Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate Knife

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Thanks Horn Dog for your review, and everyone else for the additional info. I hope that the Gerber Bear Grylls knife gets the kinks worked out. I was going to buy one today, but decided to wait a while until I can make sure I get one of the good ones, if they ever come out. So I bought a Gerber Prodigy and a Mora 2000 instead.

I have always liked the Mora knives since I was a kid (remember the wood handled ones with the plain leather sheath), and recently bought a few of their "Clipper" style knives for old time's sake. No disappointments yet with the new Mora stuff, either.

It's too bad Gerber seems to have gone down hill some. I have also been a long time owner of Gerber knives. I have several of their older models (Parabellum, LMF I, Mark II, various folders) that I bought back in my military days, and I also bought an LMF II coyote brown a few years ago. My dad still carries a folding Gator that I gave him for Christmas years ago, and uses it for just about everything, including utility work, fishing, and cutting steaks.

Incidentally, I bought a Bear Grylls Parang machete from Amazon a few weeks ago. I already had a couple of decent machetes, but the Parang definitely has a nice feel to it. So far it seems pretty well built. Now that I'm a member of the forum, maybe I'll post a review of the Parang later.
 
In a moment of impulse buying, I bought the larger "Scout" folder yesterday.

Pretty much same as the large "Survival" folder, great factory edge, no blade play and solid lockup.

Wish the pocket clip was reversible for southpaws, but otherwise, this one makes a decent EDC folder, for normal knife use. The total lack of any metal liners, to me anyway, means it's not something to beat on, but just for cutting.

Handle ergonomics are great, opened a little rough at first, but after a drop of oil in the works, it smoothed out.
 
sasquatch1 said:
hey i have the knife the sheath the sharpening stone and the saw. the sheath is a pos, the saw actually isn't half bad, and the knife is well what you would expect.
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I have mine in the drawer next to me! Malin M-15 Survival knife.
 
An info for you from across the big pond: The MSRP for the Ultimate Knife here is about 150€ which are over 200 bucks. :eek:
I've seen if for half the price, but still that's nowhere near the 50$ you have to pay. I'll stick my other knife, I don't like partial serrations after all.
 
I sold my Sheath folder rather quickly. The lack of liners did not seem trustworthy. The edge holding was not up to my standards. The grip is great, but a Sanrenmu 710 is tougher ;)
 
Got one of the original (thin orange near pommel) BG UK knives when they first came out, after the reviews, bought a newer (thick orange)version. Used (abused!!) it during two weeks in the jungle recently....it did everything I required of it.(and better than I expected)

Got a Scout as an EDC, and a Sheath Folder. Use the Scout for all kinds of everyday stuff....so far so good....havn't used the folder yet, but I travel alot so it may come in handy...Had a burglary in South Africa a while ago, over two hundred knives stolen. Slowly replacing them, but materials, manufacturing techniques have changed since I got many of them, so I'm enjoying these BG knives.

I have a Prodigy, and a Camel LMF II and to be honest, the grip on the BG UK feels much better, and no pointed pommel to stick into me from belt or webbing carry...
 
Recently got a Benchmade catalogue....looked closely at the photos, no metal liners except by the lock. With modern materials, "space age" plastics, etc. unless it has a liner lock, it may not matter whether it has metal in the handle or not. I used an "Okapi" knife for years in Southern Africa, including gutting/skinning game. It was a cheap ($2.00) knife, wooden handle, no metal, except for the blade and an external lock...but it did the trick...
 
Well I just couldn't resist. Bought the Ultimate and the small Scout last week. Finally took em outside today. In keeping with the Bear tradition, we were very close to home......We were in deepest darkest Backyardia! Yard debris needed to be dealt with so while my son started tossing old aplle tree limbs in the tub, I started breaking down limbs. Most were small pencil to thumb size but there were a lot of em. Did some "sawing" with the serrations to show my son how to ring a limb to break it. It worked better than I thought it would. The Ultimate cut in like it was a SAK saw! Did some light chopping of limbs using an old 2X4 for a base. Again I was impressed :) This knife will cut! I do have the newer model with the redesigned pommel area. Didnt do any heavy hammering but I did pound two tent stake sized limbs in the dirt with no issues. What really got my attention was the little Scout. My son tried ringing a branch with it and it bit really deep with it's serrations! I mean really! I was easily cutting 3/4in limbs as fast as I wanted with this tiny knife. Kinda impressed at $14 :D Both knives held their edges very well with no signs of disrepair..........till later when I pulled the Ultimate from it's sheath. Apparantly the good folds who designed the sheath found the need to incorporate some sort of steel in the top of the sheath. It was killing my edge at the belly of the blade :( Gonna need to form some kydex and that will solve that issue. It would be easy enough to just make sure not to rub the edge during drawing or inserting though if you don't want to find/make another sheath. I was impressed enough with these two, that today we went out and picked up the sheath folder and the Parang........I am such a Knife Geek! :D
 
I've been EDC'ing the larger Scout folder since I bought it, gotta say it's doing fine. Has held it's edge fine, even after cutting a lot of cardboard boxes and plastic clamshell packages.
 
BACYARDIA! Literally tens of feet away from other people!!! Just like Bear. :)
 
a Gerber BG spotted :)
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http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/04/motorola-xoom-atrix-price/

ps: 1500 posts milestone :thumbup:
 
Worse thing is Gerber made it. Everything else I've had of theirs works OK and their after service brilliant (guaranteed for life?):cool::foot:
As the pommel broke I think I'd be ringing them and sending it for a replacement (it is supposed to be a hammer after all) :eek:;)
 
Been following this thread for a while and was glad to hear corrected the pommel issue with these knives. While it does look like a toy I took a chance and bought one in addition to the Bear Grylls sheath knife and while I like their overall designs I do have some reservations about them that I'd like to share.

