$45 buys ten functions, 5.2 ounces of stonewashed stainless and three handles instead of two. That last number is the one that matters on NexTool's new Flagship F20, because the layout is built around it.
Most plier-based multi-tools fold into a pair of handles. The F20 folds into three. One pair works the pliers, which swing out in the butterfly pattern anyone who has carried a Leatherman will recognise: needle-nose tips, a set of regular jaws behind them, wire cutters down near the hinge. The third handle carries the scissors, and that separation is the whole idea. You can open the shears without deploying the pliers, and you can squeeze the pliers without the scissor handle digging into your palm.
NexTool calls the cutters Nex-Scissors 2.0. The steel is 5Cr15MoV, which is about as basic as cutlery steel gets, but the blades are 2.3 mm thick and considerably longer than the stamped scissors you usually find folded into a multi-tool. Thick stock matters more than alloy here. Scissors fail by flexing and rubbing rather than by losing their edge, and 2.3 mm is enough material to keep two blades tracking against each other under load.
The knife blade is a 2.4-inch reverse tanto in 8Cr14MoV with a chisel-ish nose that should take a beating as a scraper before it dulls as a slicer. A bit driver arm swings out opposite the blade and holds a dual-sided bit: Phillips #1 on one end, 3/16-inch slotted on the other. The handle that carries the scissors has a ruler etched along its spine, and there is an electric crimper built into the shared handle for terminal work. NexTool also put a glow-in-the-dark tip on the frame and a removable pocket clip on the side.
What the count does not include is as telling as what it does. There is no saw, no metal file, no can opener and no second bit. NexTool built ten functions around the tasks people repeat, and the sacrifice is depth. A tool with a file and a saw weighs more and costs more, and the F20 is aimed at the pocket rather than the toolbox.
Steel choices put the price in context. 8Cr14MoV and 5Cr15MoV are both entry-level alloys with modest edge retention, the same bracket as the 420HC Leatherman uses on its mainstream tools. They sharpen quickly on a pocket stone and they take a burr without much coaxing. Neither one will hold an edge through a season of cutting cardboard the way a D2 blade would, and neither is meant to.
Closed length is 3.2 inches, so it drops into a coin pocket without a fight, and 5.2 ounces is light enough to forget until you need it. The three-handle geometry is the reason the tool is worth a look rather than the function count. Pliers and shears on separate handles means one hand can hold the work while the other works the tool, which is the kind of thing you notice the first time you cut a zip tie with cold fingers.
The Flagship F20 is available now for $45 through NexTool's own store.