Leatherman Style PS: A Great Keychain Tool Held Back by One Persistent Flaw

Introduction

The Leatherman Style PS should be an easy recommendation. It is bladeless, so it can travel through airport security without drama. It packs both pliers and scissors into a genuinely keychain-sized body, something very few tools manage. And at around $35, it is affordable enough that almost anyone could benefit from carrying one.

So it is frustrating that a single, well-documented design flaw keeps getting in the way: the scissors spring has a tendency to snap, sometimes without the tool even being used.

What the Style PS Gets Right

On paper, the Style PS nails the keychain multitool formula. The pliers will not handle heavy jobs like tightening nuts, but they offer far more grip and leverage than fingers alone for a wide range of small tasks. The scissors are capable for their size, and the overall tool set is one that genuinely anyone can benefit from.

Because it is bladeless, it is also safe enough that it could be handed to a younger child, roughly in the eighth to tenth grade age range, without concern. That combination of pliers, scissors, and no blade is rare in this size class.

The Spring Problem

Here is the issue: the scissor spring on the Style PS breaks, and it breaks in the same spot, repeatedly. This is not an isolated case. Multiple owners report the same failure, and it has been an issue for over a decade. Even a brand new unit purchased about a year ago showed the same broken spring, in the same location as an older used example.

More striking, these springs did not fail during use. Both tools broke while sitting closed on a surface, with no interaction at all. The spring simply snapped on its own.

Leatherman does stand behind the product and will fix it, but the process means shipping the tool back and forth, which adds roughly $15 in round-trip shipping. That turns a $35 tool into a recurring hassle, and the problem appears common enough that a broken spring within a couple of years is a realistic expectation.

The same spring weakness is likely a big part of why the Leatherman Squirt was discontinued, since it suffered from the same easily snapped spring.

Better Designs Already Exist

The most frustrating part is that proven alternatives to this spring design have existed for decades. Older tools, including simple pocket knives more than 20 years old, use straightforward flat springs similar to those in Victorinox tools, and they hold up. It would not be a stretch to swap in a Victorinox-style spring and have it work just fine.

There is also an obvious market gap here. Almost no other company makes a compact, bladeless, plier-based tool that travelers could carry through TSA without worry. A lighter variant dropping a couple of the less useful implements, or simply a redesigned spring, would give Leatherman a product that could be recommended without reservations.

Buying Advice

Should you buy the Style PS? If you already own one and the spring breaks, Leatherman will repair it, so the tool is not a total loss. But going in, understand the realistic cost: the purchase price plus likely return shipping at some point in the tool’s life.

For many people, a simpler approach works better: carry a small Victorinox-style knife with a reliable spring design for daily tasks, and add a dedicated pair of small pliers when a job calls for them. That combination avoids the single point of failure entirely.

Conclusion

The Leatherman Style PS remains one of the very few keychain tools that offers bladeless pliers and scissors in one compact body, and that alone keeps it interesting. Until Leatherman addresses the scissor spring, though, potential buyers should go in with eyes open: a broken spring and a warranty return are a realistic part of the ownership experience, not an edge case.