Multitool Talk - Roxon Flex

Long time friends may remember I already nerded out about one of their tools about 2 years ago, in a blog post that has since lost all it's images and I can't easily get those back, but it does carry some extra context if you care enough to fish for it. I'm not linking it because my opinions have since evolved, BUT I was already stoaked with what they were doing back then and that has remained true. Since then their small tool - M2, got replaced in my pocket by SOG Power Pint for the pliers and the bit driver integrated in them and Victorinox Compact for everything else. But my eyes have never once left roxon because on Lord allmighty thhey've been cooking with HEAT. But first things first.

Roxon made a name for themselves mostly by actually trying to innovate in ways that could improve the basic multitool usage. They arrived at the substantial foldable scissors uinside the larger foldable pliers together with NexTool, they found a way to solid round-edged handles without adding to price or weight substantially, they lock and opening system that opens or fans out implements inside, and with Phantom they introduced interchangable main blades and Flex is the culmination of their work - the crowning achievement and likely the single biggest innovation in multitools in the past 30 years or so.

What is the Flex? It's less a tool and more a platform. Not too dissimilar to phantom and their other large tools released since Storm. It has somewhat unfortunately beaten to the market another tool, which was much more public about it's ongoing development in the field that Flex ended up dominating - the so called G.O.A.T. Tool, but there are certainly no hard feelings about it. What's That field in particular? Full modularity.

Indeed Every. Single. Implement in the Flex series is interchangable. That's a lie. Every single base comes with something attached permanently - base Pliers are pliers, flex Companions come with permanrnt bit drivers, Shears come witrh their big-as scissors and several of them also let you put in the much larger Phantom blades in them, In fact their current flagship tool - the flex titan has all of that except the permanent bit driver, but no surprises there - there is an implement module for that. And just for context, the implements come in two sizes - short and long.

And changing the modules is easy enough that you could get away just carrying around a bunch of them in case you need to swap, no extra tools required and they have a collection. Standouts include: T-shank saw (or file if you go to other multitool brands for it) adapter - long tool, 2 slots wide (though judging by their web graphics it's only intended to carry the shorter 3 inch saws); Extendible 15cm ruler with a magnet for grabing things from tight spaces at the end - short tool, 2 slots (for some reason they decided the inches on this one would divide into 1/10ths instead of halfs quarters etc. tho), both a 4 slot wide dedicated 1/4th inch bit driver AND a regular 2-slot-wide phillips that takes their 4mm bit adapter; space to hold a pen, tweezers and a needle in case you are jelous of Victorinox plus scales -eqiped swiss army knives - 2 slots wide, short; Firesteel, in case you want some of the Leatherman Signal or their own Flash action, no whistle tho and 3 slots wide. A minature brush, dedicated fire stripper, dedicated comb, Dedicated parcel hook to really drive home that they want to match every feature of victorinox, several gun maintenance tools, several key blanks so you don't have to carry a keychain at all and several sizes of dedicated hexagonal drivers. This not to mention normal things like two sizes of scalpel blades and a smaller pair of pliers for the knife part of the series. They went NUTS. And they still figured they need to offer tool blanks. Which unlike the G.O.A.T. Tool are available for purchase ready to fit whatever you need- you don't even need to cut them from bare sheets, so long as 1-slot-wide is all you need.

But enough about the series. Let's talk my specific tool. I got mine for ~52% off on poland's largest military gear distributor's site. If I was smart-er about it I would've gotten the tool, the implements and a second, smaller scissors-based tool to get the bit set, because tragically I lost my original adapter and that would've gotten me free shipping. As-is I ordered the tool and one implement at first then the rest of the implements and paid shipping twice. which, given the discount was still a great deal, just not as good as it could've been.

