Evolution, not Revolution..

The postman has obviously remembered where I live and today brought me my Leatherman Supertool 300. I’ve been looking forward to the arrival of this tool more than any other recent release by any company, I anticipate that this tool will usurp my current “go-to” tool for big jobs, the Leatherman Core.

I’ll have a closer look at the new arrival soon in my Collection Blog on the Supertool 300 page, but for now I’ll do a quick comparison with it’s predecessors, the Supertool, Supertool 200 and the Core. The illustration (right) shows the ancestral line of Leatherman’s “professional” tool offerings since 1994.

Initial comparison to the earlier Supertool models brings absolutely no surprises, and although there are a couple of innovations, the Supertool 300 is obviously a no-nonsense, serious tool aimed at tradesman rather than gadget collectors.The addition of replaceable 154CM cutters, the really quite clever clumping / non clumping mechanism, and the ability to open the blade with gloves on are all very useful features that people who depend on the tool will appreciate, and little or no gesture has been made at aesthetics – which is absolutely fine by me. I’ve other tools to impress people with and marvel at – this one is for real work and not just for looking at!

I have found it fascinating to have watched the Supertool evolve from it’s original incarnation as the first Leatherman tool to offer locking blades into the Supertool 200, which introduced more sophisticated locks and rounded handles for comfort. Then the Core developed the tools themselves, adding strength to the pliers and introducing “professional” standard sized, hollow ground drivers and easier to operate locks.The Supertool 300 appears to have taken the best of all that went before it, added a few clearly worthwhile innovations and may very well be the pinnacle of the professional use multitools on the market today. Time will ultimately decide, but I’m already sold.