Expensive.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto:  KISS
Motivation:  Don't ask

Regifts

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

SII's

(Sharper Image Items)

my swiss army multitool was one of the most thoughtful gifts any girlfriend ever got me.  sure beats another pair of boxers that don't fit comfortably.

some of that other stuff might fall in the category of "claptrap."  Regifts, indeed.  Got a white elephant party coming up?

I love my "sonic" screwdriver.  That's what I call it anyway.  It's basically a circuit tester in the form of a screwdriver.

My Swiss Army knife is my life-long travelling companion.

- Steve

Most Sharper Image type gadgets are interesting when you look at the pictures, but turn out to be junk when you use them. I traded my Swiss Army knife for a Leatherman over 15 years ago. I carry it and use it almost every day. It's big enough to be far more useful than a Swiss Army knife. It can even be used as a spanner wrench to open the bungs on 55-gallon drums.
I do miss the tooth pick and tweezers.

uh, mine is essentially a leatherman.  pretty much like this one:  http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=11714597

 

Geez ivymike...now I gotta go get another knife that the wife doesn't know about!!

well just get the wife to buy it, instead of the girlfriend, and everything should be just fine.
 

Try searching for a "Leather Man" on the internet.

- Steve

For everyday pocket carrying, I like this:

http://i45.tinypic.com/16bdpub.jpg

It seems to me to be the largest Swiss Army knife that is comfortable to carry in my pocket all of the time.

When I expect to need something more and can carry something larger on my belt, I have a Swiss Tool like the one in ivymike's link except that it has both serrated and plain large blades and no scisors.

Then there is the one that I keep in my car, a large one and a small one with a wire stripper that I keep in my electrical tool bag, a little one with a lot of blades that I keep in a pigeon hole of my desk, a dozen or so little ones with logos, my dad's Remington Boy Scout knife from the 1930's, another dozen or so multifunction knives and a dozen or more ordinary folding knives. I might have one with a flashlight, but none with any electronic features.

I think that the Leatherman knives have better knife blade steel, but the Victorinox knives have better assortments of features.

CJC
http://www.vfdriveinfo.com

Problem I've found with the leatherman is the pliers - you can't apply a lot of pressure on them as it cuts into your hand.

For the gardeners, you can get the secateur version instead of the plier version.
http://www.shop4leatherman.co.uk/leatherman_secateurs_hybrid.html