Leatherman Wave+ Review

The Leatherman Wave+ has been the answer to "what multitool should I buy?" for so long that the question almost feels rhetorical. It is the default — 18 tools, outside-accessible blades that open one-handed, replaceable wire cutters, a 25-year warranty, and made in Portland, Oregon. The more interesting question in 2026, when most of us also carry a dedicated knife and a phone that replaced the ruler and the flashlight, is narrower: who still needs a tool this size? The honest answer is "fewer people than used to, but for those people nothing else does the job."

What the "+" actually fixed

The Wave has existed for decades; the Wave+ is the current version, and the plus sign is not marketing fluff. The original Wave's weakest point was its wire cutters — they were not replaceable, so if you chewed through hardened wire and dinged the cutting edges, you had damaged the tool permanently. The Wave+ swaps in replaceable, upgraded cutters that handle harder wire and can be swapped out if you ever wreck them. On a tool built to last 25 years, making the highest-wear component replaceable is exactly the right fix. If you are choosing between an older Wave on clearance and the Wave+, the cutters alone justify the current model.

The features that still matter

Two things keep the Wave+ at the top of the category. First, the outside-accessible blades: both the plain and serrated blades open from the outside of the closed tool, one-handed, without unfolding the pliers first. That sounds minor until you compare it to tools where you have to open the whole handle to get to a blade — the Wave+ deploys a knife as fast as many folders. Second, the spring-loaded pliers. The needlenose and regular pliers are genuinely good, and the spring action means they open themselves, which matters when you are doing repetitive gripping work. A multitool lives or dies on its pliers, and these are among the best in the category.

The rest of the 18 tools are the sensible full-size loadout: a bit driver that takes flat and Phillips bits, a wood/metal file, spring-loaded scissors, can and bottle openers, a wire stripper, and a ruler. The 420HC blade steel is not a supersteel, but it is tough, easy to sharpen, and holds a working edge — the right choice for a tool you will abuse and touch up rather than baby. If you want to keep any of your edges sharp, a compact sharpener is the natural companion, and our roundup of the best pocket tools covers the fix-it accessories worth carrying.

The weight conversation

Here is the honest tension. The Wave+ weighs about 241 grams — 8.5 ounces — and that is a belt-sheath weight, not a drop-it-in-a-pocket weight. In an era where a lot of carriers already have a dedicated pocket knife and a slim flashlight, a chunk of the Wave+'s blade real estate is redundant with the knife you are already carrying. The Wave+ makes the most sense when the pliers, the bit driver, and the full toolset are things you actually reach for — trades, makers, field techs, anyone who fixes physical things away from a toolbox. If your multitool mostly opens boxes and packages, you are carrying eight ounces to do a two-ounce job. Where and how you carry it changes the calculus, which is why we wrote a whole guide on how to carry a multitool.

Who it's for — and who should skip it

Buy the Wave+ if you want one tool that covers pliers, drivers, blades, and the long tail of small jobs, and you are happy to carry it on a belt or in a bag. It is the anchor tool for a work-focused loadout, and the 25-year warranty makes it a genuine buy-once proposition.

Skip it if weight is your primary concern or if a dedicated knife already covers most of what you do. In that case a lighter, more focused tool will serve you better and actually stay on you.

Alternatives

If 8.5 ounces is more than you want to carry every day, the Skeletool CX strips the concept down to the seven tools most people actually use — pliers, one blade, a bit driver, a bottle opener — at around five ounces. See how the trade-offs shake out in our Leatherman Wave+ vs Free comparison. Check the Leatherman Skeletool CX price on Amazon.

If you want the same full-size capability but in premium MagnaCut steel with a modern one-hand-everything design, the Arc is Leatherman's flagship — our Leatherman vs Gerber piece and the best EDC multitools hub put it in context. Check the Leatherman Arc price on Amazon.

Verdict

The Leatherman Wave+ is still the default full-size multitool because it still does the fundamentals better than almost anything: excellent spring-loaded pliers, fast outside-accessible one-hand blades, replaceable cutters that fix the original's one flaw, and a 25-year warranty behind USA manufacturing. The only real question is whether you need a tool this size — at 8.5 ounces, it rewards people who genuinely use the pliers and drivers, and over-serves those who mostly open boxes. If you are in the first group, this is the one to buy and stop shopping. Check the Leatherman Wave+ price on Amazon.