Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Series Ultimate knife - now w. field test!

[JEEP]

http://www.gerbergear.com/Survival/Knives/Survival-Series-Ultimate-Knife_31-000751

Diverging opinions about Bear Grylls aside; what about "his" knife? People seem to be either hating or loving it.

A lot of the people hating it has, apparently, never handled one - a lot of the people loving it are, in many cases, perhaps not the most experienced knife users.

Personally I am not a fan of these overly advanced "survival" type knives, nor do I like serrations on my blades (actually; I loathe it) - and lastly; my previous experiences with Gerbers non US produced knives are truly anything but good.

But, according to Gerber this knife is the Worlds best selling knife in 2011. Whether that means best selling Gerber knife or best selling any is not clear. I suspect it to be the former - anything else sounds unrealistic to me.
What I can say is, that this knife is one of our best selling fixed blade knives at the shop - we sell a lot of these, especially online!

Some of our customers buy this knife as a gmmick or collector's item - but, really, most buy this knife because they expect it to be a good knife, designed by Bear Grylls and all.
I usually ask what kind of activities they expect to be using any knife, they wish to buy from me, for - and I have, in some cases, advised customers not to buy this knife, because said activity clearly was more than I would suspect this knife to hold up to. The key word here is "suspect" - because reviews of this knife either slams it or praises it to the skies.

Today I decided to se for myself - and bought one. I will be testing it - while trying to be as objective as possible. I will try to look past any hypes and bias - and review this as I would any other knife.

Their version I will be testing is "version 2" with the improved pommel - "version 1" had a serious issue with the pommel breaking off.

Stay tuned...

[Steve27752]

Not for me I am afraid.

[CanadianMike]

I was talking to the guy (Norm) at my local outdoors store last week, he works at the knife counter, got to talking about this knife and he said it's not bad, then got onto the topic of the parang, which he said was garbage, described the tang and mounting method, and said one guy he was talking to had bought it and was using it at a Scouts gathering to chop some small wood (for pointy sticks I assume), and at one point the blade separated from the handle and flew off about 20ft........ not good when kids and their parents are around! Norm also said he's seen youtube videos of it, and many people say it tends to break easily. Not aware of the usage of it, but if one tries to chop down a larger than kindling sized tree, then yes, I can see it happening (my golok on the other hand, won't).

On the other hand, I showed Norm two of the knives I made and he was super shocked at how well they are made, and the edge. :)

So, back on topic, I wouldn't buy one either, I don't like gimmicky stuff........ especially when it's endorsed in a cheesy way.

[Realearner]

At the moment I will stick with the mora. Does what it is said to do so why spend extra for someone's name on it :confused2:

[Metal mug]

I don't like gimmicky stuff........ especially when it's endorsed in a cheesy way.But Mike, surely you will want to buy my mug endorsed by me - Metal mug. (:D cheesy grin) It's only £99.99!
2893



I'm not a fan of the serrations myself, keep us posted Jakob.

[CanadianMike]

Can I get the beret mug with serrations? :P

[Metal mug]

Can I get the beret mug with serrations? :PYeah.....only it's a D.I.Y serration kit which means I can charge you £20 more :)

[nicklasodh]

I bought it, looked at it and decided it was crap.
I usually do fine cuts close to the handle... where the serrations are :(
The handle and the pommel ar NOT connected so if you pound the pommel, the energy dissipates in the handle somewhere. If you pound on a F1 all energy goes out the tip.
It feels too much "mall ninja" to be accepted in the regular outdoor world. The handle is also like the LMF II, which I also dislike. Well, if there were a BG ultimate knife or a LMF II WITHOUT serrations I would give it another go.
The firesteel will eventually end up in the nature after a day or so. It feels too plastic china crap to be something I would trust. It even says on the package that you should not hit the blade with anything, then it becomes less useful than a regular Mora knife :(

[JEEP]

This knife is being marketed and sold as a survival knife. I will be judging it's features and functionality based on the assumption, that the user will be carrying and using this knife in survival(ish) situations.
When commenting on the quality (build, materials, etc.) of this knife, I do so based on my experience with other knives at the same price point.

