Gerber Center Drive Review | Did Gerber Get the Center Drive Wrong?

Gerber Center Drive – A Better Multi-Tool Design?

There was a lot of fanfare on the release of Gerber’s Center Drive multi-tool. Gerber themselves made a big deal about it being a revolutionary new type of multi-tool with one-handed opening and it’s long-handled hex bit driver. And so did the multi-tool enthusiast’s community who were keen to see whether Gerber could move the multi-tool design and functional game along. Could they build a great multi-tool that would convert some of us Multi-Tool MacGyvers away from our favorite Leatherman’s and Victorinox’s and some SOG fans as well?

Carry-ability

The Gerber Center Drive is a full-size multi-tool with a closed length of 4.7 inches (12 cms). Its weight is full-size too. At 9.5 oz (270 gms) it’s no lightweight but it’s not too heavy for every day carry either. The porker of the multi-tool world is Leatherman’s Surge which breaks the scales at 12.5 oz (335 gms). It’s no lightweight but it is my favorite Heavy Duty Multi-tool and I give it the best crown on the Recommended Multi-tool page. Of a similar weight to the Center Drive is Gerber’s own MP600 being half an ounce (14 gms) lighter.

At this weight, the Center Drive isn’t a multi-tool you want to just carry free in your pocket. But if you did want to, you won’t be able to clip it on to anything as Gerber hasn’t included a pocket clip or the option of adding a pocket clip. Even considering the weight though, you could easily carry this clipped to your belt or for shorter tasks, on your pocket. Gerber should have designed a pocket clip design. You do get a sheath as part of the package though. There are a few different package versions that come with either a ballistic nylon, molle compatible or berry compliant sheath. Generally included is the 12 piece bit kit with only 1 version I could find that didn’t include the kit. If sheath carry is your thing, you’ve got some choices here – one of them is sure to suit your tastes.

Multi-Tool Set

The 3 outside accessible tools on the Center Drive are what this multi-tool is all about. It’s these 3 tools that Gerber claims is where their innovation in multi-tools is. The main tool of most multi-tools are the pliers and in this case, the pliers are one-hand opening pliers. The pliers have a flat gripping section and a nut and bolt gripping section. The wire cutters are of the replaceable variety and have a notch for wire stripping.

Next up is the knife. It’s a straight edge black oxide blade, deployed with a thumb notch and locked into place with a liner lock. Gerber market the knife’s length as if it’s super-sized, showing it alongside a Leatherman model with a much smaller blade. The total length is 3.2 inches (8.1 cms) and the cutting edge is 3 inches. Compare that to other full-sized multi-tools like a Leatherman Surge. The cutting edge on the Surge is exactly the same at 3 inches. The Leatherman Charge 2.8 inches and the Leatherman MUT is 2.95 inches. So not really innovative then but just a decent sized knife.

The third and final outside accessible tool is the hex bit driver. This tool is different than anything I’ve seen on other multi-tools and it is innovative in its design. No wonder Gerber draw attention to it by naming the multi-tool after it. It’s all about the length and shape of the bit driver arm. By having the driver arm on the outside, Gerber can use the length of the multi-tool to give the driver a longer arm length. Longer than any other multi-tool I can think of. Then if you put a bend in the driver’s arm, you can have the bit driver head lock into position in the center line of the multi-tool. That’s how you get the Center Drive name. Another advantage of having the driver arm on the outside rather than packed into the space inside one of the arms is that Gerber has the room to give the driver arm a holder big enough to take full sized hex bits. No more ‘flattened’ Phillips head screw bits for example.

Deploy the pliers and the arms spring partially open so you can access the black oxide coated tools on the inside of the handles. Access the file and a serrated blade using the nail nicks. The file is coarse one side and fine the other. Use your fingertip to pull out the multi-function pry bar. The pry bar has a nail puller notch and one side of it is the bottle opener. A nail nick gets open the very sharp awl. No thread loop here in case you were thinking of sewing up your backpack. That’s it for the tools in one handle.

The inside of the other handle only does one thing. It contains a holder for one hex tool bit. Flip it out and grab the flathead screwdriver hex bit out.

Use-ability

What’s the Gerber Center Drive like to use? We’ll start with the pliers.

The shape of the nose of the black oxide coated pliers is somewhere between a standard blunt nose and needle nose. The nose isn’t very wide, either is the plier’s head. That’s because of the Center Drive’s design. The pliers are stored away inside the handles, which means, to keep the handles from being too bulky, the pliers can’t be too thick. That doesn’t seem to be a problem in use. The pliers are sturdy in the hand and I’ve put a lot of pressure into them without them flexing or failing.

I’m a fan of any ‘serious’ multi-tool having replaceable wire cutters. All it takes is one overly ambitious attempt to cut some wire that ends up with the wire cutters coming off second best, and you could lose your Center Drive’s wire cutting function for good. With replaceable wire cutters, you make a mess of it and just buy a new set of cutting blades, screw them on and you’re back in business.

Another good design decision by Gerber was to spring load the pliers. It’s especially useful in a tool that markets itself as being one-handed deployable. Let’s face it though, most multi-tool pliers aren’t spring-loaded and are perfectly usable. In fact, most full-sized pliers aren’t spring loaded either. Still, works well for this multi-tool.

Gerber makes a big deal about the one-hand pliers opening feature. Use your thumb to slide the deployment tab along the handle. It will lock into position. Release the lock by pressing the button in the middle of the tab and sliding back towards you. It works well enough but even with a lot of practice, I found that I often couldn’t fully deploy the pliers in one attempt. I could get the tab most of the way along the handle but then had to slide my hand forward so I could push it the last quarter of an inch into the locked position. No, I don’t have small hands.

