Sketetool Hunting
By Sean O'Hara
Cruising a few sporting goods stores this weekend, I noticed the local Academy Sports shop was carrying a few Skeletools. Without signs or any fanfare, they sat quietly among the hunting knives and other Leatherman products.
So, if Amazon has sent you the very polite yet disheartening email that they don’t have any more, and your order will have to wait an eternity plus ten years before they get more in, you might consider this alternate strategy. We also found one or two of them laying around at different retailers, but those shops seemed to be about $20 more proud of them than the sporting goods stores who’re charging the already-full retail price.
Skeletool [Leatherman]
Academy Sports and Outdoors [Corporate Site]
April 8th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Last week, I found them on the shelves at REI selling for $60 and $80 (CX).
http://www.rei.com
April 8th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I managed to squeak one in through amazon (not the external retailer charging double.) The REI flagship in Denver said they couldn’t keep them in stock.
April 8th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Mountain Equipment Co-Op (Canada) appear to have them online but not in stores
http://www.mec.ca/Main/home.jsp
April 8th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
REI has them online - I received mine in 4 days.
April 9th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
I received the infamous delays for months. I pre-ordered the CX sometime before the 1st of the year, and received more than 3 or 4 e-mails pushing the ETA back until I got a “no foreseeable eta” e-mail. At that point I had had it, because I could have gone on Amazon and purchased one from another dealor for almost twice the price, so I knew that Amazon had word of some available.
So long story short, I called them and e-mailed them to complain and they overnighted me one after speaking with a customer support rep. I use it all the time, and it’s great, but damn, one hell of a wait.
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:34 am
I got a CX the other day at Mountain Equipment Co-Op in Toronto. They had both the CX at $78 and the regular version for $58. I usually carry a high-end locking folder clipped in my jeans pocket, but lately the CX has been occupying that spot and may well stay there for good. My other multi-tool is a SwissTool, but it’s a tank and stays in my bug-out bag, ready for real emergencies.