Bear Grylls Ultimate PRO Survival Knife

[BOSS1]

To be honest, that is a very unfair test. For a number of reasons. Not to defend the "Gryllis" knife again, but comparing it to a drop point, saber-ground knife in 3V (that's what it looked like to me), when the Grylls is hollow ground with a false edge and some mystery steel or budget SS, is kind of ludicrous. No to mention there was probably well over $100 price difference between these 2 knives at the time. They're not even in the same class. Plus, that is still not what the knife is designed for.

Now, I agree, Gerber brought it on themselves, using the Gryllis endorsement, shoddy quality, and slapping "Ultimate" on there, but that comparison is still ridiculous. My .02.

I'd concur with the above. A fair assessment.

Looking like the Pro can be had for under $65...I'd have to say for all you're getting in the system, that IS a good deal. If they had a non-BG branded version to appease all the haters, it would probably be much better received. I might just have to buy one now.

BOSS

 

[Sam Wilson]

I'd concur with the above. A fair assessment.

Looking like the Pro can be had for under $65...I'd have to say for all you're getting in the system, that IS a good deal. If they had a non-BG branded version to appease all the haters, it would probably be much better received. I might just have to buy one now.

BOSS

If you do, post pics or video. I'd like to hear what you think, and how the new style sharpener performs.

Sam

 

[B34NS]

Plus, that is still not what the knife is designed for.

What's it designed for then?

 

[Sam Wilson]

What's it designed for then?

Well, it's a knife, so my guess is to cut stuff.

 

[Survival Solutions]

One can greatly reduce the chances of an infected wound in a survival situation by learning and practicing good knifemanship in advance. Or barring that carrying no knife at all. Of course other things will stick and poke you out there. In which case knowledge of field wound treatment is very handy in preventing infections. There are some natural wound care aids in many if not most wilderness settings if you know what they are and where to find them.

I 100% agree with everything you just said.

 

[Survival Solutions]

Who he is, what is was (a member of the UK version of our National Guard ), and his show have been discussed to death in threads here and elsewhere. He has defenders, some quite passionate, but no one, thus far, defends the irrational behavior that he modeled and the fakery except as entertainment (Way up in a tree with lots of rope? Jump!)

You might enjoy learning to use Google to do your own research on topics. Then you could form your own conclusions.

Not sure why your quoting me Thomas, "Boonedoggle" asked who Bear Grylls was mate, not me. I was simply giving him a bit of information.

 

[B34NS]

Well, it's a knife, so my guess is to cut stuff.

Well it's marketed as such:

"Efficient Multi-tasker
Along with flawlessly performing all the essential duties of a knife, like slicing, chopping and filleting, this knife is packed with survival features. The stainless steel pommel at the base of the handle can serve as a hammer. With two holes in the handle, the knife can be lashed to a stick to create a spear. And the lanyard cord with emergency whistle helps you keep track of the knife and provides a loud emergency signal should potential rescuers be within earshot."

I'm all for anyone who motivates people to be passionate about the outdoors. I don't care how it's branded if it's made well. Having sat in the ER with cooks I've worked with from faulty gear, I'm a little weary of just saying, sure it's cheap, but it'll still cut too! The under $100 knife world has never been better. Sure an extra $50-100 for a powder steel blade is out of some budgets, but gerber's LMF 2 is around the same list price as the ultimate pro (on gerber's site). My experience with these wouldn't land them in my kit.

 

[BOSS1]

Well it's marketed as such:

My experience with these wouldn't land them in my kit.

Please elaborate...specifically on your experience and how they failed or didn't perform adequately.

Also, let's remember, we're talking the Pro, not the original...different knives. If you've seen the tip on the original, you'll note it tapers down to a rather fine tip. If you think stabbing any such piece of metal into any kind of dense medium and applying lateral force/leverage is a sound idea, well, you and I have different opinions.

It wasn't so long ago that you were considered an idiot, not tacticool, if you misused a knife in the envogue fashion of today. Busting your knife out of neglect or abuse wasn't a badge of honor or 'awesomeness'. It was a sign of ignorance and the inability to properly use a tool for its intended purpose.

