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. 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 Plus 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 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.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. Talk about being impressed with something, the Gerber Center-Drive multitool is hands down my favorite multitool on the market.

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. All in all the Center Drive was a tool built for a specific audience that definitely meets the needs of that audience. Most of the features on it provide daily value and time savings for contractors and others in the building trades. 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. 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.For its intended audience the Center Drive beats out the Wave+. It simply provides more specialized value than the Wave+ would for builders. The Center Drive has space for one more bit and comes standard with a flathead screwdriver bit. So that’s a Phillips head and a flathead screwdriver bit carried on the Center Drive. Given the bit driver is one of the main tools and a feature, it would have been good for Gerber to have designed the capability to carry more than 2-bit types onboard. Spare Hex Bit Holder It’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. Kenny’s life around power tools started early. His grandfather was an airplane mechanic in WW2 and took up woodworking as a hobby after retiring from the power industry. Building everything from bookshelves to lazy Susans, he became extremely accomplished while his young grandson observed, fascinated at the way raw wood could turn into something both beautiful and functional. In fact, Kenny still uses several pieces that his grandfather made more than 30 years ago. 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.

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. 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.

The 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. Let’s dig in a little deeper to see how the Center Drive lives up to the hype. Gerber Center Drive Tools 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. 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 tools it has though are well designed, sturdily built, and do exactly what they’re supposed to. The centerline screwdriver in particular is an excellent innovation on Gerber’s part. The sole exception to this is the carbide wire cutters. Gerber doesn’t seem to have figured out exactly how to get these to work without being overly brittle.

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 Gerber is very clear on who they intend the Center Drive for: Contractors, electricians, plumbers, and construction workers in general. It’s a heavy duty multi tool with a focus on building specific tools. Many of the most common functions included on multi tools are missing from the Center Drive to make room for its main tools.

Tools that are accessible from the outside

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. As the name might already suggest the special Center-Drive screwdriver is the highlight of the Gerber multi-tool. Until the Center-Drive was introduced using a bit holder was always a little awkward. The holder is namely not located in the middle of the axis of the tool, like with the Wave. Gerber came up with a solution: a long bit holder with a kink in it to make sure it will sit exactly on the axis of the multi-tool. As such tightening screws is a lot easier. The bit holder is also long and narrow to make sure you can also reach hard-to-reach places. This bit holder is made from standard 6 mm bits as you might have seen before on regular screwdrivers.