Here's a size comparison pic of the two. Note the difference in the serrations.

GerberBGknives.jpg


Both have great ergonomics, but I must say that the folder's lock doesn't inspire much confidence in anything but light use. It locks up well enough with no blade play(although the first one I bought had excessive up/down play), but it feels weak. The blade doesn't really snap open or shut with any kind of authority, rather is softly clicks into place. You just have to feel it to know what I mean. Not too sure I'd want to risk my fingers with it and as I said before, I'd reserve it for light use.

Now on the fixed blade. I already own an LMF II and a Prodigy and while I'm one of those guys who generally doesn't like serrations on fixed blades, the Gerber Prodigy has become one of my favorite lightweight field knives. I've used it on several occasions and it has not disappointed. I actually prefer the Prodigy over the bigger LMF II as well. Anyway, the Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Knife is roughly the same size as the Gerber Prodigy except with a different handle design and incorporates some features of the LMF II.

Here are a couple of comparison pics:

Gerberfixedblades.jpg


GerberFixedBlades2.jpg


You will note how both the LMF II and the Prodigy are stamped with their country of origin unlike the China-made Bear Grylls knife. I won't try to speculate on why there is no made in China stamp on the blade, but I suppose if you're going to produce these knives using the Bear Grylls moniker and market them to the masses it would be more cost effective to make them overseas. Still, but I did manage to put the Bear Grylls knife to some use and had no significant problems with it so far.

I will say that the serrations on the LMF II and Prodigy cut smoother than the BG knife and I also noticed that the serrations on the BG knife had some noticeable burrs on them out of the box. Bottom line, I'm okay with how the serrations are cut onto the LMF II and Prodigy, but I hate how they are cut onto the BG knife. I've seen one particular You Tube vid where the serrations on the BG knife were completely destroyed. Gerber should consider making the serrations more like the ones on the LMF II and Prodigy or better yet get rid of the serrations.

On to the pommel. I managed to use the pommel as advertised and aside from the coating wearing off there's no noticeable damage.... Yet .... Only time will tell, I guess. As far as I can see the pommel is probably the weakest point of the knife handle and I'm not too sure how durable the plastic material is around the back of the pommel, but I've also seen a few samples with gaps between the plastic handle and pommel. Not too reassuring, but my sample has no gaps.

As far as cutting performance goes I can definitely say that the Progidy does hold a better edge than the BG knife. I cleared some small branches and managed to chop into a small tree with the BG knife and ended up with some dings on the plain edge. Did the same test with the Prodigy and the Prodigy's edge was unharmed. Frankly, if I had to choose between the Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Knife and the Gerber Prodigy, I'd get the Prodigy. The Prodigy retails for less than the BG and doesn't come with the fancy whistle, diamond shapener or firesteel, but I prefer the Sandvik 12C27 steel over the Chinese mystery steel being used on the BG knife.

Overall, the BG Ultimate Survival knife isn't as bad a POS as I thought it would be, but I'd still choose my trusty Gerber Prodigy or a handful of other better knives over the BG knife.
 
Cosmic Superchunk said:
You will note how both the LMF II and the Prodigy are stamped with their country of origin unlike the China-made Bear Grylls knife. I won't try to speculate on why there is no made in China stamp on the blade, but I suppose if you're going to produce these knives using the Bear Grylls moniker and market them to the masses it would be more cost effective to make them overseas.
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Good review. It isn't just the Bear Grylls stuff, Gerber somehow has gotten aloud to stop putting "China" on most, if not all, of their imported knives. They got some "ruling" in their favor is how it was explained to me, but I don't fully understand the particulars. I first noticed it on my Profile, Metolius and Icon folders by Gerber in the last year and a half or so. All had "China" on the packaging, but not the knives themselves.
 
I finally broke down and got the BG Ultimate Knife. After reading some recent reviews on Amazon indicating they are now really selling the new & improved knives, I sprung for one.

It arrived today and I promptly took it out and banged the pommel on a thick steel structural beam so hard that it started cracking paint on the beam. I would venture to say that they got the pommel issue worked out.

Overall, I like it. The grippy (as opposed to "slippy" in Bear-talk ;)) handle material and pattern is a plus. As is the design and apparent durability of the sheath. It feels a lot like the LMF and Prodigy sheaths, and is better than the ones some of my more expensive knives came with.

The blade seems stout, and is pretty sharp even though I'll probably refine the edge eventually just because. Straight end of the blade seemed to handle carving up a decent blue spruce branch without too much trouble. I don't like serrations much, but I didn't see an option for a straight blade only, so I guess I'll live with them.

Haven't tried the firesteel yet, but I'm sure it will come in handy someday. As may the integrated diamond sharpener.

Time will tell, but so far it seems like $50 well spent in my book. Bear done good.
 
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I guess bears design was ok but gerbers execution of the knife was poor

Cutting corners is a cruel mistress gerber!
 
Just got back from 10 days in the Ontario bush....BG UK still handling all tasks, so well that I have yet to use either the Parang or the Folder!
 
The FB is selling like crazy around here, the folders not quite as good, but most local stores I shop in have empty racks for the FB about once a week.
 
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