Sunday, September 6, 2009

Leatherman Crunch: A Different Multi-Tool

By Richard D. Stanley

Leatherman is the name the associates itself with multi-tools. Leatherman have innovated tools that are high quality. The Crunch is no exception. The Leatherman Crunch deviates from standard Leatherman designs in which the main tool is not a needle nose pliers. The Crunch is equipped with locking pliers instead. Locking pliers are also known as vice-grips. Leatherman knows the value of vice-grips and offers their version to us with the Crunch. Vice-grips are great. The free up your hand for other tasks.

The Crunch is compact. More so than the Leatherman Wave. The design is well thought out. The Crunch comes apart and it takes a few seconds to put together. The result is a very portable mid-size functional vice-grip. The Crunch feels well built like all Leathermans. It is high quality. The Crunch comes with Leatherman's 25 year warranty. The Crunch looks like it is built to last.

The Crunch is equipped with 13 tools. I won't go through them all but the tools that will be used the most are the vice grips, serrated blade, and large flat-head screwdriver. The Crunch does not have as much tools as the Wave or any standard Leatherman but the main tool makes up for it. The Crunch is what I would consider an accessory multi-tool. Multi-tools will never replace the main counterparts but what you gain is portability and capability. Think of it as having a mini toolbox in your pocket. That is the point of multi-tools and the Crunch will definitely serve me well in the years to come.

While the Crunch lacks tools, the main tool makes up for it. Through the function of it's design, I can see how difficult it must be to incorporate many additional tools into the Crunch. For this reason, I am satisfied with the Crunch. I have other multi-tools and the Crunch is very good in comparison. What I did not like was the redundancy. For instance, I have 3 different sizes of flat-head screwdrivers. I do not need all of that. What nice though, the Crunch can be expanded. You can unscrew the adjustment knob all the way to reveal a hex driver slot. This makes for a very handy bit driver. Nice addition to have.

The Crunch is not perfect but it is a great complimentary multi-tool. You have you portable toolbox if you couple this with another multi-tool. Something small, say a Leatherman Juice would go nicely with it. It is definitely not as complete as a Leatherman Charge or Wave but it's still a gem and I recommend it. The Crunch provides something different in the big market of multi-tools. For me, the locking pliers was enough to sway my purchase. At around $50, it's a bargain.

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