Customer Reviews

Gerber 07563 Pro Scout Needlenose - Multi-Plier

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The dominant multi-tool on the market is likely the Leatherman Wave. The Gerber has two main advantages versus the Leatherman (and one weakness).

The first advantage is that all the tools lock (not so for the Leatherman though the blade locks). A locking blade is clearly desirable, but a nice feature for other tools as well.

The second advantage is the strength of the pliers. It's hard to see from the image, but the pliers retract into the handle versus the Wave where the handles unfold to expose the pliers. Having looked at both before buying the Gerber, I suspect (but am not sure) that the strength of the Gerber design is greater. While the Leatherman's pliers have a pivot for each arm (plus the center pivot), the Gerber only has the center pivot.

This strength leads to the one weakness - that the pliers have to be opened to access any of the other tools (while with the Leatherman you can get at the blade without opening the whole tool).

Both are fine tools, what sold me on the Gerber is how the pliers retract and the cool sound it makes when you deploy the pliers and they lock into place - a very solid, satisfying metal thunk. Hint: to make sure that you can deploy with one hand, rub a little candle wax into the plier channels in the handle. Also the scissors are made by Fiskar - a specialty scissor maker - nice and sharp. Besides, it's sometimes nice to have something slightly different from what everyone else has.

I had one of these until I lost it. I bought a SOG in the meantime (can't remember the actual model, but its the one where the pliers snap out when you push a button). Lusted for my Gerber ever since - the pliers are way better and there was a phillips screwdriver bit (can you believe not putting one of these in the tool?).

Before I got my Gerber again, I looked at the leatherman tools - Wave and Juice models, and the swiss army tool. The reviews on the leaterhman looked good, and I really liked the juice, but their seems to be a problem with the wire cutters being of softer metal and that being a problem. I cut alot of wire and this would be an issue.

The Juice models look really cool, but they are more pocket knives than multitools. Other than that, I think they will give swiss army knife users a serious alternative. But, as a multitool, they really aren't.

I really liked the Swiss Tool from Victorinox. But, and I just couln't believe this, it didn't have a scissors! Yet every swiss army knife I have owned always has had one? Someone was really asleep at the switch on that one!

The pliers on the Gerber do yeoman duty. They are tough, they open wide and you can really exert comfortable leverage.

The ability to use the optional bit adaptor for any 1/4" bit is just way useful. The second most used blade on my tools are the screwdrivers and there never seems to be the right size - with this, it just isn't a problem anymore. You can get the PERFECT bit for the job and always have it with you.

I also like the sheath better on the Gerber than for the SOG. But i do miss the ability to be able to clip it onto by belt instead of thread it. You would think there would be a great 3rd party tool sheath out there, but there really isn't (that meets my specs).

My complaints with this tool - or at least what I would like to see:

- Serrated knife: For some reason, there seems to be an infatuation with multitool mfgs with serrated knives. They have a place, but boy, are they hard to sharpen. A sharp straight edge will do 90% of what a serrated blade will do and is far easier to sharpen and touch up. The Gerber has a half serrated knife and it would be much better if it were a straight edge.

- Using the pliers is the most common use of this for me. However, it would be nicer if there was an easier way to get blades out without having to open the jaws first. This isn't a big deal, but it can get tricky.

- I would like the sheath to have one of those hook style serious clip sheaths. If they substituted this on the vs the belt loop on the sheath, I would be happy. Everytime you undo the belt, the tool and sheath want to slide off and drop to the floor.

I also bought, but did not receive yet, the Legend 800. I had a budget for multitools and the pricing on Amazon was such that I could buy both the Pro Scout and Legend for the same price as a Legend elsewhere. I uses these things so much that having one handy at home and for the boat really works well.

Simply put, if you use the knife blade a lot, go with the Leatherman Wave. That one has four separate locking blades (2 of them knives) that you can deploy without opening up the tool. If you can make do with one small (albeit really good) blade, then the Gerber 600 is better. Both of these tools (plus the SOG I've bought for a distant relative) are very well made.

Here's why I bought the Gerber for myself:

- What I find myself doing is not-so knife-intensive.

- ALL the tools lock in place, whereas with the Leatherman, only the four blades do. The last thing I want is to be in a hurry (which you will be, if/when you need one of these instead of a full tool kit) and have the screwdriver fold on me.

