wrote on Mar 29^th, 2009 at 11:46pm:

..and I still have no idea what the round thing with the hole in it is for....

I believe it is for attaching a lanyard. (At least that is what I vaguely remember from reading the literature that came with it oh so many years ago!) Kind of pointless, since it has to be swung out to be able to attach a cord to it.
As TTC said, I have had one of my Gerber’s (I have two; both were welcomed Christmas gifts) with me at any time I’m wearing something with a belt. Never had any other brand.  Things that are good about it are the fact that the pliers can be deployed with one hand, and the handles for the pliers put the rounded portion against your hand; unlike the Leatherman which has the open, relatively sharp side of the handles against your hand. Put the two of them side by side and exert a lot of force onto the pliers and the difference is quite obvious. Also, the pliers can be partially deployed, which gives the pliers a compound leverage effect, but at the sacrifice of reduced jaw opening. Not so good is that they need to be opened fully to get to a blade. It really just comes down to tradeoffs; I really don’t think there is any one make / model that does everything well. But, as with any other tool, when used within its intended range of use they perform well. For heavier cutting jobs the folding Buck gets used, and fillet knives (as well as hemostats) are specialty tools that are difficult to replace.