Gerber 1027824 Center-Drive Multi-Tool Silver

Product Information

The Gerber Center Drive is a made in the USA multi tool built with a purpose. Unlike most of its competitors that advertise their ability to do just about anything, the Center Drive is focused on building tasks. It’s a heavy duty tool, coming in at 4.7 in long closed and weighing a hefty 9.6 oz. This isn’t a generalist tool that you’d bring with you on a camping trip.

Having said all that, and knowing that Gerber could have done better with some of the details of the Center Drive, I still think they have done a good job here. The outside accessible main tools on the Center Drive are well designed and appear well made. The pliers work well and the blade is a good size and sharp enough. And, the long handled hex bit holder feature tool is the best version of this tool on any multi-tool. Don’t forget to buy the hex bit kit to make the most of the bit holder function. When you compare what Gerber is doing with the tools included in the Center-Drive, you begin to wonder how you ever used anything else. In keeping with the rest of the tools on the Center Drive Gerber decided to go big with the knife blade. Made of 420HC stainless steel, the main blade on the Center Drive is a 3.25 in long straight blade that opens externally. This is a serious blade. It comes sharp from the factory and is large enough to replace your current folding knife without issue.For its intended audience the Center Drive beats out the Wave+. It simply provides more specialized value than the Wave+ would for builders. With the Center Drive Gerber tried to shake up the heavy duty multi tool market. From everything we’ve seen so far, they succeeded. The Center Drive is an odd looking tool there’s no getting around that. It also includes fewer tools than you would expect on a tool its size. The pry bar is alright for its size but for a tool marketed at the construction trades you’d think they would have upped the strength a bit. The nail puller actually worked better than we expected. Most multi tool nail pullers are good enough for staples but don’t pull nails very well. Not so with the Center Drive. It was able to get underneath a standard nail and lever it up no problem. The Pliers on the Center Drive use a unique design that combines the snub nose of regular pliers with the accessibility of needlenose pliers. Gerber claims this gives you the gripping strength of full size pliers with the ability to get into nooks and crannies. As far as we can tell these work pretty well. The shape seemed like more of a novelty at first but it does allow you to really grip down and apply torque.

The Center-Drive is available in several configurations. MOLLE and Berry-Compliant sheaths are also available. Here’s a breakdown of the MSRPs (retail prices may be lower): Sheath / Holster / Pouch– Like many of their other top level tools Gerber offers a number of sheath options with the Center Drive. You can get it with no sheath, a standard nylon sheath, or a Berry compliant sheath for members of the U.S. armed forces. Bit Kit– The Center Drive comes with two bits standard but Gerber also gives you the option of adding on a 12 piece bit kit. This includes many of the most common bits used today. Honestly though, anyone considering the Center Drive for their daily carry probably already has a drawer full of ¼ in bits. Gerber has focussed the design of the Center Drive as a working man (or woman’s) tool. And I think they’ve done a reasonable job at designing a tool that will make it a good work tool. But like just about all design – even good design – the end product is a compromise. The compromises are all based on those fancy one-handed opening pliers. Most multi-tools are designed to use the real estate on the inside of the arms for the secondary tools. Things like scissors, different sizes of screwdrivers, can opener, chisel etc. Victorinox SwissTool XS vs Gerber Center Drive The Center Drive doesn’t have much space for secondary tools because the pliers are stored in there. All Gerber could fit as inside accessible tools is 3 swing out levers on one side and a spare bit holder on the other. As a simple comparison, look at SOG’s PowerAccess. It has 4 outside levers on each arm. The Victorinox SwissTool XS has 5 outside accessible levers on one side and 4 on the other.Another good design decision by Gerber was to spring load the pliers. It’s especially useful in a tool that markets itself as being one-handed deployable. Let’s face it though, most multi-tool pliers aren’t spring-loaded and are perfectly usable. In fact, most full-sized pliers aren’t spring loaded either. Still, works well for this multi-tool. Replacement Parts– Gerber offers a 25 year warranty on all their multi tools. This covers any defects in materials or manufacturing but doesn’t cover damage from use. It’s a good warranty overall and Gerber stands by it. The inside of the other handle only does one thing. It contains a holder for one hex tool bit. Flip it out and grab the flathead screwdriver hex bit out. Use-ability

What’s a real home run is the Center-Drive’s bit driver. This is the killer app, it’s awesome: it’s a real screwdriver. You do real screwdriver stuff with it and it doesn’t feel weird or contrived. Sure, the square two piece handle isn’t as ergonomic as a real screwdriver handle – multitools are devices of many compromises – but the awkward elliptical motion of most MT screwdrivers is absent, and the driver itself is quite long which allows you to access a lot of deeper-down screws you can’t with the super stubby driver in Leathermans. You can actually apply a good amount of torque to it as well, and it never bends or wiggles, and the bit stay firmly seated in the driver. There was a lot of fanfare on the release of Gerber’s Center Drive multi-tool. Gerber themselves made a big deal about it being a revolutionary new type of multi-tool with one-handed opening and it’s long-handled hex bit driver. And so did the multi-tool enthusiast’s community who were keen to see whether Gerber could move the multi-tool design and functional game along. Could they build a great multi-tool that would convert some of us Multi-Tool MacGyvers away from our favorite Leatherman’s and Victorinox’s and some SOG fans as well? The Gerber Center-Drive includes 12different tools: spring-loaded needle nose pliers w/ x-channel rail system, standard pliers, rotatable carbide wire cutters, 3.25″ 420HC fine edge blade, magnetic 3.25″ center-axis bit driver, extra bit holder, ruler, bottle opener, pry bar/nail puller, awl, fine & coarse sided file, and a serrated blade.You can also get it with the optional bit set. Out of all of the multitools on this list, none of them come close to this one in terms of getting the feel of having actual tools in your hands. The fact that the knife blade and bit driver are so long and sturdy makes this feel amazing when you go to use it. The build quality of the rest of the product is no slouch either. Let’s dig in a little deeper to see how the Center Drive lives up to the hype. Gerber Center Drive ToolsIt’s a hefty, hard use tool that can stand up to heavy duty demands. If you’re someone who frequently needs a toolbox on your belt the Center Drive should get some serious consideration. After 6 years of real-world experience (and a bunch of used test wood for screwing in screws) I put together a list ofwhat I feel are the 7best multitools for everyday carry. These products take into account build quality, price, form factor, reliability but most importantly, my personal opinions and experience with each of them. The 3 outside accessible tools on the Center Drive are what this multi-tool is all about. It’s these 3 tools that Gerber claims is where their innovation in multi-tools is. The main tool of most multi-tools are the pliers and in this case, the pliers are one-hand opening pliers. The pliers have a flat gripping section and a nut and bolt gripping section. The wire cutters are of the replaceable variety and have a notch for wire stripping. But, it’s kind of heavy so that may not be the ideal tool for everyone – so let’s dive into the specific reasons you’d buy one multitool over the other and figure out which is the best multitool for EDC.

The Leatherman Wave Plus and Gerber Center-Drive are two popular multi-tools. But what are the differences and similarities? What are the advantages of both tools? And why would you choose one over the other? We will explain. Gerber Center-Drive vs Leatherman Wave PlusThe rest of the tools on the Center Drive are all contained in the interior of the handles. The bottle opener, pry bar, and nail puller are all made up of a single piece. The bottle opener works well in that it opens bottles.