A friend of mine has the Leatherman Wave, so I thought I would write a quick review of this multi-tool. Personally, there are a few things I like, and couple things I don’t like about it.
This is a review of the Leatherman Wave. Here is a review I wrote on my Leatherman Wingman.
My friend has had this tool for several years and he’s still happy with it. Here’s a picture of his.
The Leatherman Wave+ is the most popular multi-tool that Leatherman sells. It claims to have 18 tools, including a pliers, wire cutters, knife, straight and Philips screwdrivers.
The difference between the old Wave and the new Wave+ is that on the Wave+, the tools have a locking mechanism so that they stay out. This is a very nice and welcome feature. Another difference is that the Wave+ has a serrated blade, compared to the old one which was not. The Wave+ also has a tiny ‘eyeglasses’ screwdriver, which I would rarely have a use for, to be honest.
First, a couple of things I like about it.
It has all of the usual tools you would expect from a multi-tool, without a lot of the gimmicky stuff that just takes up space.
It definitely feels sturdy, and even after years of use, this thing does not feel ‘loose’, though it does have the feel that the tools have been well used. The tools still snap out solidly. The knife-blade has evidently been sharpened a few times and still holds its edge.
Now a few of the things I don’t particularly care for.
The first one is the screwdriver tool. As you can see, the ‘bit’ is removable. While it does feel tight when it is installed, I can’t help but think that this piece could easily go missing. If that happened, obviously you would be out both the flat-head and the Phillips head screwdrivers, and be left with part of a tool that could not really be used.
The Wave is about 4 inches in length when folded up.
I find the unit to be fairly comfortable to hold in the hand, though some of the edges could be a bit smoother. The knife blade is 2.9 inches long.
Overall, I would say this is a very nice multi-tool, with only a couple of minor drawbacks, at least for my use-cases. I would give this a 9/10 rating.
For more information or to check the price, check out the Wave on Amazon.
Check out this other post on equipped.com for a very in-depth discussion of the differences between the old and new Wave multi-tools.
Practical Mechanic 