Reviews > Knives > Multi-tools > Leatherman Charge Ti > Cora Shea > Field Report

Field Conditions I've used the Charge Ti just about every day since my Initial Report. This included five backcountry trips, and a lot of use at work and around the house. Backcountry Use: (15 days total) Skiing and Mountaineering in the Sierras, California Weather: Cold (-5 to 65 F / -20 to 18 C) with some snow, hail, and wind Elevation: 8000 ft to 11,000 ft (2500 to 3400 m) Terrain: Snowy and mountainous Use: Mostly, I used the Charge Ti to cut cheese and other meal elements (using the straight knife), untie frozen knots (using the pliers), adjust the odd screw (using the bits), and saw through a couple pieces of webbing and cordage (using the serrated knife). The pliers also made an excellent lifting tool for my hot pots and pans. I stored the Charge Ti bare (without any case) and folded up in my pack, usually buried inside one of my extra pairs of gloves. I handled and used it without any regard for wetness, cold, or durability. I am used to quality pocketknives enough that I simply expected the Charge Ti to perform. Brief Comments: The Charge Ti is a solid tool. The Charge Ti didn't cover everything I needed (I needed a few additional larger bits), but what it had performed very well. Unfortunately, due to the constant snow and wet exposure, small spots of surface rust began forming all over the tool and especially near the hinges. I also found the inner tools were difficult (if not impossible) to open while wearing anything thicker than a liner glove. I also had to take a lot of care that the bits did not slide out of their housing when wet and icy and get immediately lost and buried in the snow. Urban Use: Los Angeles, California Weather: General sunny Los Angeles near the ocean Use: I used the Charge Ti every day at work. I did everything from cutting up cardboard, to prying out large wood staples and nails, to assembling shelving. Brief Comments: I usually don't comment on urban use, but this time I had the opportunity to use the Charge Ti as a part of my tool collection. Compared to the other tools I use on a daily basis, so I'll say a bit. The knives and pliers on the Charge Ti are excellent. The bits and bit driver are decent in a pinch but nothing I got excited about. And I had little use for the other tools in my urban use.

