This is the Gerber Mullet, a keychain-sized mini EDC multi-tool, available with a silver stonewashed or black finish.
While not new, the Mullet is new to me.
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The Gerber Mullet is said to be travel-friendly, as it doesn’t have a knife blade or scissors. It also sports versatile carry options, and can be clipped to a keychain or belt loop. I suppose you could also potentially remove the keyring and add a lanyard if you were so inclined.
The Mullet has 9 tools and functions:
- Small slotted screwdriver
- Medium slotted screwdriver
- Phillips-style screwdriver
- Bottle opener
- Scraper
- 1/4″ hex driver
- Nail puller
- Pry bar
- Wire cutter/stripper
The 1/4″ hex screwdriver bit wrench is so cleverly placed that I missed it at first.
Gerber describes the Mullet as being able to handle the demands of the work day and also as a post-work wingman.
I do like the motto though – Problems aren’t scheduled in advance, but solutions can be planned for.
Gerber doesn’t explicitly mention the construction, but retailers say the Mullet is made from stainless steel.
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It’s 3″ long, 3/4″ wide, and weighs 0.7 oz.
Price: $10
Buy Now: Stonewash via Amazon
Buy Now: Stonewash via BladeHQ
Buy Now: Mullet in Black via Amazon
Buy Now: Mullet in Black via BladeHQ
Discussion
I’ve been looking at some other Gerber multi-tools and EDC tools recently, and negative reviews have kept my interest level fairly low. But the Mullet? It looks fairly bulletproof, a design that’s hard to get wrong.
There are some negative user reviews, though, but mostly on carrying discomfort. Someone on Amazon complains that they’re not suited for women’s pants, as the tool pokes their leg and belly when they sit down.
On a keychain, yeah, I can see that it can be a little pokey, but probably no more so than my keys. The belt loop slot looks very convenient, and I like that it would allow the tool to be carried in different locations for either better comfort or convenience.
This looks like something I’d buy to finish up a gift card, or if I needed a “filler” to take advantage of a promo of some kind. I can’t think of anything recently that I would have used it for, but I’d bet that I’d find lots of uses for it if it were at my side.\
Is there any reason not to buy something like this? It’s looking very versatile to me, and for $10 shipped (via Amazon or slightly less at BladeHQ with a higher free shipping threshold), it’s not a big risk.
Years ago I bought a one-piece multi-tool and it was great. Then another brand bought the company and came out with a cheaper version that felt as cheaply as it was priced. With the Gerber Mullet, it’s inexpensive and looks to be relatively simple to make. As long as there are no sharp edges where you don’t want them, it looks like a low-risk acquisition.
At this time, I’m trying to think of a reason not to buy it, but am coming up short. Thoughts?
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Scott K
This looks like a cross between the Nite Ize Doohickey and the Gerber Shard. I’ve always found the Shard appealing, but I’ve never pulled the trigger. Both are currently around $5 on Amazon.
Stuart
Good point – thanks! I added links to past posts on the Doohickey.
Daniel
I purchased the Shard a few months back. No issues with comfort on the key ring, or stand alone in the pockets. I came to need it a few times, worked perfectly.
fred
Always great stocking stuffers. I gifted a batch of another variety last Christmas:
https://www.amazon.com/Keyport-MOCA-10-Key-Tool/dp/B07ND1RVCV
Joseph
Leatherman numbers are currently being clearances as well.
Me, I’ll stick with my P38.
Marvin
Thanx
Adam
In the feature list, the ¼” is listed as a driver, but you refer to it as a bit holder. Is that just me getting particular with wording?
If it no is for bits, I’m wondering how well it holds them, with just the pressure from that “wing” (the part that looks like I could be a letter opener)
Stuart
They explicitly call it a hex bit driver, I tend to consider “bit drivers” as bit holders out of habit.
I suppose “bit driver” is more accurate. It’s basically a 1/4″ hex wrench for turning screwdriver bits. So maybe I could/should describe it as a hex wrench?
Update – I changed the language to read “screwdriver bit wrench.”
If there’s enough tolerance to slide this onto a bit smoothly, the belt clip could potentially hold the bit in place with a little squeeze, but it’s hard to say for certain.
Frank D
Just a small 1/4 in hex wrench then.
I don’t see how this would hold a bit without losing it or causing issues with holes in pockets, can’t stow it as easily in a tiny pocket, …
At one point I had a credit card size multi tool something, fit in the wallet, confiscated by TSA in its early days … could be used as a weapon or sabotage a plane. :/
Mike (the other one)
These are neat, and I have a few similar tools, but I *never* use them. Most of the time I forget about it, and grab a real tool.
mattd
I have a Leatherman 6 that I got free and Cary on my keychain everyday. I don’t think I have ever actually used it. I think that this could come in handy if it is all you Cary, but I also always have a skeletool, so that is my always used tool, though I wish you could buy just a replacement blade for a reasonable price as I tend to abuse that blade pretty hard.
