I have been carrying this around daily for a couple years

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Thoughts on the SOG Flash I?

I'm looking for a daily use knife. Looking for something small that I can carry and not realize it's on my person. The price is right on this knife and I like the design.

So far I see this is around $35 shipped.
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Not a bad little knife but I would recommend the Kershaw Cryo in that price range.

http://www.amazon.com/Kershaw-Cryo-S...s=kershaw+cryo

Blade is 2.75" (a quarter inch bigger than the SOG) and it weighs in at about 4oz (about double the weight of the SOG). It has open assist (as does the SOG), adjustable clip for tip-up or tip-down carry right or left, frame lock as opposed to the pistol lock of the SOG and the steel is about the same although the cryo has a nice titanium carbo-nitride coating to help resist rust.
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Thanks for the recommendation, Tony.
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Anytime Bryan! :-)
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DANGIT Leatherman, why is it that the only multitool you make with decent knife blade steel fails to include an Awl? why oh why!
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Argh... so I have to pick one Leatherman multitool to take with me to Venezuela for a year.... price is (mostly) not an object. But if I spend extra, I kinda want to get extra :-)


The Surge gives me an awl, and a dedicated flathead for prying. But the knife is crappy 420HC steel. And it can only carry a saw or file, but not both at the same time.
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The Charge ALX gives me a 154CM blade and a nice cutting hook, but no awl and no prybar!
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The Charge TTi gives me a S30V blade, cutting hook and flathead prybar... but still no awl, and a 80% price bump over the Surge.
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I don't know... any thoughts?
Things get MacGyver'ed there A LOT, so I figure an awl qill be used a ton for scraping and punching tasks.... but so will a knife!
Any other heavy duty high multitools I'm missing?
I handled the SOG, I don't like it. AWESOME pliers, but I felt like I was going to snap the blades in half, they felt so think and weak.
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wow, I was tired when I typed that, so many speleeeeing errors its almost unreadable :-)

fixed:
I don't know... any thoughts?
Things get MacGyver'ed there A LOT, so I figure an awl will be used a ton for scraping and punching tasks.... and if I need to put a hole in some tin or something, an awl is the only tool that can do it.... But a knife also will get a lot of use in various tasks...

Any other heavy duty, high end multitools that I'm missing?
I used to own the original Leatherman Super Tool from years ago, thats why I've set my sights on a Leatherman.
I have handled the SOG before, I don't like it. AWESOME pliers, and it has an awesome ability to customize whats in it, but the tools felt so thin and flimsy, I felt like I was going to snap the blades in half, and they didn't lock with a very confident click.

Oh yeah, prices:
Surge $70
Charge ALX $90
Charge TTi $112
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If you are worried about having a pry bar/scraping implement I would go with whichever multi tool that works and then attach a mini pry bar from county comm with a small lanyard to your tool. works great as a way to pull your tool out of your pocket/case and then it is a dedicated prying device. These things work great and last forever. http://www.countycomm.com/widgy.html I have had one in my little survival kit for a while and found it very useful.
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mmm... interesting idea... though I'd still want something narrower to punch/gouge with... seems like the right track....
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420HC may not be super steel but it will get scary sharp and even if it isn't the best at holding an edge it is really easy to resharpen. I would go with the Surge with a saw or file, depending on which you may use more at work.

You could always carry a second small knife in a pocket with some decent serrations to take the place of a dedicated saw. :-)
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oh yeah, forgot to mention -It's illegal to carry a knife in Venezuela. Jail. not fun :-) -- a bit less likely if the knife is inside a multitool -- so my trusty benchmade is getting sidelined. :-)

And tools are VERY expensive down there. -- this tool won't be for EDC, this will be for a mostly home toolbox. Building, fixing, repairing, you name it. Last year I used my old one to disassemble and fix a laptop, break into a locked strongroom with a stripped out lock, string wire, and fix plumbing. that was in the span of a few weeks. This time around I'm moving there - It will be my everything! :-)
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I'd contact Leatherman on their FB page. They have one of the best customer service departments I have ever dealt with. They will have some good input and advise.

They are about making customers happy, not pushing products if you know what I mean.

Heck, MAYBE, after you buy your tool, you could send it into Leatherman and they could swap the blade for you. I have had that done before.
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Ouch!!!

I still think the Surge is your best bet. 420HC can be touched up using your kitchen knife steel honer without a problem.
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Interesting idea..... If they could swap the scissors for an Awl in the TTi, I'd take it! But i'm not so sure on that one - seems taht each of the models has it's own handle size and locking specs, not sure the Awl from a full size 4.5" long Surge/SuperTool would fit on a 4" Charge... never know till I ask I suppose... or till I buy both, physically compare em, then return one :-)

I've taken the ALX out of the running and narrowed it down mostly just the Surge and the Charge TTi, with a "Super Tool 300" as a distant 3rd tried and true backup possibility... Kinda looked at the Victorinox SwissTool as well... seems well made, but I guess I'm just a Leatherman guy :-)
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So it's been asked before, why carry a blade?

Here's a story for ya'll about the importance of EDC'ing a blade of some kind, ALL the time. And its related to the Leatherman discussion I already started :-).

I used to own a Leatherman Super Tool (the original :-)). Last year I gave it to a friend in Venezuela, I knew he would get some good use out of it. Little did I know how much!

Last month he was driving in the car with his girlfriend, on the highway, out in the middle of nowhere. The car was in an accident, completely mangled and totaled. Miraculously, both of them escaped being crushed, but they came to rest with the seatbelt wrapped around his girlfriends neck, rapidly choking her. Out came the Leatherman on his hip and he cut the seatbelt off her. More than likely saved her life. And today they are both fine!

Moral of that story - always have a blade! Some kind of survival tool stashed under the seat would have been useless in that situation, he only had what was on him at the time. The rest of the car was impressively crushed, mangled, and "reorganized"!
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I dont think they would swap scissors and things but they might swap a crappy blade for a better one if you threw them a few bucks.
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How about the Leatherman Wave? I have one (old style with permanent screw drivers) that has served me quit well.

http://www.leatherman.com/product/Wave
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I'll swap it myself if the geometry will fit and they'll sell me the replacement part - or heck, sell me the part for a few bucks and I'll worry about the fitting myself!! :-)
But along the same lines, if the geometry fits, that means upgrading the blade on the Surge to a the S30V also might fit as well :-)

Not so much a Wave fan for this particular "must do everything and then a bit more" usage - other models all have additional features that I would like to have some if not all of - Awl, better knife steel, replaceable wire cutter blades (supertool)
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So rather than staring at pictures and trying to pick one, I just purchased all 4 of them from amazon, and I'll pay $5 to send back the 3 that I don't want!

4" Charge TTi
4" Rebar
4.5" Surge
4.5" Super Tool 300

There's a much bigger size difference between 4" and 4.5" than I realized!

The Rebar is identical to the iconic Super Tool 300, just smaller, a lot smaller. The handles are thinner, it's a nice carry size.

I must have a bad sample of the Surge, it's loose and rattly when closed (but sending to to them would surely fix it)

I worry a lot about the strength of the Charge TTi's pliers, putting a crimper forward at the tip really screws up their structural integrity IMO.
GOOD NEWS is that the awl on the 4" Rebar looks like it's a perfect match to fit in the 4" Charge TTi in place of the scissors.

And as for the rest... I'll spare you the blow by blow review of the 4 models, suffice only to say that they're all good in some aspects, and it's going to be a tough decision.
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