Their quality is a shit. I bought a wave+ 2 years ago, broke within a couple months (spring in pliers broke making pliers unusable). Sent it back and they say it’s not repairable so they give me a different one (mine was laser engraved). Then the replacement breaks (spring that holds pocket clip in place). I don’t even use the Leatherman that much, and wasn’t doing anything that could be outside of light use.
Were they better before?
My Skeletool has mostly held up for a decade and I’ve beat the shit out of it. I had a rivet break once but that was doing something really stupid that I shouldn’t have expected it to withstand. I sent it in and they fixed it. That was the only problem I’ve ever had with it. It’s one of my favorite possessions. Sad to see others have had bad experiences with the quality of the brand.
From what it sounds like they hit the enshittification trap too. I’ve had one from the late 90s that is still going strong. But now I’m hearing of more and more issues with them.
I have had one for almost 25. In constant use without fail. That and a Victorinox Cybertool have served me well since the Dot-Com boom days.
EDIT: Looked it up and it seems that my Cybertool is from the first year it was produced. Neat.
This is my first Leatherman, but so many people recommended them to me, and they’ve been around so long I presume they were actually good not shit like I’ve experienced.