This review covers both the Leatherman itself, as well as the company Leatherman. First, the Charge itself. Several years ago, my wife bought me a Leatherman Charge XTi. I got the XTi largely because I wanted the hooked blade, instead of the scissors on the non-XTi model. And over the years, I’ve used the hook many times… largely for cutting zip-ties that have been used to bind cables. It works very well for this, and reduces the likelihood of accidentally cutting a cable, or myself.
All and all, I like the Leatherman a lot, other than being a bit on the heavy side. But since getting my Hazard 4 bag, I’ve had the Leatherman attached to the side of the bag, so the weight isn’t as much of an issue. Unfortunately, this also means I don’t have the Leatherman on my belt, and therefore on me at all times.
Anyway, I’ve used it daily for years, and after all that time, it developed some nicks in the straight blade. Now that I had my Wicked Edge sharpener, I thought I would try sharpening it… but before I did that, I contacted Leatherman and asked about getting the blade replaced, since I knew I would have to remove a fair amount of material from the blade to fix the damage. Years ago I had a Leatherman repaired when the jaws of the pliers broke. I just walked into their factory by the Portland airport, they took it into the back, and a few minutes later I had it back and in perfect condition. Knowing that, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to contact them.
They got back to me a day or two later, and said they didn’t sell just the blade, but that I could send it in and they’d replace the blade for free under warranty. Wow, okay. So, I packaged it up and sent it off. And about a week later, an envelope showed up in my mailbox with a newly refurbished Leatherman Charge XTi, with a letter included saying they determined it would be better to just replace the whole thing rather than just the blade (other wear and tear). I must say, not bad at all. =) Leatherman certainly stands by their warranty.
So what do I think? Awesome.
Leatherman Charge XTi [xrr rating=4.75/5]
Leatherman Company [xrr rating=5/5]