Initial Review – Leatherman e307x Knife
Date: January 8, 2006
Tester
Bio
Name: Jesse
McCulloch
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 4" (1.9 Meters)
Weight:
180 Pounds (82 Kilograms)
US Men’s Shoe Size: 11.5
Email address:
mccu420@comcast.net
City, State, Country:
Hillsboro, Oregon, U.S.
Backpacking Background: I began backpacking
as a Boy Scout around the age of 14.
Last year, I began training for a group at work
called the Reach and Treat (RAT) team. While training for a coveted
position on the RAT team, I remembered the joy of backpacking, and have since
dug out all my equipment, purchased some stuff I felt I needed, and have once
again discovered the joys of living off my back in the woods. I currently consider myself a medium
weight backpacker, but I am slowly moving towards lightweight packing. I am also a mountaineer, allowing me
ample opportunity to test cold weather gear of all sorts.
Product Information
Manufacturer: Leatherman Tool
Group
Website:
http://www.leatherman.com/
Product: Leatherman e307x Knife (and optional Bit Kit
accessory)
Year Manufactured: 2005
MSRP
$100 - $110 US (w/7-piece Bit Kit)
Manufacture Listed Weight: 4.2 oz (118 g)
Blade Type: Combination serrated and straight blade
Closed Length: 4 in (10.16 cm)
Open Length: 6.75 in (17.14 cm)
Maximum Length: 7.7 in (19.55 cm)
Measured Weight: 4.4 oz (126 g)
Color: Silver/Black
Warranty
Information (per Leatherman Website)
If within 25 years from the purchase date of
your genuine Leatherman knife you find any defect in material or workmanship,
return it to Leatherman Tool Group, Inc., or a local authorized repair
center.
Initial Impression
The knife arrived packed in a large box
containing a small yellow and black box.
The smaller box contained the knife, sheath, and accessory bit kit. I
quickly pulled the knife out of the box and began exploring the features. The first part I opened was the
carabineer clip/bottle opener. I
tested the clip on my belt loop. It
seemed secure, although I didn’t wear it for very long. I attempted to close the clip and ran
into my first problem. I couldn’t
figure out how get the clip closed.
I attempted to force it closed to the point I was afraid I would break
it. Then I pulled out the
instructions and began to read. The
locking feature on the clip requires you push the whole clip in towards the
knife handle. Once I read the
instructions it was easy to do.
There are two ways to open the knife blade, the thumb stud attached to
the blade, and the blade ejector on the opposite side of the handle from the
blade. By pulling on the blade
ejector with my thumb, the blade is supposed to pop into the locked
position. I find that this happens
about half the time, the other half the time I have to finish locking it
myself. The bit driver is on the
opposite side from the blade and holds double-sided bits made by
Leatherman. There are three bits
included with the knife; two stored in the handle, and one kept in the bit
driver itself. The bit kit
accessory that came with the knife is a plastic card holding eight more double
sided bits, as well as room for the three that came with the knife. The included sheath is made of a black
and gray nylon material with webbing on the back that allows horizontal or
vertical carrying. Inside the sheath is a mesh pocket for the bit kit to be
carried. The flap is held closed by
Velcro.
I was fortunate enough to receive the knife the day before I left
for an overnight summit attempt on Mount Hood. I attached the sheath to my pack and off
we went. The trip started at an
altitude of 6000 ft (1828 m) and we made our camp at around 7500 ft (2286
m). The knife was used to spread
peanut butter and jelly for lunch, as well as to cut the packaging from our
dinner. I cleaned the blade with
snow after each use. Temperatures
ranged from 50 F (10 C) during the day to 16 F (8.88 C) at night. The next day I carried the knife via the
carabineer clip attached to my daypack to a final altitude of 11,000 ft (3352
m). It was used to cut sandwiches
that day. I noticed the blade was
easy to clean and very sharp from the
factory.
I
have also been carrying the knife with me daily, and at work. I used it many times during Christmas to
open the kid’s toy packaging, and it sliced through the plastic very
easily. I got to use the bit driver
while opening battery compartment doors during Christmas as well. I did notice that I have lost one of the
bits from the handle; I have no idea when or where. This may be an issue of me not putting
it in there far enough, or it may be an issue of the bits not being very
secure. I will be paying close
attention to this to see if any other bits are lost from the
handle.
I plan to test the following items through the
remainder of the test.
Can I
comfortably carry the knife in my pocket?
Does the blade
open and close easily?
So far, yes, however as
it gets more use, I will be watching for this.
Will the blade
remain easy to open and close easily over the course of the
test?
Is the blade
easy to clean?
Again, so far it has
been easy to clean using snow, but I have yet to use it in dirty or muddy
conditions that may affect this more.
Is the
carabineer secure enough to not worry about losing the
knife?
Will I be able
to accidentally open the blade?
Will the knife
remain sharp through the life of the test?
Will the knife
cut rope and webbing easily?
The knife cuts webbing
and rope very effectively at this time, and I will continue to test this as time
goes by.
Are the driver
bits going to be secure on the knife?
I have already lost one
bit, so I will be watching this closely to see if that was due to a mistake by
me, or a design flaw.
Does the bottle
opener work well?
Will the
included driver bits work with any equipment I may need to repair in the
field?
Will the knife suffer ill effects if it gets
wet?
So far it has been fine, it got wet on the mountain, and there have
been no ill effects as of yet.
I wish to thank Leatherman and
Backpack Gear Test for giving me the opportunity to test this
knife.
Jesse
McCulloch
