Anyone familiar with EDC loves carabiners. They’re one of the original multi function tools and have more uses than we can count. When you combine the benefits of a standard carabiner with the ingenuity of multi tool manufacturers you end up with a lot of really useful tools. We’ve put together a list of 11 such tools to help you find the best multi tool with carabiner for your needs.
Contents
What Makes The Best Carabiner Multi Tool
Like many of the more exotic tools we review there’s a sharp divide between different types of multi tool carabiners. The first are primarily carabiners with a few multi tool features built into them. A lot of these fall more into the novelty category than we’d like but there are definitely some useful and valuable models out there.
The second category are standard multi tools with a carabiner attachment built in. First and foremost these are multi tools, the carabiner is just there to add extra functionality. Choosing between the two really comes down to what your current EDC looks like and how you see yourself using it.
If you’re looking for more of a keychain multi tool carabiner we wouldn’t recommend the second category. In general they’re too large and bulky to benefit from attaching keys to them. The same goes if you want a way to better organize the other little doodad’s and tools you carry.
Best Carabiner Multi Tool
- Outdoor Element Firebiner Carabiner Multi Tool
- Northwall Titanium Carabiner Multitool
- EDC Fans Carabiner Keychain Multitool
- Elephant Outdoor Multi Tool Carabiner Keychain
- Leatherman Jam + Style PS Carabiner Multi Tool
- Leatherman Hail + Style PS Carabiner Multi Tool
- Gerber Curve Carabiner Multi Tool
First we’ll check out the carabiner specific tools that double as multi tools. These don’t fit into a single category and often have some really interesting design choices.
Let’s check out some of these different tools together and see if you can’t find one you like.
Outdoor Element Firebiner Survival Carabiner Multi Tool
The Firebiner is a really cool little tool built for the outdoorsman in all of us. It’s based around a full size carabiner and gives you the ability to slice through line and start a fire. It includes tools like:
- Utility Cutter
- Bottle Opener
- Carabiner
- Fire Striker Wheel
- Flathead Screwdriver
The Firebiner is well named as the little fire wheel is fun to use. It feels a lot like flicking an old-school non childproof BIC lighter and produces a satisfying spray of sparks. The flathead screwdriver on one end wasn’t as exciting but did a reasonable job turning screws, though don’t expect to pop any tight ones with it.
The included bottle opener and line cutter also function great. If you’re heading out on a fishing trip this is a great addition to your tackle box. While definitely not climbing grade, the carabiner of the Outdoor Element Firebiner does everything you could expect from it and gives you a useful set of outdoor tools.
Northwall Titanium Carabiner Keychain Multitool
This Carabiner multi tool comes from Northwall and is made from lightweight titanium. It has a really nice silver gray finish and gives you 12 different tools in a very small package. It includes things like:
- Keychain Loop
- Carabiner
- Phillips Head Screwdriver
- Flathead Screwdriver
- Seven Hex Wrenches
- Bottle Opener
Both the body and the spring arm of the carabiner are made from light and strong titanium. It has a range of seven different hex wrenches that stair step up in the center of the tool. We found it somewhat difficult to get a strong grip due to their central placement but overall they worked well.
The screwdrivers and the bottle opener all function as expected, though the phillips head was quite short. If you like titanium tools you should definitely check out this interesting product from Northwall.
EDC Fans Carabiner Keychain Multitool
The Carabiner multi tool from EDC Fans is a stainless steel carabiner with 12 different tools packed in. It’s built to be a tactical and EDC carabiner clip and gives you basic tools for several different situations. It includes tools like:
- Phillips Head Screwdriver
- Flathead Screwdriver
- Four Hex Wrenches
- Bottle Opener
- Dual Key Loops
- Glass Breaker
- Carabiner
- Clasp
We really liked the carabiner on this tool. It had a strong spring and stayed closed when you wanted it to. The screwdrivers were as good as any we saw on a carabiner tool and the bottle opener easily cracked open beer or soda.
We didn’t get a chance to try out the glass breaker but it has a very hard point and we don’t doubt it would work. The four hex wrenches are all closed off, something we prefer to the open cell designs found on many other tools in this list.
Overall a well put together tool at a reasonable price.
Elephant Outdoor Multi Tool Carabiner Keychain Clip
The Elephant Outdoor Multi Tool Carabiner can best be described as a folding knife with a carabiner for a handle. It’s an interesting concept with fairly good execution. It has seven different tools, including some you wouldn’t expect. It comes with tools like:
- Straight Edge Knife
- LED Light
- Carabiner
- Phillips Head Screwdriver
- Flathead Screwdriver
- Glass Breaker
- Bottle Opener
The main tool on the Multi Tool Carabiner was the fold out straight edge knife. It has a reasonable length but isn’t quite as sharp as we like to see. The LED light is good for finding a keyhole in a dark night but doesn’t compare to a true pocket flashlight. One feature we found very interesting was the fold out design of the phillips head screwdriver.
