Personal Information:
Leesa Joiner
leesaj@gmail.com
Southwestern Maine
44 years old
Female
5' 7" (1.7 m)
150 lb (68 kg)

Background:
    My camping, hiking and backpacking experience has included trips varying in length from one-day hikes to two-week trips. My hiking experience began with my father when I was about six years old. We hiked along the river pathways in northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. While enjoying the outdoors with friends and family, I spend time hiking, geocaching, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and camping, primarily in northern New England.
    Although I am not a lightweight backpacker, I am continually trying to 'lighten up' and primarily use a hammock for sleeping.

Product Information:
Product: Swisstool Spirit
Manufacturer: Victorinox
Manufacturer's URL: http://www.victorinox.ch
Year of manufacture: 2005
MSRP: $75.00 (USD)
Listed weight: 7.23 oz (205 g)
Weight as delivered:
Multitool: 7.3 oz (208 g)
Leather pouch: 1.6 oz (45 g)

Test Information:
    My plan consisted ( located in my initial report) of carrying this 'way cool' tool (according to my 12 year old, although I agree) on all my outdoor adventures - sometimes these adventures involve hiking, backpacking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and ice fishing. Other times these adventures involved fixing some piece of equipment that fails at the worse possible moment - a bike spoke, a loose binding or a piece of orthodontia that breaks on Christmas morning!   I have carried the 'cool' tool just about everywhere I've gone, except the airport!   I use pliers at work to straighten the 'eye' a combination lock goes through, tighten and loosen computer battery covers and even to pry the back off an older computer.
    While outdoors, I have removed plastic wrap from drink containers and cut off strips of bandage using the scissors, tightened screws on cook-ware using the philips screwdriver, cut some vegetables using the saw and removed more than a few ticks using the pliers.   The tool was able to handle the jobs without problem.   The saw and scissors have stayed sharp, and all the screwdrivers have maintained there edges.
    The tools open and close smoothly, and it is easy to tell when a part is either open or closed completely.   I have dropped the tool in the mud and rinsed it off in a stream.   I wiped it dry on a t-shirt and found that it still worked just fine.
    At only 205 g, (7 oz) it doesn't add much weight to my pack, that's for sure! I appreciate the lightness in my pack, and even more, appreciate that it has enough weight to it to feel sturdy. It is easy to hang on to and control. Tick removal requires a steady hand, especially when the patient is a 9 year old girl. I found that my hand did not tire, nor cramp after extended use while 'sawing' a couple of small, dry branches to use as skewers.
    The metal finish has stayed clean and relatively shiny. The two sliding release grips work smoothly. I am enjoying using this great tool. Once I arrived at the airport and as I got out of my car I realized I hadn't left the Spirit at home. I ended up locking it in my car for the weekend. I considered putting it in the bag I was checking, but decided that it wasn't worth taking a chance on losing it. If I had gone to the security area and then realized I still had it in my handbag, I would have taken a later flight so that I wouldn't lose it to the security people.
    I will continue testing the tool on many upcoming outdoor trips. Now that the weather has improved my time outside will be increasing, giving me more opportunities to further test this tool.


Test Conditions:
During the summer, the temperatures have risen to the 90's (32 C) (at least a few times), with cooler nights. Most of my outdoor adventures include hiking, backpacking and camping at elevations below 4000 ft (1200 m). As my children get older and more able to carry their own gear, we are attempting higher climbs. The terrain runs the gamut from improved to rocky and root filled trails to bushwacking. Some trips involve backpacking into campsites and at other times I set up camp and hike
out from there.

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Field Report

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