Swiss Army One-Hand Trekker Multi-Tool Pocket Knife

In my opinion this is one of the best all-around outdoor knives you can buy. If someone were to tell me that I was going on a 2 week backpacking trip and could only take one tool, I would absolutely take this. The tool selection is well thought out, the quality is supreme, the steel is fantastic, and the price is staggeringly low.The main blade is the clear selling point to the Trekker/Trailmaster as it is a beautifully utilitarian design with no unneeded or flashy features. It sports a Kephart blade pattern, a very hygienic/ideal uncoated and polished finish, a good balance of thickness of the spine vs thinness at the start of the secondary bevel, and it uses Victorinox's legendary steel (I'll talk more about the steel below). I am not a huge fan of the one handed model as the blade pattern changes and it feels a lot more clumsy to use, just my opinion though. The blade locks, which isn't very important to me however some people find that to be a must. I've been using slip joint Vic's for most of my teenage and adult life and never once have I found myself in a situation where I felt the design of the Vic was a hindrance to my task. But different strokes for different folks I suppose.The saw is another one of the huge selling points to the Trekker/Trailmaster. I vastly prefer the Vic saw over other saws like the Leatherman. The Vic saw has very aggressive teeth that cut on both the push and the pull, making it a very efficient cutter. Its also very ridged and stiff so it doesn't catch in wood as easy. Another feature of the saw is that it has a sharp 90 degree spine that does a good job of producing sparks off of a ferro rod. The saw doesn't lock which to some people means you cant bare down on the ferro rod and produce a shower of molten iron and magnesium, however this is untrue. I've used it plenty of times for just this without problems. If you need to really bare down in it (in the case of damp tinder) all you have to do is go find a stick that is about three times as thick as the saw, cut the stick to the rough length of the saw, and either saw a channel longways into the stick or just press the saw into the stick. Then you can use the stick (now covering the teeth of the saw) to press down on it and create those Ray Mears sparks you need.The next tools are pretty common Victorinox offerings, including cap lifter/large flat driver/wire stripper, can opener/small flat driver, 90 degree Philips driver, and reamer.The final note I would like to talk about is the steel that Victorinox uses. They use a steel called 1.4110 which is roughly equivalent to 440A steel. While this doesn't sound impressive with knives out there with crazy steels like CPM S90V, VG-10, and CTS XHP, the steel itself has fantastic performance for a few very good reasons. First, any knife maker worth his salt knows that the single most important factor of any steel when being used for a knife is the heat treat. Victorinox has been using this exact same steel for a very long time, long enough that they have the heat treating process perfected. The steel is hard enough to take a serious beating but soft enough to be easily sharpened to a wicked razors edge, the steels composition makes it very resistant to rust however not too laden with vanadium and chromium that it easily chips (I'm looking at you S30V - S110V), its also a breeze to sharpen compared to some of the more "designer" powdered steels we see today. Sure its a bit softer than some of those other steels, but that is on purpose as a roll is much easier to work out than a chip or gouge. Also, a knife that you cant easily sharpen back to life is not a very good knife to rely on. If you ever look down at your fancy knife after a hard days work and think "Better bust out the Sharpmaker/Edge Pro/Work Sharp/Wicked Edge and my 3 tier stropping systems" you probably should start shopping for a better knife (unless you just like sharpening with over the top systems, in which case sharpen on!). With a Vic you can grab your closest Arkansas or ceramic stone and take a few passes between cheeseburger bites to bring it right back to shaving sharp.I guess the point of this whole long post is to let you know that if you are looking for a knife built for real use with no frills, no tacticool black finishes, or the latest snake-oil steel that claim to never need sharpening, then this is your knife! But in all honesty, I'd recommend looking at Victorinox's catalog of knives, if you find one that suits your needs better than this one, get that instead. You can't go wrong with a Vic.

This knife is the best so far from Victorinox. I originally plan to buy the victorinox rangergrip 78 due to its right-hand locking mechanism (plus the cool logo lock) and the pointy tip blade. However, I have to return it right after 1 day due to a few issues listed below. Then I purchase this one hand trekker and oh boy, day and night from the rangergrip straight out of the box. You can read all the comments and watch all the review on youtube, but you have to feel it in your hand to see the different between the two products. I'm telling you!!! Good thing is that amazon has excellent customer service and return was a breeze. Below I will start with the downside of the rangergrip 78 and follow up with the pros from this trekker. It is a bit long but I promise you it is worth it.Cons of Victorinox Rangergrip 78:1. Although it said "one-hand opening", it is quite difficult to open with one hand especially at the beginning. Definitely need to get some used to and it will definitely not open as fast as your folding knife.2. The reamer is difficult to open. The original wranger one has a deepen area on the body which helps increase the space for your fingernail to get in and open the reamer. This victorinox does not.3. The tip of the saw is slightly outside of the body to help easier access but it could puncture a hold in your pocket if you are not careful.4. The body is slightly flex when squeeze (knife is open), compared to other victorinox I own. Just a little detail making you feel like the knife is cheaply produce.I think you should check out the one-hand trekker and compared the 2 in hand to see which one works for you since they are very similar in so many ways, yet quite different.Pros of the trekker:- To my surprise, the trekker's material creates a better feel than the rangergrip. I was expecting more from the rangergrip with the aggressive grip. I thought it will create a more solid built and easier to hold. However, the trekker is by far more solid, more smooth, more high-end material like, and not much plastic like the rangergrip. Definitely love to hold the trekker more than the rangergrip.- The knife on the trekker CAN be open one-hand. Although it is not as fast as all of my folding knife, it is definitely do-able, unlike the rangergrip which is extremely hard to do. I played with the rangergrip for 4hrs and it started to loosen up a bit and the knife was barely opened by one hand. The trekker is opened so much easier like day-night with the rangergrip, and better yet, it is just out-of-the-box too!!! With some opening, I have no fear it will be open much better.- The rest of the tools are much easier to be open with the trekker than the rangergrip, including the reamer as well (although it is still the hardest tool to open compared to the rest in the trekker)- The trekker does not give much when you squeeze, unlike the rangergrip. So it is nicer and makes you feel like the tool is much more solid.- The trekker's tail does not protrude much compared to the rangergrip. The tip of the saw is also much closer to the body than the rangergrip --> this means less damage to your pocket while carrying it and less painful to your arm when holding it.- Oh, last thing, the knife can be closed with one hand even if you are right-handed. Just push it against your body, but you have to be very careful. And you can always try to open and close with left hand too. It is definitely do-able and I am not that strong either.Overall, the rangergrip is a nice concept with poor execution. I love the idea of the lock and the pointy blade more than the trekker. However, the trekker wins me over just from the first minute I see it. Now I can see why victorinox product is more known than wranger.