The Leatherman Juice CS4 in action
Leatherman Juice CS4
Price: £89.95
Weight: 154g
Leatherman Micra
Price: £32.95
Weight: 54g
Country of manufacture (both): USA
Having a range of tools at your disposal while on the move or camping can make life a lot easier. Running repairs on gear such as crampons, stoves and tents can be vital, if not a lifesaver.
At the very least, having a sharp knife and a few basic repair tools on a backpacking or camping trip area a sensible addition to the rucksack.
A multi-tool packs several items into one unit, and the Leatherman range is one of the best known.
The company provided two models to test: the Juice CS4 and the Micra.
At first, the Juice provides a seemingly bewildering array of blades and tools, all packed into the twin folding handle, with bright blue aluminium cladding.
The Juice CS4
The tools are all in 420HC stainless steel.
The 6.6cm (2.6in) knife blade, mini-saw, scissors, awl and corkscrew, with its lever so you can play the sommelier on the campsite, are all accessible from the outside of the handle without opening it. The corkscrew lever doubles as a bottle opener.
Opening up the handles reveals the pliers, which incorporate a wire cutter. With the handles in this position, you also have access to three screwdrivers: Phillips, large flat blade, small flat blade and extra-small flat blade.
There is also a lanyard ring for attaching the multi-tool, but this is very difficult to extract from the handle. If you intend using it, we suggest leaving it in the out position.
The Micra, as you’d guess by its name, is the Juice’s little cousin.
Small and light enough to find a permanent place in our rucksack, the bright red multi-tool has a 4.06cm (1.6in) main blade, a medium sized flat-blade screwdriver, a screwdriver blade that doubles as both a Phillips and flat-blade, a small flat-blade screwdriver combined on the same tool as a bottle opener, a pair of tweezers and a nail file and cleaner.
Along the edge of one of the handles are ruler markings.
All of the tools are accessed by opening up the handles, which also reveals the scissors, which we found useful on our trips.
We never did get round to using the nail file or tweezers, but the other tools came in handy on our trips outdoors.
The whole thing weighs just 54g or a couple of ounces, so unless you’re a true ultra-lightweight advocate, the Micra is not going to be a burden.
Neither tool is cheap; the Juice CS4 particularly so, but you do get very good build quality from the Oregon-manufactured tools. They each come with a 25-year warranty and have a very solid feel to them.
The Leatherman Micra
We had no trouble with any failures while using the two Leatherman models.
The Micra is a great little tool to carry all the time, while the Juice CS4 is very handy on the campsite and maybe on those winter trips when adjustments to gear on the hoof could be safety-critical.
And if you’re packing the – admittedly increasingly rare – wine with a cork, you’ll need the Juice.
Both models’ knife blades are less than three inches and neither lock, so there should be no problem carrying the Leatherman multi-tools in a public place.
More details are on the Leatherman website.
UK distributers are Whitby & Co.
If you need a corkscrew, the Juice is the choice
grough rating:
Juice CS4
Features: 27/30
Performance: 22/25
Design: 23/25
Quality: 9/10
Value for money: 5/10
Total score: 86/100
Micra
Features: 24/30
Performance: 21/25
Design: 23/25
Quality: 9/10
Value for money: 7/10
Total score: 84/100
