I recieved my SOG Seal Elite the other day and took it out (among some of my other new SOGs) fishing in the bush to try it out.
First, my initial impressions- The sheath- I got it with the nylon sheath, though I have seen friends with the kydex. I thought I would like the kydex more, but upon actualy seeing and using the nylon, I was wrong. Looking at pictures of this sheath I was unimpressed. Actualy having it is a different story. It is pretty rugged and well made. There is no slop or rattle and the plastic sleeve hods the knife in quite snugly and silently, even when the retaining snap is open. The retaining snap has redundant velcro on it as well as the snap so that knife isn't going anywhere. It would absolutly be airborne deployment secure. There are a variety of grommets and strapping systems with snaps for attachement to belts, MOLLE gear, web gear ect. I really like that the front pocket on the sheath is of a practical size and fits my SOG Powerlock perfectly. This is not a cheap accesory sheath but a well thought out piece of tactical gear.
Onto the knife itself- First, some background- For a long, long time now my tactical/field knife has been a Cold Steel Recon Tanto in Carbon V. It has always performed flawlessly and never let me down. It has been to hell and back and shows the scars though mostly just in the black finish. I have always loved the feel of the Kraton grip and the knife has good heft in the hand. Always taken and held an edge well too. While the blade shape and size is not ideal to some tasks I have aked of it, it is perfect for others, and it has always perfomed no matter what I asked of it.
The SOG Seal Pup Elite- It feels lighter and flimsier in the hand in comparison. My grip on the zytel handle is just not as secure as on the kraton. The "coarser checking" toward the crossgaurd do not, to my hand grip better than the heavy checking on the rest of the grip. I do like the finger grooves but I would like some kind of traction incoperated on the edge side of the grip. The actual geometry of the grip is very nice and insinctual. Very comfortable in the hand and geared toward fatigue reduction with long use. Mind you, I have smallish hands. I like the traction ridges on the spine side of the blade and at the thumbrest part of the crossgaurd. Overall, not a bad grip, but I think it would be better in Kraton. I'm sure SOG has a reason for using the zytel though.
The blade- Deceptivly powerfull for its size. It came with the to be expected from SOG shaving sharp edge. The serations are predictably aggressive. The shape of the blade itself puts the weight and width behind the "sweet spot", where it should be allowing the belly to aid in cutting, slicing, chopping ect. The Jimping on the spine is indeed good for notching wood however it does create drag in the penetration and withdrawl from fleshy substances. If it were my call, I would have forgone the jimping on the false edge prtion of the knife and continued it to the grip. more traction for the thumb in delicate work. I can also see the jimping catching on clothes, web gear, ect. in tactical uses. The TiNi coating on the blade is very nice and deceptivly tough. While it does show crud easily, a little lighter fluid and Dawn dish soap at the end of the day and its pristine. Overall it is a lot of knife in a smallish package. As medium duty field knife and tactical backup I would say it should perform admirably. As a heavy duty feild knife I would say that it falls short only do to its smaller size. As a primary tactical knife I would say it falls short do to its size and the jimping running the whole length of the blade.
Overall, I am quite a bit more impressed with this knife than I expected to be upon opening the box. For camping, hiking, and other general outdoorsie type activities I would absolutley recomend it to anyone. For military use I would say it depends on what you do. For my brother in the USMC getting ready to deploy as a rifleman (I know, all Marines are riflemen first) I would say go with something else (the SOG Tech Bowie or Gov Tac both come to mind and in fact I'm trying to decide which to get him
) So far I have cleared light brush with it, cut nylon strapping, cut leather strapping, cubed pounds of chicken, sausage, peppers and fish (jambalaya!) and opened boxes with it. I've notched green wood with the back just to test that out, and I've hucked it point first and belly first into PT wood to free my hands quickly for other tasks. It still looks brand new and still shaves the hair off my arm. This is a great knife for the money, its smaller size and weight make it extremely portable, and it will perfom most regular tasks extremely well. In my day to day life as a farmhand, rancher, and carpenter, I think this will become my knife of choice. With my Powerlock living in the pocket on the sheath, this will be a very practical duo for day to day work.
Keep up the great work SOG!
Peace
John
08-18-2008, 12:42 PM
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