Leatherman Freestyle CX Multi-Tool

Today I am reviewing the Leatherman Freestyle CX multi tool. Although it has been retired by Leatherman you can still find them online. I scooped three of them up on woot about 6 or 7 months ago for $18.99 each. Gave my two brothers one and kept one for myself. So depending where you look online you can come across these for fairly cheap. This thing is compact, has a full stainless steel body, and has carbon fiber inserts for extra lightweight and coolness factor. This is a very basic multi-tool. So don't be alarmed when you don't see this thing loaded up like a Leatherman wave with a ton of tools.

Personally, I wouldn't spend no more than $28 dollars on one of these, at that rate you can scoop up a Leatherman Juice S2 for a few more bucks and it comes in around the same size, same weight, but with a few more tool configurations. But for $18 bucks I feel this was a pretty good buy even though it's pretty limited on tools. I know myself I got plenty of value and use out of mine.

Tools:
Needlenose Pliers
Regular Pliers
Wire Cutters
Hard-wire Cutters
154CM Knife

Features:
Removable Pocket Clip
100% Stainless Steel
Carbon-fiber Handle Insert
DLC Coating
Locking Blade
25-year Warranty

Measurements:
3.45 in | 8.76 cm (Closed)
4.5 oz | 127.57 g (Weight)
2.6 in | 6.60 cm (Blade Length)

As you can see by the pictures above this is a mid-sized compact MT. I have other MT's like the Leatherman wave but in my opinion it's just to bulky to keep in the pocket for my EDC system. This tool is light and small enough to carry in your pocket every day with no problem. The Freestyle CX and Leatherman Squirt PS4 is part of my EDC system.

The pliers are very durable and large enough for smaller nuts or objects, around 3/4in or less. Leatherman advertised the Freestyle CX as a tool with "needle nose", While these work great in some situations, if it's a tight space they just don't work as good as a true set of needle nose pliers. The wire strippers work great. I have used them on all sort of task and not had a single problem with them.

The blade is a non serrated 154cm stainless steel blade. So it's easy to fairly easy to sharpen and holds a great edge. The spine of the blade is pretty thick and I've actually used this tool to chop small pieces of wood up for a fire using a hammer on the spine to chop through some decent sized branches. Even after months of solid abuse the blade opens smoothly with one hand and locks up tight.

As you can see by the picture above it carries nicely in the pocket next to my Benchmade 275BK Adamas.

Things I Like:

Value: For $18 bucks I feel I got plenty of value out of this tool.
Materials: Carbon Fiber Inserts, Full Stainless Steel Body, 154CM Blade... Totally kick butt!
Weight: Nice and lightweight.

Things I Dislike:

Handle/Grip: It seems like a lot of people griped about this. But the handle digs into the palm of your hand if you hold it one way. If you rotate it and put the straight handle on your palm though it works great.
I would have liked to see a screw driver implemented into it. It's not that big of a deal for me since I carry a Leatherman Squirt PS4 as well. But I think Pliers, Knife and screw driver would have made this MT complete.

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