I spotted this cool little item on the Gerber website several months back just perusing around, indulging in my obsession as usual. Upon seeing this I thought "THAT'S AWESOME!" It had particular relevance to me because at RIP we do film work, I'm always trying to record fight choreography on my iPhone and that's near impossible when there's no one around to film it. I was in desperate need of a good multi-tool for my BOB bag anyway. at the time I only had one of those cheap $15 ones from Osh. on the Gerber website the price is listed at $64, I got lucky and found it on clearance at REI for $25. can't get much better than that. Coming from a survival, Disaster, or dare I say Zombie outbreak stand point. As a cinematographer/Photography it would be my obligation to document such events wherever possible. this little tool is definitely something I want with me.
So lets talk about the main function of this tool, a camera tripod. This function is probably created for people who are doing video blogging or documentation in the field. Its also useful if you have an app like face time and want to video chat with your hands free, Very cool. It might not be the right tool for everyone but there are plenty of other better Multi-tools out there. So if that's what you need get one of those and stop hating! The camera mount can be use two ways either with a rubber suction cup adapter that comes included in the box, or take that off and it has your standard camera mount screw. As a tripod it's sturdy enough to hold phones and smaller digital cameras but obviously not a Larger DSLR or camcorder. The mount connects to the tool by a simple metal ball joint that gives you some decent maneuverability, but I'm interested to see if with use it will loose it's stiff ability to hold up the camera. The feet of the tripod legs are made of this soft rubber, so I'm wondering if those will hold up over time too. Another concern I have is that to make it stick, I had to remove my phone cover. The phone adapter obviously needs a hard, flat surface to stick to. So either I take it off during use or find a different phone case. I've seen some sturdy ones online that had a Stainless steel backing so maybe ill go with that.
Closing everything down, sadly the Suction cup mount does not fit inside the tool. But you can unscrew it, and there's a small pocket for it in the sheath. Other than that when closed it all folds down into a neat and comfortable package. Though it is thick in width, so not as comfortable to carry around in your pants pocket. The construction is mostly Stainless steel with a plastic outer casing, which I actually kinda like. A lot of multi-tools are all metal and can be hard on the hands if you have to apply some real pressure. This feels much more comfortable. Notably the pliers on this tool are thinner than on most, more like needle nose pliers and have what looks like some real serious wire cutters. Unlike my last ones which were Useless.
Contents: If you were worried that the addition of the Camera mount would sacrifice some other tool, fear not. When opened up it contains
pretty standard fair.
- Bottle opener
- Flathead Screwdriver
- Small Flathead Screwdriver
- Small Fine Edge knife
- Phillips screwdriver
- Serrated knife
I'd like to say on record, that serrated knife out of the box, sharp as hell! shaves hair off my arm, none of my other knives have done that out of the box. It's its a pretty thin blade but, good job Gerber. everything is definitely of high quality materials, and a great improvement over my other mult-tool. i have not put it through heavy use yet, but I will do a second review on everything further down the road. the blades are sharp. The tools are of a good standard size. I can't think of much else to say on this subject. No complaints.
Thanks For reading, Ill put this through a few months of use, see how it holds up and write an "In the field review.
