Gerber Multi-Plier 600 Bluntnose

The Gerber Multi-Plier 600 series has been around a long, long time and mine is still going as strong as ever. I'm not sure exactly when I got the tool but I do remember that my brother-in-law in the US took good care of my purchase order many moons ago - thanks again Mike! I don't think the present 600 series is exactly the same as my old one but the basic design has hardly been changed at all - probably because it's a well proven one.

Some multi tools can handle almost anything kind of okay but perhaps nothing really well; the MP 600 is mainly a compact, reliable and tough as nails (actually even tougher) pair of pliers that can be used with one hand only. The jaws are hidden completely within the main tool body and 'snap' out - and lock into work position - with a quick and powerful downward shake of the wrist. You really need to grab the tool hard when doing this, mind you, otherwise you could send the precious thing flying and never see it again!

Of course, there are also additional tools within the 600; a knife (that does not lock into position in my old Gerber!), a serrated knife, a file, can opener and a couple of screwdrivers. You do need to get the plier jaws out in order to use any of the other tools, by the way.

I have even taken my Gerber apart completely once - and managed to put it together just fine, amazingly enough - after submerging it in water and not being able to dry it properly afterwards. Yup, it got rusty for sure but the 'old fashioned' design made the cleaning possible even for a non-DIY guy like me.

Very good rating to these compact pliers - but beware the knife that easily folds by accident!

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HX870E: A handheld marine VHF radio

When you get used to it, being able to contact your kayaking buddy even when there's quite a stretch of water between you two, there's no going back to sea kayaking without a radio. A cell phone just doesn't cut it - even though it's a great backup device, you can never be sure there's network coverage available when you need it the most. Cell phones are also quite simply not built to cope with the punishment of marine use, regardless of their IP-rating - not to mention the problems when trying to swipe or tap a wet touch screen..

It took me a long time to even consider adding a radio to the kayaking equipment list but some years ago, inspired by a kayaking incident in Norway, I bought two cheap 'toy' radios that me and my wife used for a while. Then, of course, those radios got enough of the close encounters with water - just when we had got used to them! So, there was a decision to make: should we go all in or just forget about this radio thing? Well, we went all in: now we both have a marine VHF radio certificate and a Standard Radio HX870E marine VHF handheld that floats (it really does, we tried it).

I have put together a comprehensive Google doc about the pros and cons of our radios - you'll find it here - but, generally, the very topmost plus points  are these:

• A VHF radio enables you to communicate directly with any vessel at sea (basically line of sight communication), both small and the really big ones!
• HX870E is built for marine use and it's fine even if it gets completely submerged
• HX870E has one-button digital distress signal capacity; again, that means being able to reach the VHF stations within roughly line of sight

On the minus side, I'd say that the very fast battery drain - when using 6W high output - is one of my my main gripes. However, normally we never use the high output setting when only communicating between our two kayaks.

A VHF radio is extremely cool and the HX870E gets a good rating from me. More battery capacity would be great but I'd guess a larger battery would also mean saying bye-bye to a radio that floats. Two related issues that bug me quite a bit are that there is no way to charge the unit without the cradle - and no way to charge the battery if it's not inserted in the radio. It sure would be nice to leave the cradle at home when packing for a kayaking trip.

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