The Truss is made from quality stainless steel and having carried one of these and a Leatherman in my backpack around the ocean the Gerber wins. The Gerber Gear Truss Multitool is one of the best leatherman alternatives out there, especially if you’re on a budget. Gerber has been working hard to compete with Leatherman in the multi-tool market and they’re doing a good job. But it does come with a lifetime warranty. This makes cleaning it a little trickier than a Leatherman. The one downside to the Spirit X is that you can not take it apart.
The locking mechanism is tough and it holds well making it safe to use to the blades and saw with some cutting pressure.Īt just 0.31 lbs it’s super light to carry and included with the Spirit X is a tough nylon sheath that you can attach to your belt and there is a lanyard hole so you can hang it around your neck too. When closed, all the tools bar the pliers are easily accessible from the outside and firmly lock into place when opened. Ths Spirit X comes with 22 functions from pliers to wire strippers, blades, scissors, and screwdrivers. See why on the Recommended Multi-Tools page.Our first leatherman alternative comes from the original Swiss Army Knife manufacturers Victorinox, and their Victorinox Swiss Army Swisstool Spirit X is one of the best multi-tools around.Īs with all Victorinox tools, the Spirit X is made from the highest quality Swiss stainless steel which can handle the rough and tumble of the outdoors and blocks rust in saltwater environments too. I rate the quality of Victorinox multi-tools very highly, so high I gave the Victorinox SwissTool Spirit X my Quality crown. Other Articles You Might Be Interested In What do you think about manufacturers who continue to produce their products in their home countries? Is it really that important? Tell me what you think in the comments section below. As Robin Williams used to say, “you have to question an army the gives their soldiers a pocket knife that includes a wine bottle opener”. From here, they ship out the 350 different models to the world.Įven today, the Swiss Army issue each new soldier with a Victorinox Swiss Army knife as do 15 other armies around the world. Victorinox easily exceeds this legal test as they manufacture each of the 17 million Swiss Army Knife parts they make annually in their small factory about an hour from Zurich in the town of Ibach. To legally claim your industrial product is Swiss Made, 60% of the manufacturing costs and the essential manufacturing step must occur in Switzerland. The competition between Victorinox and Wenger for Swiss Army Knife market share was brought to an end once and for all in 2013 when Victorinox, who had purchased Wenger 8 years before, announced it was going to merge each brand’s knife ranges under the Victorinox brand.
I’m not sure what the real difference is or what the best slogan is but it’s a clever way to not obviously disadvantage one Swiss Army Knife maker over the other. Imagine how many lawyers and how much money it would take today to get two corporations to agree on how each other could advertise their products? The agreement said Wenger could use the slogan the “Genuine Swiss Army Knife” and Victorinox could say it made the “Original Swiss Army Knife”. In 1908, after much negotiation, they agreed on each other’s slogans. These two companies fought it out to own the Swiss Army Knife market. Victorinox has produced the Swiss Army Knife since the 1890’s in Switzerland and from its earliest beginnings, Victorinox had competition from another Swiss company called Wenger. During the Second World War, American soldiers understandably having trouble getting “Offiziermesser” to roll off their tongues, coined the catchy name – Swiss Army Knife. You would use it to open canned food for your dinner and disassembling your rifle. If you were a Swiss soldier in the 1880’s (that would make you very old right now!), you carried your trusty “Offiziermesser”.
So even though our favorite army knives are called Swiss Army Knives, are they still made in Switzerland?įirstly, it’s worthwhile thinking about what a Swiss Army knife is and where did it first come from.
There are some iconic products that we think we know where they are made, but do we? Did you know that Black & Decker tools, Barbie Dolls and Volvos cars are made in China? Samsonite is made in India and the iconic Rawlings baseball is actually made in Costa Rica. In these days where profit is king, manufacturers are looking to make the biggest possible profit margin they can out of everything they sell.
0 kommentar(er)