First impressions:

Packaging:
Simple cardboard backed clam shell packaging. It shows the product nicely, contains a fair amount of information (no word about the actual steel type though, other than high carbon stainless). I am no fan of clam shell packaging; it is hard to get into (this example is especially hard, I had to bring out the big pair of scissors) - neither is it very environmentally sound. A nice simple cardboard box would have been better in every way. I can't help to think that this product is presented and packaged very much like a toy.

Contents of package:
- Knife
- Nylon/plastic sheath w. built in diamond sharpener
- Firesteel
- Lanyard w. emergency whistle (attached to the knife)
- Priorities of Survival pocked guide

The knife:

Measurements (my own): Weight (w. lanyard/whistle); 240 g. Weight (whole kit); 388 g. Blade length; 12 cm. Blade width; 3 cm. Blade thickness; 4 mm, Overall length: 25,5 cm.

Appearance/aesthetics: Gray/orange colour scheme, personally I like that. BG initials on handle and signature on blade and sheath, somewhat cheesy and, again, toy like. The coating on the blade is somewhat spotty on the back edge.
This knife has clearly borrowed a lot of design details from the Gerber LMF - but is somewhat less bulky and, in lack of a better term, futuristic looking.
Personally I prefer classic Scandinavian style knives. Modern survival type knives are not my kind of thing really when it comes to aesthetics. I guess I have seen less aesthetically appealing survival knives - and also some with a lot more going on for them in that regard.

Blade: Thick and heavy drop point blade with serrations on the lower half. The blade does not come super sharp, though not as dull as reported by some (I guess there must be variations), it cuts paper nicely, but it won't shave the hairs off my forearm.
The back of the blade is 4 mm thick, a good broad back for batoning - though the drop point takes away some of that advantage by naturally tapering towards the point.
The blade is coated with a dark gray titanium nitride coating, which looks to be rather thin.
A portion of the lower part of the back edge has had the edges sharpened, for it to be used as a striker for the firesteel - it works well actually, better than I had expected. There is even a small fire icon on the blade, next to the edge, kinda´neat actually, though slightly cheesy as well. I prefer striking my firesteels with a purpose built striker though - striking with the back of a knife is imho. an unnecessary risk to take, especially in a survival situation.
As previously stated; I am not a fan of serrations. I know this particular type of serrations from my Gerber Warrant - and I know from experience that they will not hold up to much abuse, especially not batoning - testing will show whether I am right in this assumption.

Handle: Orange molded plastic and gray rubber w. a metal pommel (coated in the same manner as the blade). Both plastic and rubber has distinctive mold lines down the middle, especially the plastic.
The rubber texture of the handle is nice and grippy - and the heavy pommel is a good counterweight to the somewhat heavy blade, giving the knife an okay balance. The handle seems to be sitting firmly in the handle.
The handle is shaped with a finger grip, something that I personally dislike on any knife. I feel it makes gripping the handle, the way I want it, difficult.
The double plastic guard is plastic. Though the guard does not prevent you from placing your thumb on the back of the blade, it is somewhat less comfortable to do so. I seriously fear that the guard will split or break if accidentally struck while battoning.
The pommel is heavily textured and seem sturdy enough, there is no play as reported on the earlier version of this knife, but the pommel did give away a discomforting crack, the first time I tested it for play.
The handle has three holes for fitting the knife as a spear point. Why would anyone do that? If you need a spear; whittle a sturdy stick to a point and harden the point in the fire, that will be just as effective as tying your, all-important, survival knife to a stick, thus multiplying the risk of loosing or breaking it.
I have average (maybe to the slightly large side) sized hands, but I can't help to find the handle both slightly too thin and too narrow. Though it is in no way uncomfortable to grip, I am having a hard time finding a grip on this handle that I really like. I do suspect that working with this knife, for a longer period of time, will result in some very tired hands for me. Is this actually a knife made for a child's hand?

