I don't like the older Leathermans very well.
My nephew and I went through a multi tool phase for a while. Since we kept breaking the things in various amusing ways we went through a lot of them until we eventually settled in our respective corners.
I've found that Leathermans of all walks of life are made of pretty flimy steel (sort of like Swiss Army knives) and while the designs of the newer ones like the Wave and the Juice series are less horrible than the original models of yore they're still prone to going all noodly when you don't want them to. I've got a whole drawer full of Leathermans with bent handles and busted plier jaws. Not to mention the grooves permanently pressed into my hands from clutching the open sides of the plier handles on the things. Here's the rundown of what we went through as I remember it:
Buck Tool: Neat side folding design but the pliers feel very weak and springy.
Manner of death: My brother-in-law managed to arc weld my nephew's to the contacts on a vacuum cleaner's switch. It lived, but with slightly buggered pliers thereafter. Mine eventually broke the lock on the side with the knife blade so that the knife and other tools flopped out all the time. No unusually strenuous use caused this - I think it was relatively normal use of the screwdriver that eventually broke the lock.
Gerber CompactSport: Interesting one handed design on the pliers. Everything else is two handed and you have to open the pliers to get any of the other tools out. Plier jaws held into place with two little sliding lugs retained with a thin black steel C clip sort of arragement which looks flimsy. Solid lock.
Manner of death: Eventually developed severe plier jaw wobble. I haven't broken it yet, but it's looking pretty ghetto.
Gerber Legend: My current multi tool. Cons are that it's big and heavy, pros are that it's big and heavy! Solid and spring loaded pliers that can be opened one handed with finesse. Scissors and knife blade pop out one handed. Replaceable saw blade idea is nifty as heck, and it takes regular 1/4" jigsaw blades. It came with a Rem-Grit blade installed but I have an agressive wood cutting blade in there now. It also has decent screwdrivers and all the tools can be removed from the pivot and replaced, traded with your friends (most Gerber tools are interchangeable), and customized. Also, the wire cutting jaws on the pliers are replaceable!
Manner of death: Ain't killed it yet. Could probably go for a new saw blade, though.
Schrade ToughTool: My nephew's current muti tool. The Schrades have the most badass pliers I have ever seen in a multi tool, and that's the tool's strong point. The phillips screwdriver is very rounded and a little shoddy. The knife blade is very good, as are the slotted drivers. There's also a version that foregoes the built in drivers for a 1/4" hex bit socket which I think is neat but then you need to carry around bits. Not all of the tools lock - Only the knife, philips driver, can opener, and I think the file. The laminate cutter (seriously) and straight edge have humps on them that you press to unlock the locked tools.
Manner of death: I lost mine, somehow. The lockup was getting a little loose. My nephew still uses his.
Kaylee: First company to finally implement that should do pretty well I think.
You ought to look into the Gerber Legend series. Used to be you could get custom configurations of the things from the factory as well as a few of their (sometimes oddball) pre-rolled configurations that you could order online. The ones sold in stores are all the same as far as I know. If you badger them they'll also sell you replacement or different 'blades' (for lack of a better term) to add into your tool.
Oddball? One of their pre-rolled configurations is for horseback riders. It included a leather punch, as I recall, and a tool for removing stones from horse's hooves!
