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The Gerber Center-Drive Plus is an elevated version of the acclaimed Center-Drive multi-tool, incorporating highly-requested features while maintaining the robust functionality that defines the original. Here’s an in-depth look at what this multi-tool brings to the table, along with personal experiences using it.
The Center-Drive Plus keeps the purposeful one-thumb opening design, ensuring quick access to the tools you use most. The spring-loaded pliers, full-size blade, and center-axis screwdriver remain as the core features, offering reliable performance. The overall build quality is solid, with a sleek, polished aesthetic achieved through tumble finishing of all tools.
Back in 2020 Gerber launched a new series of tool that was meant to be an in-between in their product lineup, somewhere between a pocketknife and a full-fledged multitool. Gerber want to create something like your Swiss Army knife, and it would help prevent users from abusing their pocketknives.
Gerber launched with the Armbar Drive and the Cork, they seemed like a pretty good launch for the company and were followed up by the Armbar Slim Drive and Armbar Slim Cut in 2021. For 2023 Gerber adds two new models to the successful Armbar lineup, the Scout and Trade.
Ever since Gerber introduced it's first multitool design in 1991 they never seem to have a limit to their creativity. Gerber's trademark sliding plier head is what defines their multitools. That landmark design showed that Gerber was full of ingenuity and they hadn't stopped since.
The Dual-Force is Gerber's latest multitool and it breaks the mold in so many ways. Gerber took a lot of the design cues from the Center Drive and modified them for Dual-Force. These simple yet radical design changes have showed Gerber is ready to show the others how it is done.
Knives and multitools have been our EDC staple for a quite a while. Up until the last decade we used what we had; often in ways they were not intended for. People saw a need to carry a pocket or keychain pry bar and things haven't been the same since.
Gerber entered the pry bar market with the Artifact; it was an easy to carry pocket pry that had several features that made it an instant success. Gerber has since released many pry bars in a variety of configurations with the Lockdown Pry series being the most recent.
In November of 2016 Gerber introduced the Center-Drive in a major media storm. Everyone was talking about it, wanting to try it for themselves, speculating on whether it was hype or whether it was the real deal. I'm a bit late to the party for reviewing it, and you'll see hundreds of different reviews and unboxing videos already, but mine is going to be different, because there is a reason we are late to the party. I have actually put mileage on the Center-Drive- I've carried and used it, and I don't think the value of a tool is in it's ability to be pulled out of a package.
What kind of people would write collect and review multitools? Quite simple really- we are designers and do-ers, outdoors types and indoor types, mechanics, doctors, problem solvers and problem makers. As such, we have, as a world spanning community, put every type, size and version of multitool, multifunction knife, pocket knife and all related products to every test we could manage in as many places and environments as there are.