[JEEP]

The sheath:
Molded hard plastic sheath w. rubber coating - attached to a "military grade" (whatever that means) nylon backing.
The blade sits nice and safely in the sheath and the guard locks nicely in place.
The plastic sheath is fitted with a molded hard plastic holder for the firesteel. The firesteel sits firmly, yet is easy to get to, even though it is placed upside down.
The plastic sheath folds down, by releasing a velcro strap, revealing a small diamond sharpening stone, attached to the back of the sheath. The sharpener is rather coarse, not something I would like to treat my blades to. Testing will show what kind of job it does.
The plastic sheath can be completely detached from the nylon part - and it is fitted with two drainage holes at the back.
The nylon part of the sheath is not as nice as the plastic part. It is not bad, but it could do with a few improvements; like double stitching and thicker/sturdier straps. A survival knife (or any knife) isn’t much worth, if lost due to a strap breaking on you. The sheath has single strap for vertical carry, as well as two straps (one in each end), probably meant for horizontal carry, though I have a hard time seeing how that should be possible to do comfortably.
The back of the nylon part of the sheath is fitted with a small pocket, for the Priorities of Survival guide (which is rather hard to fit inside the pocket btw. - and even harder to get out again), the pocket has the basic alpine rescue signals and ground to air distress symbols printed on. Not a bad idea, though one should hope, that anyone spending time in the wilderness, should be familiar with these already :)
All in all, the sheath is my favorite part of this knife, I find it generally very well designed, though lacking a little in materials.

The firesteel:
Scout sized (when compared to a LMF firesteel) firestel w. molded textured hard plastic handle fitted w. orange rubber inserts for better grip. The handle has the same mall fire icon as on the blade, it should be obvious for anyone, even people unfamiliar with firesteels, how this works.
The rod throws a shower of nice and strong sparks when struck with the blade. I see no discernible difference when comparing it to my LMF Scout firesteel.
The flatter/larger grip is somewhat more ergonomic and gripable than the basic LMF firesteel.
A firesteel is always a sensible addition to a survival knife.

The lanyard w. emergency whistle:
First off; calling this a lanyard is a grave exaggeration! It is nowhere large enough to fit around the wrist of anyone, not even the smallest of children. The nylon cord is very cheap and doesn't look like it would hold up to any abuse at all – and it is way too short to be used as any kind of emergency cordage.
The whistle is fairly loud, though by far as loud as any “real” emergency whistle, like my Fox 40 Micro. The build quality and materials are basic, but at least way better than the lanyard itself.
Carrying a whistle in a survival situation is a very good idea.
I will probably remove the lanyard from the knife and attach it to the firesteel, it just seems to fit better there. The lanyard is so short, it causes the whistle to bang against the hand when using the knife. Rather annoying.

The priorities of Survival pocked guide:
I was really in doubt whether I should include this in my review. But because it is marketed as being a part of the product, I will include it.
The guide is printed on waterproof paper, if it could be fitted into the pocket on the sheath, it would probably hold up to being carried there for at least some time.
The guide is very basic, but rather sound actually. It shines through, that Bear, having received through survival training, knows his basics. Two things though: 1. Without further explanation, the illustration of the snow shelter looks somewhat hazardous to attempt for the inexperienced outdoors person. 2. It is funny to see how it is recommended to signal helicopters and airplanes by using your knife blade as a mirror, while the blade of the knife, that this guide comes with, is coated.
No doubt, this guide would be a great help for anyone in a survival situation. Though, most of the knowledge found with in, really should be basic knowledge for anyone venturing into the wilderness.

So far the initial impressions: I find the knife and it's accessories to be packed with features (especially at the price point), most of them principally nice and sound, though some somewhat lacking in quality and/or design.
The knife is, well... okay. I could really do without the serrations - and with a beefier handle.
The sheath is a real nice piece of design, though some of the materials and workmanship could be a lot better.
The firesteel, whistle and survival guide are good and sound additions to the kit – while the lanyard is a laugh.
I can't shake the feeling that this knife seems made for a child/teenager though – and I must say, that I have seen and handled much nicer knives, costing less that this one.

