The Leatherman Micra mini keychain-sized multi-tool has been on my wishlist for 12-15 years now – at least – but I still cannot bring myself to buy one. Help push me off the fence.
The Micra is a mini scissors-based multi-tool, with a small knife blade, nail file, screwdrivers, and tweezers.
It’s worth mentioning that the scissors are spring-action, which definitely pushes me closer to buying one.
Here’s where my hesitation comes in:
I used to own a Gerber Shortcut scissors-based mini tool, and it had outside-accessible tools. The Micra’s tools are all on the inside. I tend to avoid inside-accessible tools on full-size multi-tools, or at least I prefer outside-accessible tools where possible.
Leatherman used to have a scissors-based Squirt mini multi-tool, with outside-accessible tools. The price was a bit high, and so I kept waiting for a good promotion. The scissors-based Leatherman Squirt was eventually discontinued.
I haven’t quite shaken off the idea that the Micra was not my first-choice tool.
I have a Leatherman Style CS multi-tool, or at least it’s around here somewhere. I have this problem with keychain-sized multi-tools.
Looking at Amazon, I actually bought 7 of the Style CS over the years, one for me and the rest for reader giveaways. That’s 7 CS’s and 0 Micras. According to my order history, I also bought a wire stripper-based Squirt ES4 for a reader giveaway in 2013.
This is frustrating. Leatherman still offers the Squirt with pliers, and the Style PS with pliers, but neither tool features scissors as the primary tool anymore.
Because of this, the Micra is then what, my third choice?
$35 isn’t outrageous for a well-regarded multi-tool that’s backed with a 25 year warranty. But it still seems like a lot for what would be my third-choice scissors-based mini Leatherman tool.
It could be argued that plenty of keychain-sized tools have mini scissors, but it has been my experience that primary-function scissors, especially spring-action, perform better than scissors as a secondary fold-out tool.
All this came to mind recently when I saw a mass media website recommend the Leatherman Micra for around $60 at Amazon. That really irked me, as it’s currently retails for $35 at Leatherman, but I suppose that’s the state of the internet these days.
As an aside, it seems that you can only buy the Micra direct from Leatherman right now. I wonder if the cost has risen too much for them to be sell it for a reasonable price at retailers and dealers.
I get good use out of mini Swiss Army Knives, but have wanted to get a good scissors-based tool again.
I have yo-yoed about the Micra for a long time now, which I suppose is telling in itself. It used to be that I didn’t buy a Micra because I had my heart set on other scissors-based tools that were too pricey.
Now, I find myself more interested in the Micra, but I can’t shake the feeling that part of the reason why is because there it’s the only option anymore.
I know that some of you have Leatherman Micras in your pockets or tool kits. Is the traditional inner-tool styling an inconvenience? And I know some of you will certainly be aghast at the idea of a $35 multi-tool.
I’ve been on the fence for a while. What’s your take on the Micra?
Is there a better scissors-based mini tool or multi-tool I should be looking at instead?