There’s a second and what should be an easier way to deploy the pliers. But this is where Gerber has really got the design wrong. You can put your thumb on the deployment tab on one side and your finger on a flat section on the opposite handle (like you are going to pinch something) and shake the Center Drive. This snaps the pliers into position. The trouble is the flat section you need to put your finger on to use this method is not proud of the handle and it’s too small. This makes it much more difficult to locate and deploy. It would be an easy design change and dramatically improve the ease of deploying the pliers. What do you think Gerber?

UPDATE: While doing some research for an article on what multi-tools the military use I came across the plier deployment technique for the Gerber MP600. This range of multi-tools is one hand opening. The way you open the pliers is by holding the MP600 in a way that doesn’t obstruct the sliding plier mechanism and then flicking your wrist. Out shoots the pliers and if you do it properly they will lock into place. So I looked at Gerber’s website to see if they talk about using this method to deploy the Center-Drive pliers. No, they don’t mention this anywhere but you can definitely use this technique and it’s the by far the best deployment technique. Very strange Gerber don’t talk about it because it changes the way you use the pliers.

The outside straight knife is easy to access and deploy with the thumb hole. I’ve used the knife frequently and the black oxide finish has held up well with no scratches showing yet. The liner lock is also easy to release.

What’s the much-hyped Center Drive bit driver like to use? For a multi-tool bit driver, it’s one of the best I’ve used. There are a few reasons for that. Because the bits themselves are full “3D” hex bits that you would see in a dedicated hex bit driver, I have more faith in being able to put a lot of torque into them. Also, the length of the driver’s arm and it’s center alignment does make it comfortable and natural in the hand. Finally, the bit holder is magnetized so the bits won’t drop out if you are up some scaffolding and you point the driver towards the ground. It’s a nice touch.

The Center Drive has space for one more bit and comes standard with a flathead screwdriver bit. So that’s a Phillips head and a flathead screwdriver bit carried on the Center Drive. Given the bit driver is one of the main tools and a feature, it would have been good for Gerber to have designed the capability to carry more than 2-bit types onboard.

Or at least, Gerber could have done better by designing the bits so they are double ended. If they did, you could carry 4-bit types onboard. OK, so being full sized single end bits, you can use your existing set of favorite bit pieces. But most people will buy the Center Drive package with the 12-bit kit. It means to make really good use of the excellent bit driver, you need to carry the kit with you. Thankfully the kit fits in a sleeve in the included pouch.

There are advantages and disadvantages to having a long bit driver. Being long means you won’t be able to get it into small spaces. But my experience is that there are more occasions when a short bit driver fails you than does a long one so this is probably a good feature. Some multi-tools come with a short driver and the option of attaching an extension. Seems like the best of both worlds but you have to carry the extension with you.

The holder for the spare bit is the only function on the inside of one handle. I found the bit difficult to get out. It’s firmly held in the holder which means it won’t fall out but it makes it hard to grab with your fingers. Would be almost impossible if you had thick working gloves on.

I’ve used the pry bar on the inside of the other handle a few times and it’s a sturdy number. The bottle opener works well also. The nail puller looks to be designed well and should be robust enough to do its job. The nail nick to deploy the awl on my Center Drive was stiff so was a bit of nail breaker. The file and the serrated blade are more generous in size than most and they both worked well.

All the tools on this handle side lock into position for safe operation. To release the lock, you pull back on the slider tab with the upturned lanyard hole. It would be much more natural if this release tab worked the other way – you should push it away from you. I couldn’t figure out why Gerber had made this design mistake. Then I figured out that the tab works as a ramp for your thumb when you’re putting pressure on the straight blade. That makes sense, especially since the blade is probably used more than the tools on the inside of the handle. Still, not a great design solution.

Pocket it or Pawn it?

Gerber has focussed the design of the Center Drive as a working man (or woman’s) tool. And I think they’ve done a reasonable job at designing a tool that will make it a good work tool. But like just about all design – even good design – the end product is a compromise. The compromises are all based on those fancy one-handed opening pliers. Most multi-tools are designed to use the real estate on the inside of the arms for the secondary tools. Things like scissors, different sizes of screwdrivers, can opener, chisel etc.

The Center Drive doesn’t have much space for secondary tools because the pliers are stored in there. All Gerber could fit as inside accessible tools is 3 swing out levers on one side and a spare bit holder on the other. As a simple comparison, look at SOG’s PowerAccess. It has 4 outside levers on each arm. The Victorinox SwissTool XS has 5 outside accessible levers on one side and 4 on the other.

The other compromise of having the pliers deploy from inside the arms is that they don’t fold back. So when you do want to use the few inside tools there are, the other handle of the pliers isn’t fully out of the way. Makes it more awkward to use than other multi-tools.

Having said all that, and knowing that Gerber could have done better with some of the details of the Center Drive, I still think they have done a good job here. The outside accessible main tools on the Center Drive are well designed and appear well made.  The pliers work well and the blade is a good size and sharp enough. And, the long handled hex bit holder feature tool is the best version of this tool on any multi-tool. Don’t forget to buy the hex bit kit to make the most of the bit holder function.

So if pliers, knife, and bit driver are the sort of tools you see yourself using most in your multi-tool, then this is probably the right multi-tool for you.

MacGyver says POCKET IT

Check the current price of the Gerber Center-Drive on Amazon

Multi-Tools – Don’t Leave Home Without One!