So much for design and features. Next time; field testing!

[Martin]

Great work Jakob. Thanks for putting in the effort to do that. :)

Martin

[JEEP]

Thanks. I really want to know what to say to my customers, when they ask me whether this is a good knife. I thought I could just aswell share my thoughts and impressions.

I really feel it is hard to find unbiased reviews on knives/gear designed or endorsed by celebrities like Bear Grylls, Ray Mears, Les Stroud, etc. Often people are highly influenced by their opinion about the person behind the product, rather than the actual qualities (or lack thereof) of the product.

[jus_young]

Thanks. I really want to know what to say to my customers, when they ask me whether this is a good knife. I thought I could just aswell share my thoughts and impressions.

I really feel it is hard to find unbiased reviews on knives/gear designed or endorsed by celebrities like Bear Grylls, Ray Mears, Les Stroud, etc. Often people are highly influenced by their opinion about the person behind the product, rather than the actual qualities (or lack thereof) of the product.

Very true. It becomes harder again when relying on unbiased reviews from publications that these people pay to advertise in.

[fatsnacka]

fantastic well thought out honest opinion

thanks

[treefrog]

I'm not a technically minded knifey person so I don't feel qualified to give a proper review, but I have used this very knife and it wasn't anything special.
Here's what happened: we got a little backed up with 2 or 3 deer hanging in the skinning shed and various knives were getting dull , what with bone and deer hair ,etc. The grandson of one of the guys at the hunt camp was wearing his new BG knife all proud and so we borrowed it till it got too dull to be useful. That took all of
five minutes. I've never been a fan of serrated blades, either, but the serrations were far enough back on the blade that they had no use one way or another.
Well I don't know, maybe it's a great 'survival' knife, but it isn't any gem for dressing deer.

BTW Jakob that was a very thorough and eloquent review. Well done.

[CanadianMike]

How does deer hide compare with trying to dull a knife by cutting indoor carpet for a few hours? ;)

We should talk, sounds like you may want to review one of the knives I make, which I've been told, are damned hard to dull, and a couple are by deer hunters that use them to gut and skin deer. Am sure you'd give one a wicked run for the money beyond just deer....... :)

Besides, shipping will be cheap, I could almost throw you one. Lol

[treefrog]

Maybe they'll come out with an official Bear Grease carpet knife.;)

Yeah, so what end of the city are you in, Mike?

[CanadianMike]

Ooh, that'd be cool! Add in a kitchen knife series, he'd be golden!

I'll shoot you a PM to uncloud the thread...........

[Mang]

There's a limited edition version of this without the serrations but it's apprently only availbale in the USA. I've handled one and my first impression was that a lot of tasks are done right where the serrations are, but as JEEP points out, it is being sold as a survival knife.

[JEEP]

Second part; field testing!

In order to give an all round impression of the capabilities and quality of the knife and accessories, I have put it through two basic camp chores:

1. Preparing firewood/kindling; batoning, chopping and feathersticking
1.1 Since this knife is supplied with a firesteel, I will also use it to light my fire
2. Making a basic tent peg, utilizing basic cutting techniques, as shown in this video: http://www.naturalbushcraft.co.uk/camp-craft/how-to-makie-a-tent-peg-bushcraft-basics.html

Preparing firewood/kindling:

https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6039/6406026771_b41a4b1330_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/aL5yzr)
Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Series Ultimate Knife (https://flic.kr/p/aL5yzr) by Jakob Elbæk Egegaard Pedersen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakobeep/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6406027963_86caa807fc_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/aL5yVZ)
Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Series Ultimate Knife (https://flic.kr/p/aL5yVZ) by Jakob Elbæk Egegaard Pedersen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakobeep/), on Flickr

