Leatherman Wave Plus Review: Is It Worth Gifting a Hunter?

If you've landed here, you're probably shopping for a hunter and someone — a friend, a forum, a search result — has pointed you at the Leatherman Wave Plus. The good news is that your instinct is a good one. A quality multi-tool is one of those gifts that a hunter uses without thinking about it, keeps for years, and quietly credits you for every time it bails them out. And the Wave Plus, in particular, is the model that shows up again and again as the one worth owning.

You don't need to know anything about hunting — or about tools — to buy this well. This review is written for the gift buyer, not the gearhead: what the Wave Plus actually is, why a multi-tool makes such a natural hunting gift, what's genuinely great about it, the honest drawbacks worth knowing before you spend, how it stacks up against the cheaper Gerber alternative, and exactly who it suits. The short version is that this is a gift that feels significantthe moment it's picked up — but let's make sure it's the right significant gift for your person.

A multi-tool is basically a set of full-size pliers with a handful of other tools — knife blades, screwdrivers, a saw, scissors, a file, a can and bottle opener — folded neatly inside the handles, so the whole thing collapses down to something that fits in a pocket or rides in a belt sheath. The Leatherman Wave Plus is the most popular tool in Leatherman's lineup, and it's earned that spot honestly: it packs a genuinely useful spread of tools into a solid, one-piece build that feels like it was made to be used hard for a very long time. Leatherman is an Oregon company with a long-standing reputation among people who work and play outdoors, and this is the model most of them point newcomers toward.

Here's why that translates so well into a hunting gift. Hunting is hours of small, unglamorous problems — a loose screw on a tree stand, a stubborn zip-tie on a trail camera, a broken bootlace, a stripped bit of packaging, a bit of trimming while field dressing, a splinter, a snapped strap. A hunter who has a good multi-tool on their belt simply handles those things and moves on. A hunter who doesn't spends the walk back to the truck wishing they had one. That's the whole appeal: it isn't a single-purpose gadget that gets used twice a season, it's the tool that comes out on nearly every trip. For a gift buyer, that's the dream — something they'll actually reach for, not something polite that gathers dust.

And unlike a lot of gear, a multi-tool carries a certain weight as a present. It feels substantial in the hand, it looks like a serious object, and a good one lasts long enough to become genuinely theirs — the tool with their nicks and scratches on it. If you're browsing the wider category, our best hunting gadgets and tools roundup puts the Wave Plus in context alongside the other everyday-carry gifts hunters actually use, but on its own merits it's one of the safest "they'll love this" buys in the whole space.

The first thing that stands out is how much it does without feeling like a gimmick. Plenty of cheap multi-tools cram in a long list of flimsy features to pad the box. The Wave Plus goes the other way: the tools it includes are ones a hunter or outdoorsman genuinely uses, and each one is built to actually work rather than just tick a box. The pliers are the heart of it — strong, full-size, and the thing you reach for far more often than you'd expect — and the blades, drivers and scissors around them are the useful supporting cast.

The second is the build quality. This is where the premium price starts to make sense. Pick one up and it feels solid and precise, with no rattle or slop, the kind of object that reads as "this will outlast me." That matters enormously in a gift, because the whole point is to give something that becomes a long-term companion rather than a throwaway. Leatherman's tools are famous for lasting for years of hard field use, and the company stands behind them with a long warranty, which is the sort of detail that turns a good gift into a great one.

Third, and this is easy to overlook, several of the most-used tools can be opened one-handed and locked open. In plain terms: a hunter can flick out the main blade with one hand while the other is busy holding a strap, a limb, or a flashlight, and the tool clicks solidly into place so it won't fold on their fingers mid-job. You don't need to understand the mechanism to appreciate what it means — it's the difference between a tool that's a pleasure to use in the field and one that fights you. It's exactly the kind of thoughtful, they'll-notice-it-every-time design that justifies buying the good one.

Finally, it simply feels like a proper gift. It has heft, it looks the part, and the name carries real respect among people who spend time outdoors. When a hunter unwraps a Wave Plus, they know exactly what it is and roughly what it's worth, and that recognition is part of what makes it land. It's the multi-tool equivalent of a well-known, well-made classic — a safe, impressive choice.

