As Chinese multitool specialist Nextool sees it, the modern multitool faces a dilemma: large, fully loaded multitools are too heavy and bulky to carry everywhere, every day, while mini-multitools don’t feature the number or strength of implements to truly handle a full day’s worth of work. So what do you carry? It proposes the new Flagship F20, a triple-handled multitool designed from the ground up to hit a “just right” Goldilocks tier. The F20 ditches unnecessary and redundant tools to package big tool performance in a sleek, palm-sized build that carries through each and every day with ease. Is this the ultimate EDC tool for work and DIY?
Typically, the “flagship” of any lineup is the largest, most feature-packed, most expensive product the company offers. For Nextool, it’s an entire series of products ranging from small, modestly priced tools to some of its more feature-loaded offerings. The Flagship F20 debuts in the middle of of the pack, following the launch of the Mini Flagship F12 the company introduced a few months ago. The F20 upsizes the Mini’s format of fully loaded toolset, convenient, lightweight package.
Nextool
Nextool started with the pants pocket and worked outward from there. It ran through several prototypes, constantly adjusting length, width and weight by a matter of millimeters or grams to make the F20 fit and feel better when carried in a pocket. It also adjusted the chassis design to promote better hand grip and feel when using the tools. It ultimately landed on a chassis that measures 3.2 in (8.2 cm) long by 1.3 in wide by 0.8 in thick (8.2 x 3.4 x 2 cm). It weighs 5.2 oz (147 g).
Of course, a compact package is only an asset if it holds the tools you need. Otherwise it’s just wasted bulk – if the toolset doesn’t work for your needs, you might as well not carry it at all.
Nextool
Here, Nextool streamlines its toolset to focus only on implements that seem very likely to see regular use, day in and day out. It’s definitely not the largest, most complete list of tools, but Nextool does a nice job of keeping what’s really useful for actual DIY work while eliminating the excess bulk that’s not work-focused and may not see a single use in your entire lifetime.
The unique triple-handle chassis design underpins the set of legitimate scissors that goes along with the fold-out Leatherman-style pliers ubiquitous across the multitool market – not a pair of fold-out mini-scissors multitool makers are fond of throwing in one side of the handle but a more robust set with full-length legs. Nextool’s latest scissor design, the Nex-Scissors 2.0 also feature thickened 2.3-mm blades for handling tougher cutting tasks without skipping a beat.
When all three handles are opened, the Flagship F20 has an odd bidirectional look with pliers on one side, scissors on the other, but each tool is designed to be used with the other closed, providing a safe, comfortable grip. Along with updating the scissors into 2.0 form, Nextool recently thickened its plier design to 5.4 mm. As is commonplace with modern tools, they feature needle-nose tips, regular pliers inside and wire cutters closest to the hinge.
Nextool
The pliers unfurl into open position with a one-handed flip, and the additional implements are located on the outside of the handles for equally quick one-handed access. One side houses the 2.4-in (6-cm) 8Cr steel blade, while the other holds a bit driver arm. Nextool includes a dual-sided bit with Phillips #1 and 3/16-in slotted heads.
Nextool
The F20 also includes a ruler integrated into the slim scissors handle and an electrical crimper on the shared scissor/plier handle. Nextool calls it a 12-in-1 tool design, counting the glow-in-the-dark handle tip and removable pocket clip as part of that total. We’d call those “features,” but not tools or functions, so we’re labeling it a 10-in-1.
Whether you count 10 or 12, what’s really nice about this tools is that there are no single-piece implements that feel thrown in just to increase the total tally – no unnecessary bottle opener (pliers will do the trick), no can opener you might never use once, let alone enough to justify carrying it EDC-style, and no array of individual drivers of the same style. The bit holder adds screwdriving versatility without a load of extra fold-out implements adding weight and thickness.
Nextool
What’s left is a handful of tools that you are very likely to use on a regular basis, possibly even every day – adjustable-bit screwdriver, scissors and pliers. Multitool rulers often feel like a throw-in to us, given that they’re inherently too small for many jobs, but they don’t take up any additional space beyond a few markings on the handle, so we can’t fault a manufacturer for including one like we would fault them for a redundant or underused implement.
We’d say Nextool has done a nice job with its objective of creating a useful, streamlined everyday multitool that cuts the fat without throwing away any meat. If it were an outdoor-specific tool, we’d like to see a saw, maybe even the dreaded bottle opener (it offers the Flagship Max with both those tools and more), but for a strictly defined streamlined EDC tool, we think they nailed it.
Nextool
Nextool debuted the new Flagship F20 this week at a retail price of US$45.
The intro video clip doesn’t really tell you much we didn’t already go over, but it does show the Flagship F20 in action.
NexTool Flagship F20 — Small Enough to Carry. Serious Enough to Work. #nextool #multitool #edc
Source: Nextool