Batoning and chopping: I had some concerns prior to doing this; how would the knife hold op to this? I have read reports of this knife literately falling apart during batoning/chopping. Would the back edge of the drop point blade chop up my baton? How would the serrations on the blade handle the abuse?
Well, it seems that my worries were in vain. I managed to split some rather large and very grainy pieces of wood with this knife, without any damage to the knife at all, not even to the serrations (I had expected the serrations to come out heavily damaged, as they did on my Gerber Warrant). Even the coating on the blade held up rather well. The back edge caused some damage on my baton, but not nearly as much as I had expected.
As a chopper, the knife did a nice job as well, chopping through 5 cm thick greenwood fairly quickly.
The knife felt very solid during the whole process – and I ended up actually putting it though a lot more abuse than I would any of my regular users, unless I really had to. But, again; this knife is clearly marketed as a survival knife, it needs to be able to take a pounding!
My only gripe, regarding to batoning and chopping with this knife, is in regards to comfort: Due to the construction of this knife, every blow to the blade resonates up through the hand and arm, in the beginning it is annoying, after a while it becomes somewhat painful. That, paired with the fact that the handle is rather small, makes the knife less comfortable to use.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6406044577_4a3b28e0e6_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/aL5DSr)
Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Series Ultimate Knife (https://flic.kr/p/aL5DSr) by Jakob Elbæk Egegaard Pedersen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakobeep/), on Flickr

https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6054/6406045793_8b36601808_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/aL5Eep)
Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Series Ultimate Knife (https://flic.kr/p/aL5Eep) by Jakob Elbæk Egegaard Pedersen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakobeep/), on Flickr

I had not sharpened the knife prior to batoning/chopping. As mentioned; it did not come especially sharp out of the box. I did not notice any significant blunting to the edge after batoning/chopping.
Before moving on to the feathersticks, I sharpened the knife on the built in diamond sharpener, making it significantly sharper.

Feathersticking: Being somewhat unskilled at feathersticking, my results here may not be as valid. But IMHO the knife did a fair job at feathersticking – it is by no means ideal for the job though, due to the very steep grind of the straight part of the edge. The serrated part of the edge did a slightly better job here actually.
When feathersticking I prefer to put my thumb on the back of the blade, on this knife that means placing my thumb on the sharpened part, for striking the firesteel, which is somewhat uncomfortable.

Lighting the fire: As stated previously; the striker throws a nice spark when struck with the sharpened part at the back of the blade. I still think, however, that striking your firesteel with the back of your knife is an unnecessary risk to take – as well as being rather impractical, as you tend to knock over your tinder bundle, whether you are running the knife down the rod or you are pulling the rod backwards on the knife.
Despite of being somewhat cumbersome the system does work nicely, though I will take a regular LMF firesteel with a striker any day though.

https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6220/6406029307_a705ee13e4_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/aL5zka)
Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Series Ultimate Knife (https://flic.kr/p/aL5zka) by Jakob Elbæk Egegaard Pedersen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakobeep/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6406041917_34c853297f_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/aL5D5z)
Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Series Ultimate Knife (https://flic.kr/p/aL5D5z) by Jakob Elbæk Egegaard Pedersen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakobeep/), on Flickr

So far so good, now on to some whittling!

[JEEP]

Making a basic tent peg:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6406043343_dec4589bc8_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/aL5Dva)
Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Series Ultimate Knife (https://flic.kr/p/aL5Dva) by Jakob Elbæk Egegaard Pedersen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakobeep/), on Flickr

Push cut with a stop: The double guard, serrations and steep grind makes this knife, mildly speaking, somewhat less ideal for finer work. It gets the job done, but it is nowhere easy and no joy – and the result is not pretty.
Again; the sharpened part, for striking the firesteel, on the back of the blade, is placed exactly where I place my thumb, not very comfortable.

Lever cut: Putting a point on the peg was easier than making the notch. I started out by chopping the point to a rough shape with the straight part of the edge, which went nice and easy, this is where the steep edge grind comes to it's right.
I finished off by shaping the point with the serrated part of the blade, using the lever cut; I can't really get used to the serrations when cutting with this knife; on one the side the serrations really dig into the wood taking off big (but very uneven) pieces on the other side it feels, in lack of a better expression, like cutting with a blunt blade. I am definitely not a fan of serrations, this knife has done nothing to change that.

