The Gear Shed - Gerber Freehander

• Body: A380 Aluminium

• Cutter: 7Cr17MoV Stainless Steel

• Line Holder: Plastic

• Stainless Steel Retention Loop for use with the Defender

• Defender: High strength auto retracting Dyneema lanyard with aluminum housing

• Retail Price: Freehander $40, Defender $25 (compact) $30 (large)

Review

Online reviews are pretty mixed for this fishing tool, but in person reviews were pretty positive. For river and small lake fishing I feel like this fishing tool really excels. Most of the folks I see on inland waterways always have a pair of nail clippers attached to a lanyard around their neck or a vest. Not only are they prone to rust, but those kinds of nippers can be ungainly since you have to do several things to actually make them work.

Gerber Defender

The Freehander does not have a built in retention system so you need to get something to avoid losing it. You can use any old lanyard to attach it, but Gerber also makes a companion piece for this called the Defender. The Defender is a retractable retention system for your fishing tools

The Defender comes in 2 sizes and has plenty of split rings to accommodate several pieces of additional gear as well as several included split rings to help keep things in place. The system is super smooth and is built with a high strength Dyneema cord to prevent losing your tools out on the water.

Overall the reception has been super positive on inland waterways since this incorporates several handy fishing tools in one. The Freehander sports a line cutter tool, an eyelet punch, and a fishing knot tool.

Ideal Uses

Inland waterways for low test line.

How is it in the water?

The consensus has been that this is great in the water. It easily attaches to a lanyard or retractable lanyard so it remains close at hand.

Cutters

The nippers are easy to manipulate and large enough for any hand size. This is a direct pressure system so you may not get as much cutting power for other tasks compared to say toenail clippers, but the blades stay sharp and are replaceable.

Knot tying tool

The line holder works well for small thin line when you’re tying most knots. Thicker line can be a bit of an issue fitting into the knot tying tool and it is prone to popping out when you pull the line out later.

Eyelet Punch

The eyelet punch is great for new flies with glue clogged in the eyelet or new lures with paint clogging the eyelet. the great thing about this tool is that you can replace the punch or position it however you prefer.

How tough is it?

The body of the Freehander is a powder coated A380 aluminum which is more than up to the task of a consistently wet environment. There are not a ton of moving parts with this tool as well which will reduce the possibility for wear from abrasive particles.

The 7Cr17MoV blades are an alloy of stainless steel with some added Vanadium. This makes the cutters much more solid while still maintaining a keen edge.

Important considerations

There have been several complaints online of this cutter having difficulty with high test line or braided line for large fish.

There is nothing securing the knot tying tool into the metal bracket on which it is mounted so if it pops out you may lose it.

Gerber sells all of the parts for this tool, so it is easy to replace anything that becomes dull or worn out.

Without a retractable lanyard this can feel a bit bulky as it dangles around given its relative size compared to say nail clippers.

This is a direct pressure system rather than a multiple lever system like some nippers (looking at you again nail clippers). If are used to this system these cutters will require a bit of an adjustment. They will only exert as much pressure as you can squeeze with your fingertips.

Is it worth the cost?

A quick search online puts a pair of nail clippers at about $4 making the $40 price point is pretty steep at first glance. The real question comes down to longevity, how long are those $4 clippers going to last when they start getting wet all the time?

The other functionality is certainly helpful with these, but where it really shines is when it gets cold out on the water and hard to manipulate smaller cutters. Even with gloves on you can be sure that everything on this tool will be functional and ready when you need it.

Another point on the cost is that the Freehander does not have a built in retention system. As I previously mentioned you will need to pick up an additional lanyard ore retention system like the Defender.