If you’ve never handled any of the Squirt tools by Leatherman, think of them as a cross between a Juice and a Micra. The handles have brightly colored aluminum scales, with outside opening blades, like the Juice family of tools. But the Squirt is small, like a Micra, and uses the same type of “spring-loaded” jaws as a Micra.

Leatherman continues to dominate the multitool market; this is due in part by two things, advertising not only to its pre-existing customer base but to the newcomers as well and  most importantly it’s the drive to continually innovate on the designs of their tools, Leatherman is constantly refining and changing the shape of the tools themselves and how the public as a whole views them. I believe most of Leatherman’s success is just the shear dominance of name brand, they pioneered the market and ever since 9/11 they have become more common place as they are more appealing to the public than a regular pocket knife.

I got this because of the outside opening blade, I thought it could replace my EDC knife only to find it was nigh on impossible to open the blade one handed, the blade looks as though it was stamped out from a sheet and the finger holes are beveled in so my finger could not get a grip secure enough for me to open the blades. I got out the trusty Dremmel and put some cross hatching on the blade above the finger holes and it is now possible to open the tools one handed, when you get the outer blades half open it releases the lock of the inside tool and it too can then be opened easily.

I bought this to replace my first Gerber that was the one of the first models Gerber made that nipped your hand if you were not careful how you used it. I gave that one to one of my sons who still uses it in case he has adjustments to make on his bike while out riding.

I have owned this Tool for over 2 months now and apart from one item I can find no fault with it and it has become my EDC along with the 600 that is soon to be modified to make it more useful for my needs. First the criticism the tin opener is a joke, it is far too short for it’s job, in fact it can hardly look over the top of a can to use it for puncturing a can just to get a start at opening it. The Philips screw driver is made out of the same gauge steel as the one on the Recoil and the Diesel, Gerber have made a bit adapter to fit, so all three can use any ¼” bit including the Leatherman bits and those long double ended bits if you need get in to a deeply embedded screw. I am guessing it will hold the bit magnetically like the standard one now does so the long ones should hold fast, I will be getting the bit holder ASP so will let you all know.