This is not a knife for fine work. Not much more to say about that really. You can put a point to a stick or make a tent peg with it fairly easily – but anything finer that that; not with this knife. Not for me at least.

Conclusion, practical test:
Considering the amount of bad reviews this knife is getting, I am somewhat impressed about the amount of abuse this knife has stood up to. Again; I have put this knife through a lot more than I would ever do my regular users.
When it comes to the rougher jobs, like batoning and chopping, this knife does a good job – not a very comfortable one though, due to the construction and dimensions of the handle.
For finer, more bushcrafty, jobs, like whittling, this is not the knife to reach for.

Summary:
Actually this knife has performed and held up better than I had expected. I could really do without the serrations - and with a beefier handle, constructed in a way that absorbed the shock from batoning/chopping, instead of passing it on to the users hand and arm. This, last, issue is something I really feel, should have been sorted out in design/testing before putting the knife into production.
The sheath is a real nice piece of design, though some of the materials and workmanship could be a lot better.
The firesteel, whistle and survival guide are good and sound additions to the kit – while the lanyard is a laugh. The firesteel works as intended, but I am not a fan of the means of striking it.
I am tempted to conclude that this knife, being marketed as a survival knife, performs exactly as it should – but, and that may just be me, I really feel that a survival knife should be a lot more all round than this knife is.
Survival is not just chopping wood, preparing firewood and putting points to sticks – maybe it is to Bear Grylls, but not to me as well a many others I dare say ;)
All in all; this knife is nowhere as bad as suggested in many reviews. The quality is decent, the design is interesting and it performs nicely for rougher tasks – yet lacks equally for finer work.
The dimensions of the handle is an issue; it is simply too small for my average sized adult mans hands.
I have read it speculated somewhere, that this knife should be designed and marketed with young scouts as a main target group. I can easily see that being true. I know that my scouts, aged 10-12, would love to own this knife, especially the boys :)
Price is also an issue to consider. Considering what you get, I will not be so blunt to call this knife directly overpriced – but I will suggest that can find knives with a lot more all round appeal and better design, for the same amount of money or less.

Out of ten stars, I rate this knife:
Design: ****
Quality: *****
Performance: ****
Accessories (scabbard, etc.): *******
Price: ****

Overall: 4,8 stars out of ten

Will I recommend this knife: If you find that the Bear Grylls connection adds value to the knife for you - and you have small hands - then yes. Other vice; I would recommend looking at other knives with in the price range before you decide to buy.

[CanadianMike]

Very well done addition to the thread, kudos Jakob!! If it wasn't so ugly, I'd consider buying one........ more for the sheath actually. Lol, yes, make my own knife to fit into the sheath, and use the knife as a beater for unskilled friends to split kindling with while I use a better knife for skilled work. ;)

[Ben Casey]

Cheers I like your reviews :)

[markal17]

great reviews mate thanks il stick with my hand made knifes

[Tony1948]

I'll stay with my knifes as well:wink:good review on the knife :rock-on:JeepT^

[Felix]

i've never held or used one of these knives before so i can't judge it based on personal experience, but this is probaby the best/fairest review i've seen of one so far. all the reviews i've seen are of people who just unpack the knife and judge it instantly based on splitting one piece of wood or whatever. which isn't very fair in my opinion.
based on your review it seems like an ok knife to get if you are a fan of Bear and like the novelty od using a knife "designed" by the man himslef. but why they put serations on a bushcraft/survival knife is beyond me :confused2:.
fair play to you anyway for taking the time to review the knife properly :)

[WombleWill]

thanks for reviewing this knife JEEP ;D Looks half decent, but i won't be buying one of these, i'd rather have a Mora. Much Cheaper and is a lot better suited to what i need.

[KaiTheIronHound]

Wow... I guess it just goes to show that Gerber has some massive quality control issues... I tested one of the Mk2 models, like this one, late last year, and the damn thing basically fell apart. Serrations died after splitting 2 small pine logs, and the edge retention was aweful on the straight blade. I did also find issues with the construction in regards to comfort though, so i guess that issue is ongoing!