Have a look at the Leatherman Charge ALX. Not as heavy as the titanium Charge and tough as nails. The optional expanded bit kit and bit extender are also well worth the money.
I have an old Gerber (Made in USA) that thing is a tank, A Leatherman Surge, I snapped the jaws on this one, was replaced under warranty, but haven’t broken it since. It stays at work. I also have a Skeletool CX that I have snapped the jaws on, also replaced under warranty.
I’d look at something built like the Surge, I am sure there are other models that are as beefy. The Vics also look like a decent option.
A quick look on leatherman’s site:
Unless I were stuck out in the middle of no where I don’t think I would even attempt that with a multitool. They just aren’t great to use.
You can pick up a Husky socket set with wrenches from Home Depot for around the price of a good multitool. I’ve had a set for over 10 years and nothing has failed with them and I don’t baby them. If anything goes wrong I believe it can be replaced at any Home Depot. I paid extra for black to make them harder to misplace. If you go with chrome you can get it a lot cheaper.
I don’t abuse my gerber mp600, so I can’t attest to how well it would hold up under extremely heavy use. However, it all comes down to what features are most important for you. I was curious about some of the options mentioned here, so I started looking some up. I didn’t see it mentioned here, so it probably warrants some further research, but it looks like the Leatherman Crunch might be one to look at. It’s something I hadn’t seen before, having a vice grip instead of a traditional plier.
I have both Leatherman & Gerber… but unless it is an emergency I use them within their capabilities. It has been my experience, anything can be broken.
Both of mine are still going strong…. even after a few emergency uses.
I have this barely used first gen Leatherman Skeletool CX for 6 or 7 years. It’s still in just about perfect condition. I might end up selling it to get the Leatherman Surge. If I end up selling it, I’ll only ship it within the continental USA.
doing building maintenance for about 20 years , i use wave, for at least 10 years, it did brake few times, but was replaced under warranty no questions asked. before i used gerber, vix, and other no name tools, leatherman beats all of them,
i got the surge after trying some victorinoxes
never looked back since
one needs big hands for the surge pliers though. one cannot get a firm grasp with small hand