686 Men's Original Snow Tool Belt Review

Customer Ratings:

This is my second 686 toolbelt. I bought a black one and now this brown one. Honestly I got it because it had the bottle opener, though the other tools are cool and work great. All of the tools come off of the belt and can actually be used.

I have a 34" waist and the L is perfect. I'm on the middle of 5 holes.

This is the size chart I can find on some retailers sites [S/M (26-34) and L/XL (32-40)] but the page here has 3 sizes.

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I've bought 3 of these belts and they've all been well-used. I like the first one so much that I had a new black leather belt custom cut to go with the original buckle hardware.

The toolbelt has a utilitarian design which says, "I'm always prepared". While 686 designed this belt for snowboarders, to adjust their bindings out on the slopes, the tools they included are great for many hobbies. The Phillips #2 driver works perfectly for most screws in a computer, and the wrenches seem appropriate for a bike enthusiast.

The width of the belt completely fills my belt-loops on my jeans, which is ideal. Most belts leave some room to spare, which doesn't look quite as nice.

PRO:

*Tools: Flathead and Phillips #2 screwdrivers, Wrenches, Bottle Opener

*Tools are pretty durable.

*Great utilitarian look. Fills belt-loops on jeans or snowpants completely.

*Cool discussion piece.

CON:

*Leather stain _will_ bleed when wet. The belt is advertised as being waterproof, intended for wintersports, so this is a design flaw. Also, the stain is only surface-deep, so if you clip accessories (cellphone, ID, keys, radio, waterbottle) to your belt, it will develop scratches that reveal the leather color below the stain.

*Leather hardens when wet, true of all leather goods. The 686 Toolbelt is no exception. However, because the belt is advertised as being weatherproof, I had expected better performance. This is not the case. Should your Toolbelt become wet, the leather will stiffen a bit. You'll need to apply some leather moisturizer to return it to softness.

*Hardware finish is prone to scratching. The buckle hardware and tools are either nickle-plated or painted black. After you use them a bit, the finish will wear, exposing the metal core. While this is normal for a belt-buckle, plating or painting real tools is much less common. The nickle finish and brass/bronze core both will tarnish when exposed to sweat. Metal cleaners (acetone, kerosene, Hoppes #9, BreakFree CLP, MEK) will remove this tarnish. Clear-coat it to prevent tarnishing.

Despite those criticisms, I still highly recommend this belt.

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This belt was neat at first, but its one feature I used consistently—the bottle opener—started to wear down and get rounded off quite quickly, and is now barely usable. I guess it's nice to have screwdrivers if you need them, but I usually have a Leatherman around for that.

Honest reviews on 686 Men's Original Snow Tool Belt

This is well built and handy. The leather is very thick and high quality. The belt easily snaps apart to make use of the tools.

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I bought this belt not sure if I'd ever actually use it as anything more than something to hold my pants up, but after one of my bindings coming loose on a snowboarding trip last winter, I can say that this belt is as functional at tightening loose fasteners as it is at holding one's pants around their waist.