No tool is flawless, and it would be a disservice to pretend this one is. There are two real things to weigh before you buy, plus a couple of smaller notes.

The big one is price. The Wave Plus sits at the premium end of the multi-tool world, and there's no way around the fact that you're paying for the brand, the build, and the warranty. It's worth every bit of that for the right person, but it's a real spend — more than a lot of gift buyers expect a "pocket tool" to cost. If your budget is tighter, that's not a dead end; it just points you toward the alternative we cover below.

The second is size and weight. This is a full-size multi-tool, which is what makes the pliers and blades so usable — but it also means it's noticeably heavier and bulkier than a slim keychain gadget. It lives on a belt sheath or in a pack, not clipped to a set of keys. For a hunter, that's exactly right, because they're already carrying gear and they want tools that work. But if you were imagining something featherweight and pocket-forgettable, this isn't that; it's a substantial tool that you carry on purpose.

The smaller notes: with so many tools tucked into the handles, there's a small learning curve to remembering where everything lives, and like any hard-working tool it appreciates the occasional wipe-down and drop of oil to keep the pivots smooth. None of that is a dealbreaker — it's just the honest texture of owning a real tool rather than a disposable one.

The obvious question for a gift buyer is whether you really need to spend Leatherman money, or whether a cheaper multi-tool does the job. The honest answer is that a good budget tool absolutely exists, and the one worth knowing is the Gerber Suspension-NXT. It costs a fraction of the Wave Plus, it comes from another respected outdoor brand, and it delivers the same core idea — pliers plus a useful set of tools folded into one pocketable body. For a lot of casual gift-giving, that's genuinely enough, and nobody's going to feel short-changed unwrapping one.

Where the two differ is in the things that are hard to put in a spec list: the Wave Plus feels more refined in the hand, its tools operate more smoothly, the one-handed-opening design is a step ahead, and the overall build gives you more of that "this-will-last-decades" confidence. The Gerber is a solid, dependable tool; the Leatherman is a heirloom-grade one. Put simply, the Suspension is the smart way to give this classic gift on a modest budget, and the Wave Plus is the one to buy when you want the gift to feel like a real event. If you want the full side-by-side — every trade-off weighed in plain English — our Leatherman Wave vs. Gerber Suspension comparison lays it all out so you can match the tool to your budget and your person.

The rule of thumb: if the multi-tool is meant to be a centerpiece gift — a milestone birthday, a big thank-you, a present that should feel generous — the Wave Plus is worth the premium. If it's a nice-but-modest gift, a stocking stuffer for someone who "could use a multi-tool," or you're building a bundle of a few smaller items, the Gerber is the sensible pick that leaves room in the budget.

The Wave Plus is at its best as a gift for a hunter or outdoorsman who'll use it regularly— someone who's out in the field, tinkers with gear, sets trail cameras, hangs stands, or just likes having the right tool on hand. For that person, it's close to a can't-miss. It's also a wonderful milestone gift: because it lasts for decades and gets better with use, it suits a big occasion where you want something they'll still be carrying years from now and quietly associating with you. That longevity is exactly why it shows up so often on lists of hunting gifts for dad— it's the sort of practical, built-to-last present that a father actually keeps and uses.

It's an especially strong answer to the hardest gifting problem of all: the person who seems to already own everything. A dedicated hunter usually has knives, optics, calls and camo sorted — but a quality multi-tool is one of those things people often keep meaning to buy and never quite do, or make do with a cheap one that's seen better days. Upgrading them to the Wave Plus lands beautifully. If that's your challenge, it's no surprise this tool features in our gifts for hunters who have everything guide, because it fills a gap even a well-equipped hunter tends to have.

Who should think twice? If your person genuinely wants something ultralight and pocket-forgettable, or if the budget is tight and this would stretch it uncomfortably, the Gerber Suspension covered above is the kinder choice — same category, far gentler price. But for a hunter who'll put a proper multi-tool to work and appreciate a well-made one, the Wave Plus is hard to beat.