- As small as the single, half-serrated blade is, it's still a Gerber blade. Marketing or not, Gerber makes knives. Other companies just make little knives for their tools.

- The scissors are of an incredibly simple design, and I can say that they cut like they are truly of Fiskars quality.

- The extra tool kit (6 slotted/phillips bits) that I bought with my Gerber 600 fits neatly in the sheath, instead of in an extra box like the Leatherman's does. The adapter is a lot simpler, too. I highly recommend this little extra kit.

- There's a ruler (3 in./8 cm) imprinted in the sides of the Gerber (none on the Leatherman). I thought this was just for show, basically, until I really needed it one day (at which point, it became invaluable).

- You can replace the saw blade EASILY on the Gerber with standard (I forget the size) blades you can find at the hardware store. You don't have to take the tool apart to do so, either.

- It's WAY less bulky than the Gerber 800 Legend

The Gerber MP 600 Pro Scout doesn't have a lanyard loop, though.

I have used the Gerber MP600 Pro-Scout continuously for several months, both at work and in the outdoors. The Pro-Scout is about 5-1/16" closed, and slightly over 6-1/2" with the pliers open. The reason I purchased the Pro-Scout instead of the Leatherman or Victorinox is because it is larger and has what seems to be a more rugged design. Also, the addition of a metal cutting saw was another feature that I especially wanted. I have actually used the metal saw to cut a 1/4" diameter bolt in half, and while the saw took a beating, it did the job. I was more interested, however, in how the saw holder performed. I wanted to test the ability of the holder to sucessfully hold the saw in place, and not become worn or loose after some heavy use. I'm happy to say that the saw and holder performed well and did not deform.

I have used all the other tools, and with the exception of the file, they have performed very well. If I had a choice, I would eliminate the file which is useless. Perhaps the file could be replaced with a wood saw or lanyard holder. The knife is extremely sharp. I don't care for serrated edges, but I have to say that the knife blade works well for cutting cardboard, rubber, rope, and whittling wood.

The Pro-Scout comes with a black ballistic nylon sheath lined with what appears to be black Cambrell. In just five months of use, the lining has already begun to disintegrate and tear open. The sheath has a flimsy 1" wide strap sewn on the rear for a 2-1/4" wide belt. One of the problems with this design is that it allows the sheath to slip off and fall whenever the user's belt is loosened.

With that said, the overall rating of this multitool is four stars. If Gerber improved the design of the sheath by adding a good clip and if the multitool itself had a useful file that actually worked, I would have to give it five stars.

Quality -- The first observation I must make concerning the Multi-Plier 600 Pro Scout with Needlenose pliers (and all the other modern Gerber products with which I'm familiar) is the outstanding quality of the fit and finish. This particular product proudly wears a Made In USA label, and it features satin-finished stainless steel throughout with Zytel plastic buttons to unlock the fold out tools. It opens fairly smoothly, feels solid in your hand, and the knife blade and other tools lock in the open position for safe and secure use.

Selection -- Choosing an ideal multi-tool is perhaps the hardest task facing the user. Multi-tool marketing favors manufacturers and retailers because there are so many different configurations (too many, in fact, and you could find yourself with a collection.) I don't like that for reasons too numerous to mention, but suffice to say there's no single multi-tool that includes all the tools I might want or need. An ideal scenario would be a build-your-own concept, but that's out of the question since Gerber doesn't sell direct to the consumer.

Usability -- The 600 ProScout lets you carry a lot of useful tools in a compact package that weighs about twelve ounces. The tools are as follows:

1. The needlenose pliers are one of the best in a multi-tool. They are precision made and allow a lot of leverage and pressure to be applied to a part. They retract into the handles for storage. On this model, they must be deployed to use the fold out tools; this is one thing that makes this tool unique from some of the other Gerber tools.

2. The tool steel file, made by Simonds, is coarse on one side and fine on the other; it suffers from being too small for most of what you'd want a file for, but it still has some use.

3. There's one Phillips (crosshead) screwdriver that is about a #1 head size. It's just too small to inspire confidence when I am prone to overtighten EVERYTHING.

4. Two slotted blade screwdrivers (small and medium) are actually ground to size as opposed to just being stampings. Screwdrivers are usually the weakest link in a multi-tool because of their small size and the twisting pressures that are applied to them so you definitely don't want to pretend they are prybars, too.

