Anti Gerber Bias Alleged. And Confirmed.

It’s not that I hate Gerber, it’s that I want to love Gerber, and feel so let down.

Let down by the struggling design ethic:
Last summer The Northern Monkey (you’ll meet him later) and I were provisioning for a trip across the US,
I was in a buying mood. I was happy (even exited) about dropping $100 on a multi tool.
We went to REI and perused the selection.
Even the salesguy couldn’t disagree when I pointed out that across the price range all the Gerber multi tools were all much of a muchness.
There was no stand out model.
In a reversal of our usual roles,* I bought the cheapest one (a suspension),
TNM spent a bit more and went for one with spring-loaded pliers.
Even he can’t explain why.
Less than a year later TNM hates his, and it lives unloved at the back of a draw, and mine is broken. Pah!

Let down by the poor build quality:
The picture doesn’t do it justice there is hardly any wear on the tool, and it failed. Pah!

Let down by the exploitative pricing strategy:
As mentioned previously if you buy the axe as a Fiskars or Wilkinsonsword its £20 if you buy THE SAME PIECE OF KIT as Gerber it’s £33-45 Pah!

Gerber Hmmmm.

*“There’s tight-fisted, there’s people from Yorkshire, and then there’s me!”
TNM The Black Hills SD Aug 15th 06.

Credit where credit’s due
Recreational Equipment Incorporated were excellent, and gave me a full refund

http://rei.com/

Bushwacker
The worlds leading authority on his own opinion.