Tops Tracker Review

darkestthicket

darkestthicket

Joined
Nov 30, 2002
Messages
1,106
Ive finally gotten time to do my review, I know a few people who are fascinated with the Tom Brown knife (Tops version) so I figured since I own two Id give one of them a major workout.

This is the one i usually take with me to hike etc, but ive never really got to test it out beyond a few minor camp jobs and hiking tasks.... so today it gets put through the ringer.

Pic before testing :
tombrown.jpg


Will post more pics and task list once Ive completed a few....

Notice the blade finish is still mostly new.
 
first half hour :

untreated pine 2x4 which had been sitting in the sun for about 3 months.
untreatedpinebefore.jpg


chopping off some kindling, 15 cuts with axe blade:

15chops.jpg


30 on both sides, one side using off hand for half of it, with no odd bounces :
30.jpg


some prying around, tip strength is incredible, at first i went easy on it, i thought it might bend or break, the more i did the more confident I was it wouldnt. So I really went at it, no bends at all.
prying.jpg


shearing off maple branches, 4" circumfrence, one chop, no problem! :
maplebranch.jpg


Notching seasoned pine and brand new maple limb, the trick is to apply light pressure at first. The saw teeth do seem to be self cleaning contrary to what I had previously heard. I had no build up left in the teeth from the pine or the maple. :
notchingpineandmaple.jpg


After tasks thus far :
after.jpg


Review thus far- No bends, no edge rolls, no chips, pretty good chopper even with comparitively dull blade (it doesnt come hair popping sharp, lets just put it that way.) Saw/Notching teeth are functional and dont jam if you dont over pressure. Finish stands up pretty well, after cleaning with some Rem Oil, just some minor scuffs. My only complaint is that this is a HEAVY knife, with prolonged use your arm will get tired, but not overly so.

Next :
more chopping, and notching, then some whittling and draw knife activities.
comments, and additional test suggestions welcome! let me know what you wanna see.
 
Darkestthicket, thanks for the pics and info. Keep going!

I had always dreamed of owning a 'do almost everything' knife. Don Paul's multi-function fixed blade (from the book, My Knife Bible) probably started it for me, but some aspects of his design didn't sit well with me. When TOPS came out with the Tom Brown Tracker knife, something clicked in my head. The Tracker style knife would perfectly fit where I want to go with my outdoor adventures and skills. Good stuff!
 
This is a great thread.
I remember when my tracker was new.It almost looks like a different knife now that I've put it through a year of hard love.darkestthicket,this is what yours will look like after a year of trails and yardwork....
396c157d.jpg

Keep up the testing.This knife gets picked on too much.
 
LOL! nice looking still! these do get picked on quite a bit, and questions are asked on them very frequently, so i figured it would be fun to try to nix the nay-sayers and answer questions at the same time.
 
Nice work. Do you find that using the saw on notches is significantly faster and/or easier than cutting them with the blade directly?

-Cliff
 
Notching is a little faster and easier if you apply gentle pressure and let the saw teeth set their own course, If you try to control it to much it tends to jump out of track. It is a good deal faster than notching it with the blade alone, if you try this with a tracker (notching with the blade) id reccomend gloves as you will probably have to choke up and grip the blade over the saw teeth, that could cause some serious discomfort. I will time both tasks. Ill add that to my list for saturday. thanks Cliff.

For the 2x4 notch in the picture above it took maybe 30 seconds to do. i doubt you could match that time using just the blade. (but then again you arent likely to need to notch a 2x4 in the woods!)


Edit:
If Red Scorpion Six has a user blade that they would like me to test I would be glad to and post which i think is the better of the 2 blades as Im not partial to Tops, just partial to Beck's design. I sent them an email about it. will let you guys know.
 
Godd review but in my opinion is no better MORA+HATCHET+SAK becouse cheaper, lighter and if you lost or break one you have two left?:p
 
Ok first test of the day, pealing, cubing and making fries!

