The terms
Leatherman: a 25-Year Limited Warranty to the original owner, running 25 years from the date the user receives the tool. Accessories and sheaths carry a two-year limited warranty. Apparel and soft goods are not covered.
Victorinox: a lifetime guarantee against any defects in material and workmanship, excluding misuse and abuse.
Gerber: a lifetime limited warranty in North America, 25 years elsewhere. Misuse, abuse, sharpening, normal wear and tear, accidental damage and commercial use are excluded.
On wording, Victorinox wins. Twenty-five years is nonetheless longer than most people keep anything, and Leatherman’s reputation for honoring it is strong.
The property that beats a warranty
On the Leatherman Wave+, the wire cutters are replaceable inserts and the bit driver takes standard bits. Those are the two parts that actually wear out on a multitool, and on this one they are both user-serviceable for a few dollars.
That is worth more than the extra years on the Victorinox warranty. A tool whose consumables are spares does not need the warranty for its most likely failure.
Inside or outside opening
Leatherman Wave+ puts the knife blades on the outside, so they open one-handed without unfolding the pliers. If you reach for the knife ten times for every time you reach for the pliers - which most people do - that is the single most useful feature on the tool.
Victorinox SwissTool puts everything inside and locks every implement. It is slower to deploy and safer in use, with smooth rounded handles that do not bite the palm under load.
Neither is better. They are different priorities and the choice is genuinely personal.
Weight decides whether you carry it
A Wave+ is a belt tool. In a pocket it is heavy enough that a lot of people stop carrying it, and a multitool in a drawer has done nothing for anyone.
The Skeletool is half the weight and has seven tools instead of eighteen. The Huntsman is 100 grams, has no pliers, and includes a saw that is genuinely effective rather than a token.
The honest advice: buy the lightest one that covers what you actually use, not the one with the longest feature list.
The Gerber case
The Center-Drive puts the bit driver on the tool’s center axis, which means it drives a screw like a real screwdriver rather than at an awkward angle. It is the only multitool here where driving screws is not a compromise.
It is also bulkier and has fewer tools than the Wave for similar weight. If you drive screws often, that trade is clearly worth it.
What none of them covers
Sharpening, which Gerber excludes by name, and normal wear. A blade consumed by sharpening is the tool working, not failing - the same strange durability case as kitchen knives, covered in the knife pages linked below.
