Are All Utility Knives Created Equal?

I think I have a fairly new Stanley in my garage (push the little yellow button on the side to change blades). I was going to cut a lot of boxes yesterday to clean the garage so I grabbed this knife. I normally use my old Manix 2 for that job so I thought I would do a test. I was cutting some double thickness cardboard with integral reinforcing fibers, the slightly dull Manix 2 went through this stuff very much easier than the utility knife. OTOH cutting heavy cardboard takes a lot of force and if you slip you are probably better off with the small blade extension of the utility knife vs. a 3.5" folder. IOW just be careful with it.

I noticed cutting carpet with a long folder vs. a short folder, the short folder would come out of the cardboard partway through the cut. I think the utility knife has an advantage here because you just put the handle agaisnt the material and pull it.
 
I'm no carpet layer, but after 20 years in construction, all I'll ever use is an olfa snap off style utility knife. Typically out in the field, you'll have no choice but to cut materials up against a damaging surface like dirt, concrete etc, and the tip will chip or dull quickly. Having a snap off style utility knife means not having to continually fiddle around with swapping a blade end for end, or walking back to the tool crib for new blades when you could be working. Also, if needed, there's almost 5" of blade that can extended for cutting thick materials like insulation, and if doing that continually you can get solid blades to reduce the risk of injury from a blade snapping inadvertently. Lately, for cutting building paper or roofing felt I've taken to using their hook blades, which let you run the nose against a surface without damaging the cutting edge...
 
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