5. One of the screwdrivers is also a bottle opener (opens bottle caps I guess, but I have NEVER used this).

6. There's a can opener that's well made; while it does work, it's not my choice to use in the kitchen but when camping or while parked along a roadside waiting for triple A after grocery shopping it's another story.

7. The drop point knife is a combination fine edge and serrated edge. While it's a good blade, in the Gerber tradition, you don't get enough of either edge style and it's VERY difficult to sharpen the serrated part.

8. There's a RemGrit (tungsten carbide grit on alloy steel) jig saw blade in a universal coupler. It cuts on the forward and reverse strokes and is self sharpening. I just had to have this multi-tool because it has this saw that cuts a lot of different materials. The blade can be replaced when it wears out or you could swap it with a regular wood or metal jig saw blade.

9. The Fiskars scissors are small but sharp. I'm not disappointed by their usefulness and quality, but then real men and women won't do their tailoring with this thing either.

Maybe it's just me, but cutting stuff is what this particular tool configuration is about (knife, saw, scissors) and that's why it's nice to have the file to touch up rough edges which is invariably what I get when I cut stuff. The tool would be more useful still if it had a lanyard ring on it so then I wouldn't need another model multi-tool for another hobby.

I could give this a five star rating if it wasn't for the fact that every multi-tool combo is a compromise of convenience (miniaturization) versus function. Plus you pay dearly for having many tools in the package while you have the expectation that you'll have use for the chosen tool configuration often. The Gerber Multi-Plier is a handy way to keep your life together without carrying a toolbox.

Gerber makes the sharpest and most durrable blades known to man. My knife has been through some tough situations and it always performs great. I think Gerber makes the most durrable "multi-tools" of all the manufactures. Gerber = Quality.

This is a pretty nice knife except for a couple of issues I'd have rated it higher.

Bad points-

Only one standard screw driver blade - small size with a nice bottle opener built in the same blade. My son dropped this once when he barrowed it from me and the screwdriver blade chipped. Must be some pretty good hardened steel.

No saw - The black Finegrif (tm) saw blade is a joke. It would take half an hour (at least) to cut through a small nail and the blade is too thin to not break right off. For wood this blade is even less effective. This is a none usable...

The file has no teeth on the sides like a proper file should. One side is a double cut and the other single cut (metal). No chance for an emergency manicure here.

Can opener blade has no fingernail slot and it's sharp so it's hard to safely deploy without cutting yourself in the dark.

Best things about this knife-

Nice set of needle nose pliers great for small precision type jobs. One handed operation (pliers only) and also has a comfortable grip.

Scissors- a necessity in my opinion.

locking blades- excellent system for locking the blades

All and all a good quality tool but with some design flaws.

Paul Harvey can shill all he wants for Leatherman, but, having owned both this Gerber Pro-Scout and a comparable Leatherman, I must say Gerber beats Leatherman hands down. The Gerber is s-o-o much easier to use due to its design, and its quality is second to none. I've had my present Pro-Scout for several years, carry it on my hip nearly everywhere I go (except when flying or attending major sporting events; sadly, it falls into the "weapon" category since 9/11), use it at least a dozen times a day, and would feel somewhat incomplete without it.

If you are looking to buy a *serious* multi-tool, give the Gerber a long, hard look. I personally don't think it will matter whether you try it out before or after the Leatherman. Either way, unless the Leatherman model has a tool you just can't live without, I honestly believe you will go with the Gerber.

Feels kind of cheap. You have to open the pliers to open the tools, which aren't that great. The only thing I like about it are the scissors, they're very sharp. I can't recommend this tool. You can definitely find better for your money.

Main reason I got this over its Leatherman counterpart was because of the quick deploy system. I don't like having to use two hands (or get crazy contortionist) to get the Leatherman types open. All I have to do w/ my Gerber is take it out of the little pocket thingy, and do a one-fell-swoop action and viola, needlenose pliers.

The extra tools are nice. All the blades are super sharp. The saw blad however is kinda wack. It's like sandpaper attached to metal. I wouldn't mind having actual teeth to chop something up.

The Amazon-suggested tool bit expansion set didn't work however (Gerber 22-49445 10-Piece Tool Kit) because it's super loose on the screwdriver it's supposed to attach to. Too bad I opened it before reading the damn package for compatibility. I would've returned it.

I have yet to put it through military-grade abuse but for everyday people, it's nice.