Back in 2012, Gerber released a product that appealed to the amateur photographer and smartphone demographic by having a tripod built in to a regular multi-tool. I received this from Gerber a while back as a thank you for helping them with an event in New York City, so I finally decided to try it out.
Here’s my review of the Gerber Steady Tool.
First Impressions
After handling various Leatherman multi-tools, the first thing that jumped out to me was the look and feel of the body. Unlike the full metal bodies of other plier multi-tools, the Steady Tool features a plastic body that offers more grip but also feels a bit different in the hand.
The construction of the tool seems solid and well put together, with nothing being overly loose. The tools, on the other hand, might be a little too tight. Pulling out some of the screwdrivers is extremely difficult (we’ll talk more about this later).
Since the obvious person this is marketed to is the weekend adventurer, I took it along on a trip to Joshua Tree.
The Tripod
Normally, it’d begin with a look at the actual knives and tools of the product, but because the tripod is the key feature of this multi-tool, that’s where we’ll start.
To engage the tripod, you pull out two legs from the handle while the other side of the handle acts as a third leg to balance the camera. A screw-in mount must be pulled up to give you something to put the camera on.
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