Why carry many items when you can pocket just one instead? At Practical Motorhome, that’s exactly what we think.
When packing your ‘van before you head off on tour, you need to be mindful of your payload – what you pack, how you pack and how you secure what you pack. Efficiency is key, streamlining what you take on holiday to cut down on clutter. Less kit in your ‘van can even help your fuel economy! Which is why we are fans of multi-tools.
There are often small jobs that need to get done when you’re away from home that, if you were at home, would start with a wander to your tool kit and a quick rummage for the right tool. But you don’t want to take a tool kit on tour, so take a multi-tool instead – and they’re also great for opening cans, bottles and tins, essential on any motorcaravanning holiday.
Practical Motorhome tested a range of multi-tools, including the Gerber 600 Bluntnose. Here we have the Leatherman Wingman. Leatherman makes a range of multi-tools. The Wingman costs just £39.95, making it great value for money – it is also covered by a reassuring 25-year warranty.
That the manufacturer has sufficient confidence in its products to supply a 25-year warranty means that, on paper, this should be an excellent product. Made of stainless steel and weighing 198.4g, the Wingman has an impressive 14 tools.
So, what does it have? There’s a bottle opener, a package opener and a can opener, a combo knife, three screwdrivers (a medium screwdriver, a small screwdriver and a Phillips screwdriver), two pliers (spring-action needlenose pliers and spring-action regular pliers), a ruler that measures to 1.5in or 3.8cm, spring-action scissors, spring-action wire cutters, a wire stripper and finally a metal/wood file. That is quite a lot for a product that is just 3.8in or 9.7cm in length when closed.
There’s also a removable pocket clip, while it is good to know that many of the tools can be used with the Wingman in its closed position (a bit like a pocket knife), plus all the tools can be opened and operated just with one hand.
In fact, the Practical Motorhome review team liked the Leatherman Wingman so much, it received a five-star rating and was also declared the Editor’s Choice and thus the multi-tool group test winner.
All the multi-tools tested were set the same challenges. They had to trim wrapping paper, wire, fingernails and tape, open cans, tins and bottles, get twisted nails out of pallets, drive screws into wood, saw pallets, plastic and metal, and sharpen pencils. That this compact, lightweight, affordable, hand held gadget can perform such a great variety of tasks with skill is impressive. We also found the spring-action of the pliers a real asset.
There are lots of multi-tools on the market with different functions and priced to suit different budgets, but as our group test winner, if you need a multi-tool to help you on your motorhome holidays, we can definitely recommend the Leatherman Wingman.