I finally got a hold of one of these, after discovering the Picquic stubby variety a couple weeks ago. I remain highly impressed with this Vancouver-based company and its products.

The Picquic Mariner is basically a "marinized" version of the company’s flagship product, the x7 (formerly the Sixpac Plus).

Marinized how?

Well, it’s got a bronzed alloy shank and electroless nickel-plated bits. These are NICE bits…very shiny.

I spoke with Kerry Martin at Picquic, and he told me that the product is manufactured entirely in Vancouver, BC, with the exception of the bits, which Picquic purchases and then plates in Vancouver.

All Picquic screwdrivers carry a lifetime warranty, except for the bits, which are made to function in power-driven applications, where they can be expected to wear over time.

I tell ya, if there were an "official screwdriver of Navagear.com", the Picquic Mariner would be it. I know…I’m gushing, but I can’t help it. I love this thing. I can’t stop playing with it.

I’m not alone, either—check out this 2003 entry about the Picquic Sixpac, by James Home over on Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools blog:

The Picquic Sixpac may be the last multi-bit screwdriver I’ll ever need to buy, but it wasn’t the first. I’ve gone through a dozen less successful attempts at this kind of tool, always losing at least half the bits in the first month or so of use. When I try to use the few bits I haven’t lost, they invariably fall out of the bitholder, which weakens over time.

The Picquic Sixpac fixes both problems. Each bit is stored in a separate compartment in the screwdriver handle. You remove the bit you need by pushing it out of the handle with the bit you are finished with. Since there’s no other easy way to get at the bit you need, you always put bits away as you finish with them. I’ve had mine for three years and it still has all its bits!

The only bit you stand any chance of losing is the one used most recently, which remains mounted in the shank. The magnet that retains the working bit is extremely strong, though. I doubt you could lose the working bit unless you really made an effort to do so!

My only complaint: I could not find a single vendor in Seattle that had the Mariner in stock. In SEATTLE! Seattle’s 2/3 water! Oh, wait, that’s the Earth I’m thinking of. Anyway, Seattle’s a major maritime town, and normally I don’t have any trouble finding nautical gear and tools. I think I better go have a talk with my friends over at Fisheries Supply…