Tool count is the first number most people compare on a multitool, and it’s a strange one to shop by. A tool you never open still rides in the handle. It still adds weight, and it still costs money. So the count only helps when the extras earn their space, which raises a fair question for the biggest name in the category. Which Leatherman actually packs the most?
The Surge does. It carries 21 tools, more than anything else in the lineup, and it gets there at $159.95, a full ninety dollars under the ARC that comes closest. One catch rides along with the crown, and it shows up the first time the tool lands on a belt. Closed, the Surge weighs 12.5 ounces.
Leatherman Surge
21 tools · 12.5 oz · 420HC stainless blades
Price: $159.95 at Amazon
Where to buy: Buy on Amazon
The count across the lineup
Four models set the pace. Read down the tool column and the gaps look small. Read across to the price column and they stop looking small.
| Model | Tools | Price | Weight | Closed | Main blade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surge | 21 | $159.95 | 12.5 oz | 4.5 in | 420HC |
| ARC | 20 | $249.95 | 8.6 oz | 4.25 in | MagnaCut |
| Charge+ | 19 | Retired | 8.3 oz | 4 in | 154CM |
| Wave+ | 18 | $129.95 | 8.5 oz | 4 in | 420HC |
Six of the Surge’s 21 live in the plier head alone: needlenose pliers, regular pliers, two replaceable cutters, stranded-wire cutters, and an electrical crimper. Rivals spread that work thinner. Counting this way is how a full-size tool reaches 21 without stuffing the handles with trinkets, and it’s also why the Surge’s handles had to grow to hold the rest of the list.
One seat on that ladder is already empty. Leatherman has retired the Charge+, all 19 tools and its 154CM main blade, and the model’s page now points to a retired-products list. Its successor in the line is the Wave Alpha, which carries 18 tools and a MagnaCut blade at $199.95, so the premium end of the range traded a tool for better steel.
What the extra tools actually are
Start with the blade exchanger, the Surge’s signature piece of hardware. A wood and metal file plus a saw ship in the slot, and the exchanger also takes standard t-shank jigsaw blades. A worn-out saw stops being a warranty errand and becomes whatever blade the job in front of you actually wants.
What remains is work, not padding. Two full-size blades ride in the handles, one plain and one serrated, both 420HC stainless. Spring-action scissors are sized for real cutting instead of thread snipping, and four tools open from the outside without unfolding the handles. Every implement locks except the plier head itself.
Behind the count sits the usual Leatherman backstop. The warranty runs 25 years, and the tool is made in Portland, Oregon, from US and global parts.
An 8-inch ruler runs along the handles with the awl and thread loop, and a Phillips #1-2 and 3/16-inch bit comes in the box for the large bit driver.
The weight is the trade
Nothing about that 12.5 ounces is accidental, and none of it comes free. Give up exactly one tool and the ARC drops to 8.6 ounces. Give up three and the Wave+ lands at 8.5. At 4.5 inches closed, this is a belt tool that rides in a sheath, and pretending it’s a pocket tool gets old within the hour. The sheath spreads the weight across a belt, which is how the tool was designed to ride all along.
That’s the receipt for the count, itemized in ounces.
We have already lived with one
Gadgeteer put the Surge through a hands-on review in 2024, and the verdict was blunt: heavy-duty, reliable, and hard to go wrong with. Our reviewer had carried Leatherman tools for 40 years of crafting, tinkering, and repairs, and the Surge kept the brand’s place in his pocket against everything that tried to take it. The price has moved since then, from $149.95 at review time to $159.95 now.
Who should buy which
Buy the Surge if the tool works for a living. On a belt, in a truck kit, on a boat, around a farm, the weight stops registering and the count starts paying, because the tool you need is the one already in your hand. The replaceable cutters and the blade exchanger are built for exactly that life.
Buy the ARC if the blade sells you and the belt doesn’t. MagnaCut is the best steel Leatherman has ever put in a multitool, the ARC carries it at 8.6 ounces, and the $249.95 price is the toll. Buy the Wave+ if you want the classic shape of the category for less: 18 tools, $129.95 at list, and $103.95 on Amazon when this was checked. Plenty of longtime carriers never shop past the Wave+, and the shape explains why.
The most-tools crown turns out to be the reasonable seat in this lineup, which isn’t how these ladders usually run. The Surge gives you the longest list, the biggest pliers, and the lowest price of the three leaders, and it charges you in weight instead of dollars.
Leatherman Wave+
18 tools · 8.5 oz · 420HC stainless blades
Price: $103.95 $129.95 (save $26.00, 20% off) at Amazon
Where to buy: Buy on Amazon
Carry it on a belt and that’s a trade worth making every time. Carry it in a pocket and the ARC earns its premium. The count was never the decision. The carry is.