Toolfreak
This definitely looks poke-y, with not just the ever-present bottle opener that no one needs anymore, but that ‘phillips-style’ thing right on the corner.
It also looks very, very weak, with the lack of material due to the ‘mullet’ part of the design.
Most of these Mini EDC keychain tools don’t really seem built to last, just stamped out of cheap stainless in China for cheap, sold at a massive profit for $10, then never used or just thrown out when the person gets sick of it poking them.
Stuart
I figure that the blank is laser-cut out of sheet stock, the prying bar is shaped and bent, the screwdriver tip is formed, and it looks like the scraper is modified as well. The tool is likely tumbled to break any sharp edges.
Andy
I use tge bottle opener on my Kershaw tool at least half a dozen tines a week.
JoeM
To be completely honest, this looks like something the engineering department came up with late at night, drunk, and daring eachother to design THE SINGLE LEAST USEFUL tool they could possibly imagine. Whoever manages to convince the marketing department that it should be produced, wins the bet. They get a case of beer, a box of condoms, and a weekend with someone’s hot wife (or husband, depending on who wins/what their orientation is. I can’t imagine Women being excluded from this situation, in the modern era.) with absolutely zero consequences upon their return.
Listen… I already limit my respect for Gerber to their knives. Everything else is just bad. Exhibit A above. There was a time when the idea of a credit-card sized keychain tool, out of a flat piece of metal, was an interesting innovation in the world of EDC tools. The honeymoon period for this novelty feeling is well past its expiry date, and yet we still seem to be getting hit with new combos of them in some desperate attempt to abate someone’s inferiority complex for inventing them in the first place. It’s sad.
Let’s get to the point, okay? Let’s just go straight to it, and get it over with, all the marketing BS stripped away, all the sales spin removed… They’re all Bottle Openers for a style of bottle no longer used. Everything else on them is a grand justification for why “This ONE Version” is “Innovative” against the rest. This goes for EVERY brand of these. Gerber, Leatherman, Victorinox, Etc Infinitum.
Don’t get me wrong, there HAVE been some of these that were INTENDED to do more, and were just… TINY… ITSY BITSY TINY… Little flaws away from being genuinely useful for specifically unique ways.
The Leatherman Cam and… Rifle? Scope? The one they made for maintaining a Rifle specifically, the way the Cam was designed for Compound Bows… They come to mind. Yet, what is the single most offered and asked for one of these tools? The Brewser. It’s a Bottle Opener named after Beer. The Victorinox SwissCard? EASILY one of the first of the breed, probably the precursor to the Metal Plates we see today… Too fragile, being plastic. So what does it say about these devices, that the ones so intricately designed with purpose behind them, all get beaten out by an over-complicated Bottle Opener that is barely capable of any of its other functions, once the user has opened one or five of the things it is named after?
Easy. These are a useless class of tools, despite all the best efforts for them to be more. Not because great engineering didn’t at least TRY to make them great, but rather because the novelty of these tools is overshadowed by the fact that they do ONE thing, and ONE thing alone. Open Beer Bottles without Twist-Off Caps, and do so while containing a bunch of other things that hide the Bottle Opener so the user doesn’t APPEAR to be carrying around an urgent need to get drunk on their keychain. It’s a Mid-Life Crisis in EDC Tool form. A divorced, depressed, 45 year old man, buying a muscle car and drenching himself in cologne so he doesn’t feel defeated by life, or that he’s not well-hung enough to make himself feel good about himself when he looks in the mirror or showers.
“The Mullet”… Just how bad do you have to be, as a company, to feel the need to release one of these tools SPECIFICALLY for the group of individuals being targeted by Jeff Foxworthy jokes? What’s next? Offering to engrave, and enamel-paint, the Confederate Battle Standard as a paint scheme? Offer them as in-box prizes in cases of CANNED Beer as a joke? Make a model that doubles as a Jaw-Harp, with a Banjo Tuner?
It’s GERBER for crying out loud… Have some CLASS as a company. You can’t expect people to forget that you once made AMAZING knives, and still respect you for making GARBAGE tools. Just because Leatherman cornered a market you coveted, doesn’t mean you HAVE to ruin your name trying to pull it away from them. Capitalism requires innovation, not replication. You have to change and adapt to make a profit, not ride eachother’s coattails. ESPECIALLY when you do something that is ICONIC to people.
Reginald Thomas
Extremely well put! Yeah , I own a couple of GERBER’S products. NXT paratool (like it alot), a SIX auto knife (love it) the combat engineer paratool (love it). But I agree this looks like a cheap p.o.s. Thank you again for your well thought out statement.
Dave
Very nearly worthless