The 7 Best Multitools for Every Situation
Innovative and inventive sidekicks to help you cut, tighten, loosen, open, or twist your way through whatever problem crops up.
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If you often encounter the unexpected, like to be prepared for any situation, or fancy yourself a real-life MacGyver—the type of person that likes to waltz in and save the day, with your tool kit in miniature at the ready—then chances are you carry a multitool. These implements are (or should be treated as) augments or on-the-go alternatives ideal for making quick fixes in a pinch when a toolbox would be otherwise impractical. They're typically easy to carry around everywhere—at most, requiring a pocket in your backpack, cross-body bag, or duffel of choice. They can even serve you during international travel (so long as you get one without a knife blade).
Stash one in a kitchen drawer, glovebox, bugout bag, etc. and you’ll be sure that the occasional unanticipated job never goes without a response. Check out our top picks below.
Whether your profession or your hobbies call for handiness and being ready on the go, the Gerber Gear Truss has just about anything you'll need during your day. This do-it-all multi-tool has 17 incorporated tools, including needle-nose and regular pliers, wire cutter, two blades, scissors, saw, cross driver, three flathead drivers, can opener, bottle opener, awl, file, ruler, and wire stripper. Plus, it includes a sheath that attaches vertically or horizontally to your belt or bag, and it also has a lanyard hole if you prefer to hang it from a strap.
You can access all of the tools without opening the entire multi-tool, and once extended, all of the tools lock in place, so you won't have to deal with annoying slips or unwanted folding while you work.
The Wave+ is a capable tool with 18 functions. One of the best is the needle-nose pliers, which taper to a fairly fine point to get a grip in tight spaces. They also feature replaceable cutting edges on the wire cutters and have smooth, rounded edges on the handles. The cutters are effective on fine telephone wire or 12-gauge copper wire, as well as harder steel bailing wire. If cutting through wood is important to you, the saw blade is up to the task.
As for maple branches and scrap two-inch x three-inch lumber, it cut cleanly through both. The cutting edge is wider than the trailing edge of the blade, so as the blade slices into something the sides don’t drag on the sides of the kerf. The plain and serrated knife blades were quite sharp—there wasn’t a task they couldn’t handle. While the standard file was adequate, we found the diamond-coated one specifically worked very well for fine jobs, like smoothing burrs on metal edges.
Good things can definitely come in small packages, and the Leatherman Squirt PS4 is proof of that. This mini multi-tool is only two inches long when closed and weighs just two ounces, and yet it incorporates nine handy tools, including needle-nose and regular pliers, wire cutters, knife, scissors, two screwdrivers, a bottle opener, and a file. There's a small loop at one end, so you can hang it on your keychain or slip it into your pocket or bag.
There's no need to open the entire tool if you just want to get one of the incorporated features–each tool is accessible from the closed position. Plus, you only need one hand to open the tools, leaving your other hand free.
Rovertac’s 12-in-1 initially caught our eye because users on Amazon rated it 4.5 stars, and we wanted to test some less expensive options. While it might be a little bulky and heavy, we have to admit it’s a decent value. We don’t expect it to hold up to heavy use, but in a “save your butt” kind of capacity, most of the tools functioned acceptably. The long-nosed pliers work reasonably well, as did the wire stripper, and we rated the wire cutter four out of five.
The can and bottle openers worked OK, as did the various screwdrivers. RoverTac claims the tool includes a saw blade, but it’s more like a serrated knife, which worked, just not great. The plain knife blade was sharper than it looked and easily cut through rope and twine.
The SOG Powerlock features a clean, smooth design with rounded edges and tool frame covers. It can be opened with one hand and is very comfortable to hold. The 18 tools to choose from include five for fasteners: three sizes of flat screwdrivers, one Phillips screw driver, and a quarter-inch square drive to accept sockets (not included). The quarter-inch driver can be oriented 90 degrees from the tool body for more leverage, but the frame cover has to be popped off to use it this way.
The Powerlock has a true needle-nose pliers machined down to a nice point, the jaws of which meet very tightly and accurately, making it easy to grip small things. The wire cutter and stripper also work very well, earning a 4.75 overall for the pliers. Most of the other tools performed up to snuff, with the bottle opener, can opener, awl, scissors, and ruler all scoring four.
The Free P2 is built with tight tolerances, evident in its smooth opening and closing action. You can open it with one hand, and it makes a gratifying click as the pliers handle locks in place. A nice feature of the P2 is tool accessibility—all of the implements can be folded out or in without opening the pliers. In fact, the only reason to open the tool is to use the pliers. We rated the pliers, with their tight pivot, strong grip, and replaceable wire-cutting blades, 4.5 out of 5.
The wire stripper, included on the medium screwdriver, only really worked on wire of a specific size. However, the notch for hard wire worked well up to 12 gauge. A typical gripe of ours with can openers is that a wide tool frame can interfere with the can; but on the P2, the opener is the last tool on the row, so it’s perfectly positioned for clearance.
The Dime is one of Gerber’s smaller multitools, sized to fit on a keychain. Despite that, it’s still built around a pair of pliers, like larger multis. Those pliers and the wire cutters work well on small jobs, but be careful about trying to cut large, hard wires—the pressure it takes to cleave through may cause a sudden cut where the pliers snap closed. (There’s also the chance of pinching a little skin between the two halves of the frame when this happens. But in normal usage we had no issue.)
Tiny scissors are included, and they work well, however the blade overlap is configured in a “lefty” orientation, so it’s tricky to cut accurately holding the Dime in your right hand. The tool includes flat and Phillips drivers, a plain knife blade, a wide convenient bottle opener, and tweezers. The tweezers were machined to a fine point, which made them better for digging splinters out.
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