Get ready – Leatherman has been teasing that fresh, seasonal colors almost here, for their popular Raptor Rescue scissors-based multi-tool.
I love Leatherman multi-tools, shears, knives – but not the Garage Series Parts or older styles – and have been a fan of the company for a very long time.
They’re been trying new things, and that’s great.
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They launched a limited edition Topo Designs collaborative Skeletool multi-tool a few months ago. This doesn’t suit my style – it’s too “loud” – but seemed like a cool effort.
Leatherman has also been launching very limited quantity Garage Series tools. I purchased two, the Darkside multi-tool and Parts knife, although I intend to send the Parts back due to quality complaints.
Leatherman has offered multi-tools with different color options for a very long time.
Their Leatherman Raptor Rescue shears, not to be confused with the newer Leatherman Raptor Response shears, are great scissors, and I hear EMTs and others really like them a lot.
I recently received an email blast from Leatherman – a consumer/end-user newsletter, as opposed to being from PR/media channels – where they advertised their “fresh, seasonal colors almost here.”
Raptor Rescue has two Special Edition colors dropping on 9/6, so you’ll have more options to match your personal style. While you wait, check out the current colors.
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I have mixed feelings about the message here, but got over it quick. The “fresh, seasonal colors” part just struck me as strange.
Are tools supposed to be available in “fresh, seasonal colors?”
However, I do like color options when shopping for EDC tools such as folding knives, multi-tools, and pocket tools.
Leatherman’s social media marketing posts have been teasing the same.
It looks like they’re launching the Rescue Raptor in new pastel colors, which might have names such as “lavender purple” and “mint green.”
Not to mince words, I feel conflicted. On one hand, this seems a bit like pandering towards certain target audiences and I feel a bit alienated.
On the other hand, I wish the Raptor Rescue were available in multiple color options from the start. When I bought mine, shortly after it launched, there were no color options, just the one with black handles.
No, handle colors don’t matter in the grand scheme of tools, but if given the option, I like my personal-use and personal-carry tools to be a little brighter. At the least, it can make certain tools more visible on the bench, in a drawer, or when dropped on the ground in the dark.
If color options help to drive sales and puts Leatherman tools in the hands of customers that might otherwise balk at black and coyote-tan-colored tools, that’s great for everyone.
If you don’t want pastel-colored multi-tools, don’t buy ’em.
It looks like the special edition colors might only be available from Leatherman directly.
Price: $89.95
If you plan on ordering a Raptor Rescue, keep in mind an ongoing Leatherman promo.
Buy the Raptor Rescue, and get a one-piece tool for free. The Leatherman “11” is said to retail for $6.
It looks like a cheap little tool, but free is free.
Eligible “free gift with purchase” tools include the Raptor Rescue, Signal, Wave+, and Free K4 tools.
Leatherman doesn’t say when this free gift offer expires.
Jack D
I tend to agree on the color issue, but, as you point out, EMTs and probably other workers tend to use and carry these on them at all times. In those cases, it is nice to be able to identify your tool by color…I can only imagine how many have been misplaced, misappropriated, or downright stolen over the years.
I can imagine the same situation arising in outdoors wilderness activities…all said, if it works for Leatherman, and works for the target audience, good for them, and good for you for sharing.
Jerri
Definitely always good to have different options for color schemes. Since we are on the topic of Leatherman I’d like to take a very brief moment to touch upon the Leatherman Garage and more specifically the negativity. I’ve been buying Leatherman products since they were released in the early 1980’s and used them in my trade and outside of my profession since then. Multi tool’s have come a long way since then and I see Leatherman Garage as innovative.
I’ll address the elephant in the room that as someone that is no spring chicken anymore; Leatherman is making these Leatherman Garage products to appeal to younger demographics and that smart marketing. Yes it’s true the older crowd that helped Leatherman grow, but the company and the world has moved since then.
All this bickering I see on various websites is hardly welcoming environment for the next generation and as my teenage grandson aptly said to me “Young people generally have a shorter attention span and you have be very passionate to keep their attention.” Case and point with the trades; how are we able to compete against the Tik Tok’s, Instagram’s and these other activities? Arguably they are more vibrant, youthful and engaging than a bunch of people bickering about tools.
Leo
^This guy get’s it and thank you for mentioning what seemingly few want to address. Let’s be honest here men and I’ve been in this industry for half century so I know it’s mostly men that are involved with this genre; we need to get more young people interested in skilled trades. We must come to the realization Leatherman is competing not only against SOG and Gerber, yet these import cheaply made in China brands as well.
