Went to Lowe's today for a vacuum cleaner belt and hardware to repair a set of bifold doors on my closet. Spent about double the price of the stuff I needed on stuff I really didn't...
Had been meaning to pick up a CRKT Piet for quite some time.
At 3 3/4" closed and just 2.5 ounces, it fits my needs for a "just right" knife fully, especially now that I'm wearing shorts a heckuva lot more. CRKT has a D2 version as well, but it's $20 more. It could be even lighter without the liners, but they make it a sturdier folder.
In my opinion, the place to find decent tools at Lowe's is in the electrical supply section. They have Ideal there; but Lowe's for a couple of years has listed Knipex on the website, but I never found them in store. I read somewhere this was due to an agreement Knipex had made with Home Depot, which we don't have here.
However, that agreement must have expired, as I found a pair of 250mm Cobras in the electrical section all by themselves. I have the 125mm model for about 5 years now and love them, but have been wanting something that was truly heavy duty.
Also picked up a Nite Ize Doohickey. I had an older version that was just the prybar, bottle opener, and useless wrenches, but this one adds serrations to the bottle opener arc, a nail puller to the prybar, and a Phillips on the butt end of the carabiner. Phillips works great, and the serrations and "package opener" at the edge of the screwdriver will cut clam pack. This will be carried alongside the CRKT or on other days when I'm just going with a small, lightweight folder around the house and need a screwdriver and prybar.
Went to Ollie's beforehand as my grandmother wanted a round rug. Found this Utica Minimaster clone for $3, and impulse-bought it. Blades are actually sharp for once, and the saw and file work great (which are usually crap on most "off-brand" cheap tools). However, the drivers need some work, as they are overly polished and rounded slightly. Figure this will be a good "backup" tool that will take up little room.