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Leatherman Blast Review
Submitted by An Outdoor Idiots Team Member.
The Leatherman Blast: Rulers
Both sides of both handles have ruler markings on them. One side has measurements in inches, and the other side has measurements in centimetres.We can't think of a practical use for rulers when negotiating the great outdoors, but there are so many exotic hobbies these days that no doubt a lot of people can.
Either way, we are reviewing the tool, rather than assessing what it can be applied to, so here is our take on the rulers:
If you are measuring something no more than 10cm (4") long, then there is no need to open the tool up. If you are measuring something longer, then you still don't need to open the tool up - you can keep sliding it along whatever it is you are measuring. However, it might make things quicker to extend the ruler to its full length, by opening out the handles as follows:
Note that the handles do not ever snap into place - they move freely from the fully closed position to the fully open position, and they move independently of each other. Therefore, for maximum accuracy when using one of the rulers, it is down to you to try to arrange things as shown above, rather than, for example, this:
The big question for a ruler is surely "how accurate is it?". There are two things which might hinder accuracy with this ruler. The first thing has already been shown: you need to carefully arrange both handles. The second thing is that the ends of the ruler are confused by bits of plastic and curved metal. There isn't even a "zero" position marked. It turns out that the zero position is in fact the extremity of the handle, including the plastic.
To measure accuracy, we lined up the end of the handle with the end of a steel ruler, using the baseplate of a magnetic compass for guidance, since you ask. Then we looked at how well the numbers matched up near the end of the other handle. This is what we saw:
Note that in the above photograph there is naturally a lot of parallax error going on, given how close the camera lens was to the objects. The centre of the lens was in fact positioned over the 18cm mark, and so that is what you should be looking at to gauge accuracy. So it seems that it is accurate to within about half a millimetre over about a 20 centimetre distance.
That's not too bad, all things considered. It means that, if for some reason you find yourself needing to make something exactly a metre long while in the wilderness, then you might be able to do just that to within about 2.5 millimetres, which is quite a bit better than using your arm for judgement.
So well done. Moving on...
Page 4 of 18 Previous Next [Top of Page]
Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Overview: Vital Statistics; The Metal; The Plastic; Quality of Construction
Page 3: Overview: Usage
Page 4: Rulers
Page 5: Wood/Metal File
Page 6: Small Bit Driver
Page 7: Screwdrivers
Page 8: Bottle Opener
Page 9: Wire Stripper
Page 10: Can Opener
Page 11: Needlenose Pliers
Page 12: Regular Pliers
Page 13: Wire Cutters
Page 14: Hard-Wire Cutters
Page 15: Saw
Page 16: Scissors
Page 17: Knife
Page 18: Conclusion
Page 2: Overview: Vital Statistics; The Metal; The Plastic; Quality of Construction
Page 3: Overview: Usage
Page 4: Rulers
Page 5: Wood/Metal File
Page 6: Small Bit Driver
Page 7: Screwdrivers
Page 8: Bottle Opener
Page 9: Wire Stripper
Page 10: Can Opener
Page 11: Needlenose Pliers
Page 12: Regular Pliers
Page 13: Wire Cutters
Page 14: Hard-Wire Cutters
Page 15: Saw
Page 16: Scissors
Page 17: Knife
Page 18: Conclusion
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