I got myself the Flex modular pliers - single best pliers I've ever held in my hand and my friend in middleshool had genuine Leatherman (If memory serves, it was one of the older ones, I don't think it was spring-loaded). My first pair with user replacable wire-cutters. Forged. I'm not planing to use them in heavy trades personally but I'm quite sure they'd manage just fine. Next - small scalpel blade. I went with scalpel because I suck at sharpening by hand and our rotary grindstone is too coarse for what's considered good, and those are smooth AND user-replacable. Kinda wish it was craft blades though. Next - small cross-cut file with flathead screwdriver and small ruler/depth gauge. 4,5cm long is just about enough for most things I might want to measure, and it's gonna do a lot better than the incomprehensible and severely skipping markings on the PowerPint's handles. Also this one has far more typical halfs, quarters and 8th's on the inch sides, which I don't expect to use, but y'know - nice to have. The file is sharp, though not very deep which should not be surprising, given it's otherwise a weak point for driving screws and prying which flathead are used for. In general it's a paradoxical design, given files need hardness and screwdrivers need toughness which usually in scientific terms are in oposition to each other, but I'm not gonna use it that heavily. Also damaging the markings is not an issue, those are defined enough to act as a file all on their own. The bad news is I hate filing my nails - this one's for odd jobs. On the other side - small serated blade. I recently learned the exazct physics of how these work and my swiss army knife doesn't have one. Technically. Again - our grinder is coarse as hell and whaty it leaves the knives with at the edge is not a milion miles away from tiny serations. I went with small because I like it's blade geometry better than the large one. Lastly - phillips screwdriver. Mixed feelings there. I would like the bit driver, but it was out of stock. I'd still have to carry my bits somehow but I have a solution ready for that. However, I also figured for half-off I might as well go with the longer, slimmer tool I can adapt to a driver I need more as someone who engages in electronics. Size 1 philips is also available in 4MM easy and this one being slim can get deeper into recesed spaces. BUT my issue is more so with the philips itself. To not get into to much detail there are 3 standards for cross-shaped drivers in roughly the same shape - Philips, Pozidriv and Japanese Industrial Standard. Philips geometry was made litrally such that screws would strip before they'd damage what they get screwd into so it sucks for use in the other standards, and while Pozidriv isn't much better - it's used a lot in my part of europe. And also all of Ikea. JIS is what I really want multitools to adopt because it fits great into all 3, has lowest chance of strpping the screws and was also and continues to be used, unsurprisingly in a whole bunch of electronics. But that's not really something I can just manifest. Moreover, though it's hard to tell in light available to me right now, and I didn't test it yet - mine seems to be shewed at the tip. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Those things happen. I'll report back once it's clearer, see if I can get it replaced or something and if not - I do have a notification set for when the driver is available again.

What I don't have but want? - The T-shank holder. Why didn't I get it then? Well it's not carried by the chain and roxon does that thing where it doesn't sell individual implements outside of the USA and their international sales go through AliExpress. In packs of 3 or 4. To get my pack I'd have to pay as much as I paid for the multitool base and in adition I'd be getting the extendable ruler which is cool enough, but other that ntah - the pen, tweezer and needle holder, which is a duplicate of what I already carry in my swiss army knife, except with no room for thread AFAICT AND a draw-cutter. Not even of the hook variety. Remember I already have a scalpel blade in the thing. It's not a stretch to say - I am in no rush to get it. Especially when you carry a swiss army knife, there is a well known trick to make t-shank saws fit into most of these and work OK, though it's a lil woblier than one would like, it's servisable and I also do not need a saw in my daily life. Lert's not omit that.
Still - I have 5 empty slots and absolutely no large tools in it. I have room to grow it.

All in all - I am in love with the thing and I mean yea - it's a cool gadget and I think anyone who ever saw my profile here could easily tell I like those. And in an era where cheap Leatherman clones usually make more sense as a purchase than genuine Leatherman, here is a company that may not manufacture locally (and by God, if I am rtight about the philips it may be the one and only time I ever heard of it showing at all), but who holds an insanely high standard of design and it translates into the manufacturing and final product. It's heavier than what I currently carry on hand and I would care more about damaging it, but compared to everything else on the market it has FAR more merit per monetary unit. Decent steel - D2. Not as good as a lot of the competition but honestly who cares? Every implement here can be swaped by hand and they are not expensive. The bases might be, yea but I am not exactly afraid about the wellbeing of those pliers. There are not many good tools left, and at even fewer at a pricepoint this reasonable. Even without my discount Swiss Tools are 3 times the price, Leatherman is somehow worse, and everyone else has always some quirky issues. I heard people say the main if not only reason they have faith in multitool space is Roxon. And Maybe NexTool. Leatherman Wave Clones usually don't count towards that because fixing a gap in the market by using patent expiration is hardly worth it but yea, other than that it's hard to find good value in the space now. And this? I mean with it you make the perfect tool for yourself and it's fraction of the cost of other quality stuff. I don't think there's a reasonable way to beat that.