The [amazon text=Gerber 22-01769 Shard Keychain Tool&asin=B002ZK45IQ] is one of the most useful, little pocket tools I’ve used. Whilst I’d like to be carrying something like a full on Leatherman multi-tool, the overly paranoid security agents won’t even let you take a cork screw on board a plane, let alone a swiss army knife. The Gerber Shard is completely innocuous however, no deadlier than a key but about a million times more useful!
Whilst small, at only 7cm (2.75 inches) the [amazon text=Gerber 22-01769 Shard Keychain Tool&asin=B002ZK45IQ] is rugged and lightweight with a protective titanium coating. Even when sliding the Shard on to my keyring the abrasion didn’t effect the surface at all.
Whilst the [amazon text=Gerber 22-01769 Shard Keychain Tool&asin=B002ZK45IQ] features a small and medium flat screwdriver, a Philips head screwdriver, a wire stripper, pry bar, bottle opener and lanyard hole, I’ve only used the Phillip’s head (to remove the back off a TV), the lanyard hole (to fit the Shard on to my keyring .. is that really a feature?) and of course the bottle opener (to open bottles ..).
At $5 the Gerber Shard is a no-brainer, offering a really useful basic toolset on something the size of a key. I can see this travelling with me forever at the rate it’s going!