Gerber
- Thread starter DHonovich
- Start date
Rossignol said:
My money says firestarter...
^^^ Guess I shoulda watched the video first... 
Damn, sure does...
Guess I need to work on my observation skills.
Guess I need to work on my observation skills.
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.
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.
Thanks for posting up the information. I had to read a lot about this knife and its early release. It was very disappointing to see how poorly made the early models were. I hope that the Jan/Feb version proves to be a much tougher model. I have not had time to thoroughly test this knife but I plan to do so in the near future. Worst case scenario I have to keep sending it back to Gerber until they ultimately correct the issue or send me a different model like the lmf II that will hold up to the abuse. One of the biggest issues I have with the BG knife is the fact that its made in China. I try to buy American whenever possible but this knife was a something that I wanted to give a try. The only other big issue I have with this model is that it is not Molle compliant like some of the similar survival knives. I must say that the gerber lmf II is a sweet knife. I believe it was designed with pilots in mind if I remember correctly.
I doubt they would send you the LMF as a replacement. Most likely they would just keep sending you the same knife or just refund your money at some point. The thing about the design of the BG knife that has me scratching my head is the fire starter being inverted on the sheath. That just looks like a great way to loose probably one of the more useful tools in that set up. I wish they would make the Parang Machete without all the orange, grey and BG all over it. Because I kind of want one. I just want something a little more low profile and maybe a little more higher quality.
http://bear.gerbergear.com/gear/parang/
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOSqABtUgLA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
http://bear.gerbergear.com/gear/parang/
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOSqABtUgLA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
I can attest to the wide variation in the quality of Gerber knives. I own two LMF II's and two Kiowa Tanto's. The quality of the LMF's is excellent. The quality of the Kiowa's not so much. I used one of the Kiowa's for EDC for about six months. I used it but didn't abuse it. The blade has numerous nicks out of its edge. I've contacted Gerber and they've indicated that they'll fix or replace it, but I wouldn't buy another one.
A couple pics ...
A couple pics ...
here is my mark II that I found in a hole in the wall SG store on the Oregon coast on the early 90's....It was cool because when I asked the oldtimer about it he shrugged his shoulders and said "25 bucks". needless to say I snatched it up.Dont know if they make these anymore but this one was made in Portland, Or.
That's one helluva nice toothpick! Great deal too...
I received my 20 year service award today during fire school. It happens to be our centennial this year as well so it’s etched with the 100 year seal.It’s already been opened and closed a few hundred times for all the guys at work …lol. I was happy to see it was made in Portland.
