Ego A01-18
Coupon Code: EgoA0118 (price will be $19.99)
Gearbest sent this to me for evaluation. Those that have been reading my reviews on different products for any length of time will know that I don’t hold back and if I think it’s crap I say so. Here are my thoughts from the perspective of camping/hiking/fishing as well as a tool for emergency survival and preparedness:
The test product came packaged quite well. And I was impressed with both the box it came in as well as the sheath itself. The box is suitable for gifting. The sheath is in the ballistic nylon style that is very popular and durable. I know from experience because much of my duty gear is sheathed in this type of material and it goes through hot/cold/wet/dry and takes a lot of abuse and still remains useable. This sheath was heavy duty with good stitching and thick material and should last quite a while. And that is a very good thing because this knife/tool wouldn’t do well in a flimsy sheath.
The knife/tool itself reminds me of the classic Swiss champ in overall appearance. It is thick and beefy which is why it would require a good sheath. Starting with the large and small blade I was fairly impressed. I’ve carried a SAK Tinker as my EDC for the last 20 years and have used it to cut rope, open packages and all sorts of daily chores and I’ve yet to sharpen it! The blades on this test sample reminded me of my Tinker blades. I gave the large blade the old standard test of cutting a piece of paper to see how cleanly it would slice through it and it did so without issue. It looks, feels and performs like the same SS of my Tinker. I wouldn’t foresee it having any difficulty performing any task that would be assigned to a blade of this size.
The wood saw to me is always a useful feature for a survival tool such as this. I make sure I have one on any multi-tool I EDC. The wood saw on a knife like this is designed for small branches and in this role it will do fine. Your not going to saw a tree down with it, but again it isn’t designed for such a task. For smaller sawing tasks, such as collecting/preparing wood for a campfire it will do quite well. The saw was aggressive enough to make quick work on the type of branches it was designed for.
The metal file was large enough to actually be useful on a variety of tasks and I liked the design. This is one tool you never really think about having until you need it for something.
The pliers, well too be honest, my first impression was that this was a useless addition. But then an actual legitimate use suddenly hit me. Many is the time I’ve been camping and had my metal cup/bottle/plate/skewer in the fire and had forgotten to bring gloves or something to grip with to keep from burning myself. Bingo, this little attachment would fit the bill nicely! So this particular item has moved from useless to pretty handy in my opinion.
The magnifying glass was another item I though initially as kinda useless. But well, to be honest, as I get a little older I find myself looking for a magnifying glass to see the small print on labels and such. I’m quite sure it’s because print is getting smaller these days (LOL) but this is another feature that has turned out to be useful.
The scissors is the only feature I was less than impressed with. As a tool it is a useful thing to have. On this test sample the attachment to spring the handle back while your cutting wasn’t the easiest thing to use. It kept slipping off the opposing handle so it was difficult to maintain a flow when cutting something of any length. I carry a small SAK Classic on my work keychain, mainly for the scissors feature and it works much better. Other than this issue the scissors themselves were sharp and did cut things you’d expect scissors of this size to cut.
I won’t go into many of the other features except to say they work fine. A bottle opener, can opener and small screwdrivers are always a useful thing to have handy. I will say one thing…they included the toothpick and tweezers! And those are some items that over the years have proven themselves as worth their weight in gold. Anyone that’s gotten a splinter will know exactly what I’m talking about!
Bottom line is this tested out to be a handy, well made product. For $20 and free shipping it would be a hard deal to pass up on and I could see this as a VERY handy item on your belt, in your pack or attached to it. Mine is finding a home in my pack unless my son claims it for his :bigsmile: