a Multitool similar to the mute but the difference it’s made for EOD.
@@charlesborum3910 ah okay. When I’m at the farm I often have my centerdrive on my belt and no bag so it all being in the sheath maybe matters a bit more for me
Excellent review! Subscribed 😊
I think the ruler is to measure bolts or screws
They might work okay for that but I think there’s other places they could have added a ruler and have it be more versatile
Do you know of any big chunky multitools that are UK legal?
MP600 bladless, leatherman rebar bladeless, or disable the locking mechanism on any other tool. I have done this on the Victorinox spirit
Gerber wire cutters are not good. You can buy them from different companies and they are made of much stronger steel. I’m not sure if I want to get this or the new leatherman arc.
Absolute sweet video
Compare it against leatherman free p4
Unfortunately I don’t have a P4 or I’d have been happy to
I chipped the pry bar on my gen one Gerber,pulling nails
Wtf
Gerber replaced the whole tool for me because of that. So you might want to get in touch with their warranty people. I was being far less sensible when I broke mine 😂
Cool
i dont agree with you on quality construction. i have 8 leatherman (1994 PST, sideckick,2 micra,skeletool,wave , charge g10,surge) and i think the construction quality on gerber center drive is au par. The rattle is typical of all multitool with sliding pliers. For example the tolerance and the play on leatherman sideckic spring pliers is much much more than on centerdrive.
All my leatherman change a lot in term of tolerance after a time of use. As news are so stiff and them almost much smoot. Gerber centerdrive seems to be much more stable in term of mechanism stability.
Refgard to the torx screw on leatherman, are more easy to disassembly BUT also gerber is easy. I disassembe compleatly the centerdrive screws simple with needlenose leatherman sideckick plier....
Good to hear. I’ll give that a go myself
@@echoededge6669 Sure you will do achieve it.
Regard quality construction, the only thing that seems better on leatherman is the play of the blade...but also some specimen of leatherman can have a certain play. On my gerber centerdrive, the blade have a certain play...the screwdriver donthave any play. is question of tolerance, and many knife with linerlock have these problem. I resolve this blade play on centerdrive and leatherman sideckik: hammering a little the piece of metal on the rear of the blade. So, these piece of metal get 0,1 mm longer and the play it desappear.
Its difficult to me explane these in english...im italian and never sudied english. I learnt a very little with youtube subtitle these year.........
Take care
show us your german shepherd
Sorry to disappoint but. I don’t have one
@@echoededge6669 no problem with that. never too late to get one!
Maybe someday. But a Spaniel or Lab is more likely for my needs
@@echoededge6669 I love labs too, really good dogs. I had a lab who passed away 3 years ago, he was the sweetest dog I had.
We had one pass away over a decade ago now. She will always be one of my favourite dogs
The center drive is the worst tool I've ever picked up it feels horrible in hand
I've owned a center drive along with many other multi tools and the center drive is the biggest piece of crap out of all of them. It's poorly made and it's features are gimmicky and not actually useful. Most multi tools are made to show off a bunch of so called features in order to sell well but aren't that functional and the center drive is one of the worst examples of this. Over time I've ended up going to one tool over and over again and that's the Leatherman crunch. Made for pure functionality and it dominates.
This is the truth. Leatherman far surpasses gerber. My wave has tons of miles on it, and has been abused. My gerber has been replaced several times because it's trash. I only use it because it's what is on inventory at work and they replace it for free.
Sorry you feel that way. Center drive has preformed very well for me. But multi tools are very subjective. Glad you’ve got tools that work well for you