Field Use Opinions Overall Ease of Use: In warm, dry situations the Charge Ti was pretty easy to use. A well-aimed flick of my finger or wrist or fingernail can access nearly any tool in the handles or outside. The pliers, though quite stiff when new, have broken in to a much more easy-to-open state. Taking out the tools when I'm wearing gloves is a different matter. The nubs and slots which I use to ease the tools out depend on thin fingernail or fingertip type prying, and I can't seem to use the tools easily at all with gloves on. However, once out, the tools lock easily and securely. In my use of the Charge Ti, I tested the locking mechanisms numerous times - sawing through cords with the serrated blade, whittling with the straight blade, even sawing through woody material with the saw. The blades stayed stable and straight due to the locking mechanisms. When I'm finished, the tools are equally easy to put back. The push-button lock and unlock for the inner-handle tools is especially easy. However, sometimes the belt-clip comes undone at the same time as I unlock the tools since it is held in by the same locking mechanism. Overall Durability: Usually, I don't comment on durability until the Long Term Report, but I have two comments here. First, the blade of the straight knife, though sharp and able to hold an edge well, has dented quite easily when accidentally banged on metal, rock, or another hard substance. This happened a number of times. In one instance, I was cutting up boxes with the knife and accidentally hit a couple of staples in the heavy cardboard. In another, I was cutting webbing and banged the blade on rock. In a third, I was whittling a knife handle and banged the blade on the knife tang. Of course, I acknowledge, I am rather hard on my knives. However, I was rather surprised that the 154CM (ChroMoly) knife dented as easily as it did. I stropped most of the raggedness out of the dents using a leather strop and some paste, but visually the knife edge is certainly not the same. My second comment is that, although I keep the Charge Ti well oiled, it has rusted a bit. Probably due to my oiling (I am rather picky about oiling my knives because they spend a lot of time in wet environments) the rust has wiped off somewhat easily almost every time. But patches of rust have formed around the hinges of the pliers and at the bases of some of the inner-handle tools where water probably has a difficult time drying. From my kitchen knives, I know that better quality (in terms of sharpness and handling) blades have a much higher tendency to rust. Whatever the reason for the Charge Ti, it seems the Charge Ti rusts much more easily than other outdoor blades (which I also consider to be durable and quality blades) that I've used in the past. Pliers: The pliers have been very handy, durable, and grippy. The large handles are easy on my hands when I am gripping them tightly and prying with a lot of my strength. I have sometimes even found the pliers to be more useful than the actual bits on the Charge Ti when tightening screws because the Charge Ti bits are often too small and slip too much. In the outdoors, however, my favorite discovery was that the pliers are especially good for wrenching stuck and frozen knots free (much, much better than my teeth). In an urban environment, the wire cutters have been good for even heavy-duty cutting like copper cardboard staples. Scissors: The scissors are sharp and offer good leverage. They can trim my fingernails with ease, and can cut small cords and the like more cleanly than the knives can. The metal strip-spring on them offers smooth and easy cutting. One thing I do not like is the fact that I often cut my thumb on the scissors when opening them. This may seem like pure stupidity on my part, but I think this one is due to bad design, plain and simple. The scissors have a tempting little finger ledge to push down on with my thumb. But, with the pictures below, you can see that if I push straight down on the ledge (rather than on the edge's tip like I am doing in the photo) my thumb will end up with a rather large part of the very sharp scissors poking into it. My thumb got all sliced up before I taught myself to beware the tempting ledge and just open the scissors from the very end: Knives: This is where I feel the Charge Ti really shines. If nothing else, I really like the Charge Ti because it provides me with two quality, sharp, good-handling blades which I can open easily with one hand and which lock very securely. The blades are, simply put, quite beautiful. I can use the opening niche even with thin gloves on, and can unlock them with thin gloves as well. I have only good things to say about their performance. As for their durability (as I mentioned above) the straight blade has already gotten some dents on the bevel, and gotten the dents more easily than I expected (and more easily than I've experienced with other knives). I use the serrated blade much less, and it has not met the same denting fate. Neither has developed any rust, unlike the rest of the tool as I mentioned above. Bits: Overall, the bits perform decently. Not spectacularly, but decently. In my opinion, the bits are the most frustrating part of the tool to use because they are not full-blown-suited-for-the-job tools like the pliers or the knives. In other words, I feel I would choose to use the pliers or knives even with other pliers or knives lying around. The bits, however, are round-edged and abbreviated enough that if I had a real screwdriver lying around then I'd definitely use the real screwdriver. It is hard to really get the bits to dig into a screw and grip it like a quality screwdriver does. Also, the bits are still difficult and slippery to change out in-between jobs. I mostly just leave the large Phillips in the slot and improvise using the other tools for everything else so I don't have to swap bits. In this sense, I felt the bits are sort of like standard pocketknife scissors -- good in a pinch if I have nothing else. One other thing I don't understand is why, out of five tools in the handles, three of them are for turning screws. There is... (1) the bit adapter with the seven bits, (2) the bit adapter with the one eyeglass bit, and (3) the large standard screwdriver. I've found that the end of the can opener works well for larger standard screws, eliminating the need for the separate large screwdriver (number 3). And the eyeglass bit (number 2) could just be an additional bit for the bit adapter set 1. This would leave room for two extra tools! Files and Saw: I like these tools a lot! I am beginning to realize that I probably didn't use files and saws on my other tools because those files and saws didn't work (and not because I didn't have a use for them). I've used these tools for the oddest things -- from sawing open coconuts to filing down bits of metal wire nubs. I even sharpened my crampons with the file once out of curiosity and the double-cut bastard file side worked as well as the file I usually use. Clips and Case: The only extra I really use is the belt clip. The fabric case began fraying around the bottom hole, and I stopped using it because I have little use for a case anyway. I had a similarly brief episode with the key ring. When I used the key ring, the outer locking mechanism (which holds the key ring on) kept bashing into my keys in my pocket, releasing the key ring from the Charge Ti, and allowing the Charge Ti to fall off my keys. Now, I carry the Charge Ti around inside my pocket with the belt clip clipped to the top of my pocket. The first day I walked around with the Charge Ti in my pocket, I just threw it in my pocket haphazardly. When sliding around in my pocket, its weight was such that it quickly wore a thin spot in my pocket fabric. After that, I used the belt clip to keep it from rubbing, and so far I like the setup a lot.

Summary Overall, the Charge Ti has been a tool that has stood up to every use I could throw at it. It sure is a bit hefty weight-wise (it tends to pull down the hem of my pants a little when it's in my pocket) but its durability, sharpness, and ease of use has surpassed all other pocket knives and tools I've used. Likes Dislikes Ready for tough manual tasks Heavy Easy locking/unlocking mechanisms Opening the scissors cuts my thumb sometimes Very sharp knives Over-redundant with three bit/screw drivers

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Reviews > Knives > Multi-tools > Leatherman Charge Ti > Cora Shea > Field Report