Victorinox Swiss Army Multi-Tool, SwissChamp XLT Pocket Knife, Ruby

I was scared off from the XAVT, the big brother to this XLT, by all the people saying that it was too big to carry and use. So, I got the XLT instead.Well, this XLT is NOT the size of a pack of cigarettes, it is NOT almost one pound of stainless steel in weight (it's only 54% of one pound, actually), and it will not pull your pants down carrying it. Hyperbole by others can mislead the investigating buyer. I'll shoot you some facts and ways to think about things.The XLT is certainly not too big or heavy to carry--and now I question whether the XAVT would have been too big; perhaps I should have sprang for it. I may pick that one up in the future if I see it on sale (currently it's 40% more expensive than the XLT). The cost per tool on the XLT is about four bucks per tool, and on the XAVT is about four and a half buck per tool (divide number tools from price). So, something to consider.Victorinox Swiss Army SwissChamp XAVT The XAVT is more of a collector's knife, and one might be paying for the display box, but it has many useful functions this XLT does not: more sizes of bits, not one but two magnifying glasses at 5x and 8x magnification (and designed to be used together to get 13x magnification!), clock, thermometer, etc. Conversely, it also has some redundancy (two exact same package hooks and two screwdrivers on the XAVT--see other reviews) and I wonder if Victorinox counts those twice to get 80 tools on the XVAT. The XLT has no truly redundant tools, but it does have similar tools such as the thick (i.e. takes up a lot of space on the handle that could be used for another tool) stand alone Phillips screwdriver, which is almost the same (not quite, but so close as to be essentially the same purpose) as the regular Phillips screwdriver on the bit set.Some of the tools are fairly useless, such as the pharmacist spatula. Some stir their coffee with it, one guy uses it as a mirror (why? the knife blade is a large high polished mirror, the spatula is matte). Huh!? Other tools would be better, certainly. Heck, give me the other magnifying glass, Victorinox!Many reviews on the build and quality of Victorinox, and I agree. Most of you already have another Victorinox knife, I'd assume. I will try to stick to a few things you may not know about this model XLT specifically.Weight: 8.75 ounces on my scale. Size: 3.5 inches long. 1 inch thick if you include the closed sticking out of the tools. And most importantly, the width (from side-to-side): 1 5/8 inches.This XLT, by Victorinox's counting (and a nice one page guide comes in the knife box), has 50 uses/tools. I find the Victorinox counting of uses to be accurate, but quite generous. Example: the little round keychain ring on the end of each Victorinox knife---that's one of the fifty tools! Another example: the bit driver is useful, and it comes with the black bits of various sizes, lovely. See the tiny black plastic piece that you move up to take out the bits? That's in and of itself one of the fifty tools! Yes, it's called the "case" for the bits. Please!The chisel is facing the wrong way for the ergonomics of the knife handle (you'll see when you get it) for proper use on wood (the thick knife handle would be against the wood). Victorinox, please just turn it around and cut the thumb groove on the other side.I purchased the Victorinox case for this knife, still to arrive, but had I waited, I'd not get it now. If I put a long Paracord lanyard on the key ring, I can have this at the bottom of my cargo pants pocket with the lanyard knot hanging out, I just grab and pull this out easily and quickly.Anyone on the fence about this and the XAVT, don't be scared of the other knife. It has some pros and cons, and I have never owned it but presented some ideas about it above. For those of us that carry an EDC medium to large blade folding knife already (approx 5-7 ounces), this XLT is no biggie. And you get a lot more tools ounce for ounce, so I like that (but still carry an EDC blade like the ZT0350Zero Tolerance ZT0350TS G10 Handle with Speed Safe and Tiger Stripe Blade (Non-serrated).Cell phone (4 ounce). Car keys (2-3 ounces). Put in one pocket as you carry these daily anyhow.XLT (8.75 ounces) in the other pocket. Nice overall weight distribution.So, this knife is far from massive. It's compact and tough and well made. It's less weight than most Leatehrman type tools. I do carry, especially since it clips to my belt loop on pants directly, the awesome Skeletool Leatherman 830850 Skeletool CX Multitool for a quick carry. It's something to consider against any Swiss Army Knife depending on your use needs; I mention it here so that you can check it out, too. I love my Skeletool, also.Cheers and happy Swiss knifing.

Long time SAK fan here. I’ve carried some kind of SAK with me for the last 30yrs….most of the time a Swiss Champ. The last few years, I’ve been carrying the Cybertool 41(L) because I liked the bit driver/extra torx bits that the Swiss Champ doesn’t include. When considering the 41, I also figured I wouldn’t miss the magnifying glass, ruler, Philips head driver, and fish scaler on the Champ. Basically the deletion of those tools on the 41 (replaced by the bit driver) are the differences between the 41 and Champ.Well, it turns out I did miss the magnifying glass, the tines on the ruler, and to a certain extent the ruler itself. I never used the fisher scaler for its intended purpose but it turns out I missed it.Once I learned that the XLT was basically the 41 and Champ combined into one knife (Plus the two extra blades), it took me a while to finally pull the trigger because it just seemed like it was going to be too big…especially for EDC. I’m not a sheath person. I like carrying stuff more discreetly, but the XLT in a pants pocket is IMO too much.Let’s be honest it is a big knife but is it too big to EDC without a sheath? I read a review from a guy that had the same concerns and he suggested to hang it from a belt using a clip. He used an H&K style snap hook attached to a velcro loop. He then created a paracord loop on the SAK to attach it to the snap hook. By hanging it from the belt the weight of the knife is supported by the belt vs. feeling like a boat anchor at the bottom of your pocket if it was by itself.The concept sounded good to me so I went about looking for ideas. I started with the H&K snap hook but one thing led to another and I eventually decided to try the TIMUR Beltloop key chain clip along with the SS shackle.I’ve been carrying it this way for about a month now and it works. Of course I had to pimp it out a little, so I replaced the scales, toothpick, tweezers, and added a FireFly tinder and ferro rod (hidden under the bit driver).I like not having to compromise tool selection by choosing one model over the other.For me the XLT is the perfect SAK.The pics are of the XLT (camo scales) and Cyber 41(gray scales) for size comparison and the attachment method using the TIMUR/shackle combo. The SAK hangs from the belt into a pocket (but doesn’t reach the bottom of the pocket) to keep it from swinging around. I kept the pocket clip from the scales on because it makes the knife easier to grip, especially when using the bit driver.