Instead of a small nub, as it found on most carabiner tools, it actually folds out at the base of the tool. You won’t be turning any major screws with it but you can tighten one up here or there. One thing we did like was the screw lock on the carabiner arm. This makes it less likely you’ll accidentally knock it open and lose it.
Not a bad tool overall, though it lacks the high-quality finish of a Leatherman or Gerber product.
Leatherman Jam + Style PS
The Leatherman Jam is a carabiner tool built for working on skateboards and related equipment. It’s bundled with the Style PS keychain tool to give you an interesting and very useful little package. The Jam itself has five different tools built into it, including:
- Bottle Opener
- Grip Tape File
- 9/16” Hex Wrench
- ½” Hex Wrench
- ⅜” Hex Wrench
The hex wrenches are all open faced and wrap around the bottom half of the Jam. The bottle opener is smack dab in the middle of the wrenches but was easy to use and effective. Each of the wrenches fit well and the body of the carabiner gave you a surprising amount of torque.
If you frequently find yourself at a skate park or out longboarding you should definitely give the Leatherman Jam a good look.
Leatherman Hail + Style PS
The Leatherman Hail is the snowboarder’s answer to the Jam. It’s also bundled with the Style PS and gives you five different snowboard specific tools. It’s 3.8 in long and easy to clip just about anywhere. It includes tools like:
- Lace Assist
- Bottle Opener
- 10mm Hex Wrench
- Board Scraper
- Phillips/Flathead Screwdriver
The Hail is a full sized carabiner with a pretty cool look to it. The carabiner and bottle opener both do their jobs well as it’s easy to clip to a ski jacket or pop a cold one. The board scraper takes up the entire top edge of the Hail and does a great job removing built up ice or snow from the bottom of your board.
When combined with the Style PS the Hail gives you a good mix of basic tools that you can use to adjust and maintain your board on the fly. It’s a well made tool that can stand up to regular use and something any serious snowboarder would find handy.
Gerber Curve
The first impression we got when we held the Gerber Curve was of a swiss army knife with a carabiner built in. It’s a keychain style multi tool that’s just 2.25 in long and weighs only .8 oz. It gives you six different tools, including:
- Straight Blade Knife
- Medium Flat Screwdriver
- Small Flat Screwdriver
- Phillips Head Screwdriver
- File
- Bottle Opener and Carabiner Combo
The Gerber Curve has an innovative design and is functionally well made. All the included tools lock out when in use, something that’s very rare among tools this size. The screwdrivers were definitely easier to use than those found on other carabiner multi tools. The only real issues we had were with the carabiner itself.
It works great as a bottle opener but is honestly too small to use for attaching other items to the Curve. It’s fine for clipping on a keychain but we found it a bit of a struggle to put the Curve on a belt loop or bag strap. All in all a great little tool, but without most of the functionality of a quality carabiner.
Best Multi Tool with Carabiner
The second category we’ll cover are multi tools with carabiners included. We’ve chosen to include only multi tools that have permanently attached carabiners. These come in both full size and pocket tool varieties and actually have pretty comprehensive tool loadouts.
We’ve put together several of tools from the best manufacturers available. Check it out and let us know what you think.
Leatherman Skeletool
The Skeletool is one of Leatherman’s most popular pocket tools to date. It has fewer tools than many similar multi tools but provides a lot of functionality. It gives you seven different tools in a four in body but weighs just five oz. Its tool loadout includes:
- Needlenose Pliers
- Regular Pliers
- Hard Wire Cutters
- Wire Cutters
- Carabiner Bottle Opener Combo
- Combination Knife
- Large Bit Driver
Despite its limited list of tools the Skeletool packs in a lot of value. This is especially true of its screwdriver. We’re always a fan of bit drivers, they really fit the multipurpose spirit of multi tools. The one on the Skeletool uses Leatherman’s oddball size but is still pretty nice.
The carabiner bottle opener combo is actually one of our favorite features of the Skeletool. It’s the main feature of one entire handle and is substantially larger than those found on similar tools. The bottle opener works really well and we found it easy to attach the Skeletool to a belt loop, bag, or to clip your keys to.
There’s a reason the Skeletool is as popular as it is. It’s a well made tool with an excellent design. It gives you all the functionality of many tools twice its weight and with much higher price tags.