Wish I knew how to get the younger generation interested in the trades but I want nothing to do with social media or any of that nonsense at my age. Frankly I am just too old to learn any of that and I am close to retirement, so this really isn’t my battle anymore.
Jack D
It’s up to parents to steer their kids to the trades. My son was heading in that direction until the state shut down the labs…he found a new and successful path, no thanks to the situation, but he could have succeeded in his original goal had he been given a chance.
Too many parents think 13th, 14th, and 15th grade are the path to their kids’ futures, and that’s a crying shame…and a huge debt load.
Deeznutz
Spray paint and painters tape…any color you want.
TomD
As an aside I found Milwaukee’s 48-22-1505 and it’s pretty nice. Won’t do everything a true multi tool will do but having it as my default blade may work.
https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Hand-Tools/Cutting/Knives-and-Blades/48-22-1505
MM
I think the idea of having multiple colors available is a good thing. Not only can people choose their personal preference but you can also use the different colors for identification or color-coding purposes.
But this announcement sounds more like it could be some kind of temporary or limited-edition kind of thing, more in line with the limited edition Garage tools? I’m not sure how I feel about that. Adding more colors to the lineup sounds great, milking collectors for cash with yet another subtle variation of an existing product doesn’t sound so great.
I’m very curious what you found to be the issue with the Parts knife.
Stuart
The Parts just looks and feels slapped together.
I feel extremely let down. Spare blade was loose in the box, and is expected to be loose forever, as there’s no holder, holster, or case.
The blade change seems kludgy.
The concept seems incredibly flawed. Go home after work, take a Torx driver out, remove teeny tiny screws, and change blades? I thought there would be a little more to, such as maybe a travel sleeve. Nope. What you see is what you get.
The blade is way off-center. The lock doesn’t inspire confidence. The tips aren’t sharp-pointed! The handle picked up dirty fingerprints from my just touching the box.
It just feels like a very cheap execution. For a $200+ USA-made knife to lack the same attention as $50 and under import knives?
Leatherman should never have shipped the knife out like this.
MM
Wow. From the pictures I expected that the mechanism which secured the blades was a bit kludgy but it sounds like they really dropped the ball here. Nothing at all to keep the spare blade in, not even a cheapo plastic sleeve?
TomD
It really does sound like a development product that was sold (I guess you could argue this is what Garage is for).
Having a “changeable” blade that requires a whole setup at home isn’t an immediate downside, assuming you’re customizing the tool for the purpose you need, but the rest is more disappointing.
MM
There’s nothing wrong with the basic concept of a knife with interchangeable blades, it’s simply that the details of the design are terrible. Make the blade-change more robust. Supply the knife with a sheath that can store the extra blade. Get your fit & finish appropriate for the price point. Simple stuff, really. This almost feels like a situation where they recruited ideas from students or newbies and then let them run with it instead of having someone with experience give the design a once-over before it went to production.
Epc8181
The colors are nice, not my thing, but appealing to a broader audience makes sense. What I want… is for Leatherman to make these so they don’t oxidize and rust so easily! I carry and use these for work, they are an amazing rescue tool. They perform flawlessly every time I’ve used them, but no matter how careful I am and how often I use a thin layer of gun oil to protect them, they rust…..quickly! For the price my shears shouldn’t be rusting the first 2 weeks I had them with oil on them!
Dennis
Has anyone else noticed that when you look at the Raptor Rescue at Amazon, you get listings for dozens of other folding rescues sheers? Their price would seem to indicate that they are knock offs made in the People’s Republic. But they look exactly the same. How is Leatherman allowing this? Or do they not have a patent on these?
Mac
I love obscure colors nobody wants…they often get left unsold and we can buy them on deep discounts in clearance. If I can buy a $90 tool for less than half price then I don’t care if it’s purple or pink or blue or whatever.
Ball_bearing
The new colors are Aqua and Orchid. They look great.
https://www.leatherman.com/raptor-rescue-51.html
Kevin+M+Smith
I’ve been Leatherman customer for a few decades now. I EDC a couple of them and have the folding EMT scissors on my IFAK. The Signal is about to make it into my hunting/outdoors pack, I think. They make good stuff that works.
I don’t really care what colors they want to offer them in. If they can sell purple scissors, no skin off my teeth. What I can’t stand is this new marketing a lot of companies employ to try and hype up upcoming products. They send out emails weeks ahead teasing their super new gizmo, trying to get me super excited about it, only for the release to come and it’s just a new color or “bold new graphics” on an existing product. Or worse yet a $200 knife that had about 15 minutes of engineering put into it, but 80 hours of marketing.
Must work on the kids though or companies wouldn’t do it. I’m getting old, I guess.