First off, pics of the knives used.
knives.jpg

knives from left to right :

ginsu
Strider
Sog Seal
Tracker
buck strider tanto

First thing i noticed is that the tracker is very difficult to peal potatoes with, even if you choke up on the blade, it will either slice very shallowly or too deep and cut off a whole chunk of potato.
surprisingly, the sog seal is very suited to pealing. strider isnt very far behind.
# of slicers per potato in order from best to worst
Sog Seal 2000 - 17 slices, slicing for french fries 7
Strider - 22 to peal, 8 for french fries
Ginsu - 22 also, 8 for fries.
tracker - 36 for pealing, fries 9 with breaks, the blade angle is so obtuse it will break the potato apart.
for cubing
surprising me yet again, the tracker is excellent for this due to the roll of the blade!
Tracker 4 with slices stacked on top of each other, no breaks
Sog - 6 with slices stacked, very easy.
Strider - 6 with slices stacked very easy again.

frenchies!
cubing.jpg


cubes
pealing.jpg


ergonomics and eval :
ive noticed the tracker is most definetly not suited to comfort in food prep.
the sog is very sharp and works better than i expected. of all the knives i used, this would be the one id use for food prep.
the Strider isnt very far behind the sog. impressive for a tanto.
the Ginsu i was actually not impressed with at all, I let the wife use the sog and she aggreed it was much easier to use for potatoes. lol.
 
now for some notching, as Cliff requested, Im going to time anduse blade and teeth, then alternate knives, I will be using the Sog Seal and the Tops Tracker, on the tracker I'll use both blade and teeth, the seal only the blade as it has no teeth.

For the record, I tried the pealing tasks with a Halo II.... WOW. this thing is a portable scalpal, pealing took 12 slices! fries, 6 (much better look to the resulting fries than any knife used in previous test) cubing 5, this was the only test it did not outperform all knives...


notching test outcome

knives used... tracker and sog seal 2000
trackerandseal.jpg


another 1 chop through limb using tops tracker, thickness is about 3.5 inch circumfrence
onechop.jpg


first timed test, notching with tracker's teeth, 33 seconds, perfectly formed for figure 4 trap notch. first notch on left
second timed test notching with tracker blade, 1minute 3 seconds, did this by one chop into limb, wrenched around, then second and third and fourth and fifth chop to get the shape i wanted, comparable to teeth notch second notch.
trackerbladenotch-1.jpg



for comparison, sog seal 2000 which surprised me quite a bit.

sognotch.jpg


The sog only required 2 minor chops with leverage to get a perfect notch for a figure 4 deadfall. this i did not expect... total time 12 seconds.

Results so far...
the tops tracker excels in chopping through limbs. it also excells in notching using teeth, using the blade, not so good. in my opinion, for all around outdoors work, this knife still outperforms others. ergonomicly for chopping, using third finger groove back, it is perfect for 3-5 " circumfrence limbs.

notes : my sog is somewhat customized with a diamond pattern paracord wrap and finger guard. sog may be a good alternate or second choice for woods knife. also i noted you could not discern a single scratch in the sogs finish, the tracker finish did not fair as well at all.
 
darkestthicket said:
tracker - 36 for pealing ...
Click to expand...

That is a nice idea, I think if you combine the cut number with the time for peeling over a decent amount of potatoes you would have a decent index of efficiency, along with comments on comfort/control.

...the Ginsu i was actually not impressed with
Click to expand...

For peeling the blade is too wide and too long but I would have expected it to slice/cube well. What were the issues exactly?

darkestthicket said:
... only required 2 minor chops with leverage to get a perfect notch
Click to expand...

Precision is a bit influence here, you can eliminate this by using a baton and just placing the blade as required. The more of it you do the better you will get of course.

Nice work, you might consider using a small heavy machete or small axe as a reference.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
That is a nice idea, I think if you combine the cut number with the time for peeling over a decent amount of potatoes you would have a decent index of efficiency, along with comments on comfort/control.

For peeling the blade is too wide and too long but I would have expected it to slice/cube well. What were the issues exactly?




Precision is a bit influence here, you can eliminate this by using a baton and just placing the blade as required. The more of it you do the better you will get of course.

Nice work, you might consider using a small heavy machete or small axe as a reference.

-Cliff
Click to expand...


Thanks Cliff, I believe ill try to do about 20 potatoes and time it this time saturday or sunday.

on the Ginsu issues, Im not much of a cook and the large blade(hah! compared to the tracker its small) so this could have been aclimation error on my part. lol.
on the notching, i was batoning with my hand right below the saw teeth on the tracker. when i used the seal, i just did a nice whack...whack and it worked.
on the machette or small axe, what tasks would you reccomend as a comparison (the tests to perform i mean?)

your imput is appreciated :D
 
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