Leatherman MUT
The MUT is a tactically focused multi tool designed around the AR15 platform. It has a combination of 16 standard and AR15 specific tools that give you a pretty useful set of tools overall. It’s a large tool, coming in at five in long and weighing 11.2 oz. Its tool loadout includes:
- Needlenose Pliers
- Regular Pliers
- Regular Wire Cutters
- Hard Wire Cutters
- Stranded Wire Cutters
- Wire Crimper
- 420HC Combination Knife
- Saw
- Replaceable Cutting Hook
- Hammer
- Bronze Carbon Scraper
- Bolt Override Tool
- #8-32 Cleaning Rod Attachment Point
- Firearm Disassembly Punch
- Carabiner and Bottle Opener
- Large Bit Driver
The MUT is a serious tool designed to solve serious problems. Its load out of tools allows you to deal with most everyday situation while also fully field strip an AR15 or M4 rifle. It’s popular among law enforcement and members of the military for just this reason.
That being said, it might be a bit too specialized for a lot of users. If you aren’t regularly stripping down a rifle a lot of the MUT’s functionality is basically wasted.
The MUT is extremely robust and well made. The individual tools do exactly what they’re designed for and many are built to be replaced. The wire cutters, cutting hook, and all the punches and scrapers are easy to replace with nothing but an allen wrench.
The wire cutters in particular are extremely well designed. They have several different hardness areas and allow you to cut different wires very easily. The carabiner is built into the reverse side of the hammer and is great for attaching the MUT to your bag or a MOLLE chest rig.
It’s a pretty great bottle opener as well, something that’s always nice to have. Overall the MUT is a very well made multi tool with carabiner, but not one everyone’s going to have a use for.
For more information about the Leatherman MUT, check out our full review here.
Leatherman Signal
The Leatherman Signal is built on the same platform as the MUT but has a wilderness instead of tactical focus. Leatherman did take the step of shrinking the Signal down to better serve its intended audience. It’s only 4.5 in long and weighs just 7.2 oz, a substantial reduction over the MUT. Despite this the Signal actually has three more tools than the MUT, including:
- Needlenose Pliers
- Regular Pliers
- Regular Wire Cutters
- Hard Wire Cutters
- Wire Stripper
- Awl With Thread Loop
- Hammer
- 420HC Combination Knife
- Saw
- Can Opener
- Bottle Opener
- 1/4 in Bit Driver and Hex Wrench
- Bit Driver
- Carabiner
- 3/16 Hex Wrench
- Safety Whistle
- Ferrocerium Rod
- Diamond Sharpener
Leatherman managed to cut the Signal’s weight by using thinner handles with cut outs along the edges. In theory the Signal is weaker than the MUT but it’s also made for much lighter duty use. The survival specific tools are actually designed to pop out of slots in the handles to make them easier to use.
We really like that you can sharpen the main knife blade with the included diamond sharpener. The ferrocerium rod was on the small side but still fully functional. We were really surprised by the functionality of the carabiner though.
Like the one found on the MUT it’s on the reverse of the hammer. Despite the Signal’s reduced size and weight it’s nearly the same size. It was really easy to clip onto a belt loop, backpack strap, or slip into a pocket and clip for purchase.
If you love to explore the wilderness or just like to camp on the weekends you should check out the Leatherman Signal.
For more information about the Leatherman Signal, check out our full review here.
Gerber Crucial
The Gerber Crucial is an interesting little pocket tool that tries to provide full size functionality in a smaller package. It’s 3.6 in long closed and weighs 5 oz. For something that small it’s actually fairly hefty. Gerber has several different version of the Crucial available, with a range of tools including:
- Needlenose Pliers
- Regular Pliers
- Wire Cutters
- Combo Blade
- Carabiner
- Bottle Opener
- Flathead Screwdriver
- Cross Driver
- Corkscrew
- Strap Cutter
Most of these tools come standard but not every model includes the carabiner. It doubles as a bottle opener and has a really interesting design. Instead of being built into the body of the tool it actually folds out like a knife or saw blade.
This gives you a pretty large carabiner that’s very useful. Unfortunately the design of the carabiner was one of the only bright spots with the Crucial. The design of the handles makes them downright uncomfortable when trying to use the pliers and many of the other tools have only marginal usefulness.
If you really like the carabiner design of the Gerber Crucial it’s not a bad choice, but other multi tools will give you better value.
For more information on the Gerber Crucial, check out our full review here.
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Conclusion
The best multi tool with carabiner is kind of hard to choose. The category doesn’t lend itself well to standardized tools and there are more versions of different tools than we can count. That being said, there were two clear winners from the tools we reviewed.
The best carabiner multi tool was the EDC Fans Carabiner tool. It had the best combination of useful features, quality design, and reasonable pricing. It allows you to adjust a lot of bolts and screws while still functioning very effectively as a keyring. We really liked how the key loops let you attach other keyrings to it while clipped to your belt.
For the best multi tool with carabiner we had to go with the Leatherman Skeletool. It fits the bill perfectly, with a large carabiner and targeted tools that nonetheless fulfill a wide variety of use cases. Its lightweight and high-quality manufacturing definitely counted in its favor as well.
As always we recommend you look at your own unique needs and figure out the best tool for you. There are lots of great multi tool carabiners out there, make sure you find the one that fits.
