The Bear Grylls Survival Series Ultimate Knife from Gerber is getting raked across the coals by the serious knife boards. To call it the "ultimate knife" is a tall order. While the store reviews are glowing. The unofficial gear reviews are less than positive. The knife is being sold as being developed with Bear Grylls to be the ultimate survival knife. It looks to me that his input was to take the Gerber Prodigy, a knife he has used in the past and said "do, this, this and this to it". The result is a nice bubble packaged, flashy survival knife that is sure to sell plenty and make a ton of money for Mr Grylls though the royalties he was paid for looking all manly on the package. However to use this in the field might actually cause you some problems. For instance using the hammer pommel to smash an acorn.
Might leave you with a broken knife.
Personally I was really hoping this knife would be something more. If there was a little more spent on manufacturing it would be a far better quality knife. Of course it would cost more and for a knife they are selling in a blister pack at Wal-mart I don't think that was really their target market. According to Gerber at SHOT, the issue above was due to a "soft launch" version, or "prototype" version they sold during the holidays. The ones that are being sold in late Jan/Feb will be better re-enforced and will not suffer from that flaw. I really hope this turns out to be true and someone doesn't take this knife out into the wilderness thanks to it's endorsement and it fails on them. I do like the idea behind the knife. I would really like to see a high end version. Preferably with the fire starter held in the up-right position in the sheath.
Gerber is a confusing company. From my understanding they make knives both here in the US and in China. So some knives from them are quality, while other are less than quality. So before buying any of their knives I do a whole lot of research. One knife of theirs that I do own and it is made in America is the Gerber LMF II. It is bigger and heavier than the Bear knife, but it has a glass breaker, hammer, holes in the handle to turn the knife into a spear as well as a partially serrated edge. Additionally the sheath gives you multiple ways to attach the knife to your gear either via leg straps, MOLLE attachments, belt or hook and loop straps. The sheath also has a built in sharpener. Some versions, depending on how much you want to spend, come with a strap cutter as well, that you can attach to the front of the sheath. Or you can take it off and attach it separately via MOLLE. I picked my LMF II up a few years ago, but I think they run around $70 or so now.
The good news is, if your knife does break. Gerber has excellent customer service and I have no doubt they will take care of it. So I encourage you to go beat on your knife and see how well it holds up. If it breaks the worst that happens is you have to wait for a replacement.