BOSS

 

[JD Mandrell]

It wasn't so long ago that you were considered an idiot, not tacticool, if you misused a knife in the envogue fashion of today. Busting your knife out of neglect or abuse wasn't a badge of honor or 'awesomeness'. It was a sign of ignorance and the inability to properly use a tool for its intended purpose.

BOSS

BOSS

 

[Thomas Linton]

Not sure why your quoting me Thomas, "Boonedoggle" asked who Bear Grylls was mate, not me. I was simply giving him a bit of information.

And I was replying to your statement. Since, unlike the typical member here, the "selling point" for Bear Grylls products is his advertised status as a "former member of SAS," some might want to know that he did not belong to the regular army SAS regiment but was in the Territorial Army. Or not. YMMV.


For those that have used it, how does it "chop"? Tapering to a fine point sounds good for most of the things I use a knife for (being a folding saw fan) but not so good for chopping.

 

[B34NS]

That's just what a Gerber plant would say...

Stainless VS Crabon VS CPM, if I was in a bad situation, this begger wouldn't be choosin. Won't see my pinky finger up checking out my blade in the mass spectrometer in the woods before I deem it worthy of my survival. Any sharpened linear plane sure beats the hell out of working obsidian.

Likelihood any of you will be in a reality based fight for your life situation is extremely unlikely. So buy knives that have daily practical utility, cause big surprise, you're gonna work more with whichever knife you're most comfortable with. Having a backup blade in your bag is great, consider it extra insurance. If you want that knife to be one of these BG knives, power to ya, glad you have something than nothing at all. Batonning wood is not a survival skill. It's uneducated knife user showing where they're at, or in some cases good people on here demonstrating a new tools marketed capabilities on youtube. Adam from equip in that video edited out the part where he destroyed a knife guard, but the blade was still intact after the damage, and he already had a fire going. Just throw another log on the fire and work on your sharpening/stropping skills instead.

Yea, used em. Not worth it. Rather have an izula or something a little more robust for the money. Wanna abuse your knife for youtube or cool points at the Busse booth, have at it Hoss. It's a free country. I just wouldn't do any of those things with my tools. Thats what an axe is for.

 

[JD Mandrell]

For those that have used it, how does it "chop"? Tapering to a fine point sounds good for most of the things I use a knife for (being a folding saw fan) but not so good for chopping.

It's not that good of a chopper, not really long enough and most of the weight is back in the handle.

 

[Codger_64]

It's not that good of a chopper, not really long enough and most of the weight is back in the handle.

How well does it work as a fillet knife?

"Efficient Multi-tasker
Along with flawlessly performing all the essential duties of a knife, like slicing, chopping and filleting, this knife is packed with survival features. The stainless steel pommel at the base of the handle can serve as a hammer. With two holes in the handle, the knife can be lashed to a stick to create a spear. And the lanyard cord with emergency whistle helps you keep track of the knife and provides a loud emergency signal should potential rescuers be within earshot."

 

[JD Mandrell]

How well does it work as a fillet knife?

LOL, never tried to fillet a fish with it, I wouldn't expect it to be great at it, could probably fillet a big fish, but would be overkill and a tad thick for smaller fish. But honestly if I were in a real "survival" situation, I probably wouldn't fillet a fish anyway, it would be head, fins and guts gone and cooked whole.

 

[BOSS1]

This knife is not one I personally care for, but so far all of the information relayed by people who have ACTUALLY used it or one similar, complete with multiple videos to corroborate this information, point to the knife doing a good job for its intended purpose. If anyone has USED the knife and has something negative to report, please do so. We would love to hear about it. Otherwise this is becoming an armchair beatdown by people who have never used the knife, explaining why it doesn’t work, ala the Tom Brown Tracker knife.

That’s how I see it, anyway. No disrespect to anyone’s opinion, but it’s hard to argue something so strongly when you don’t have any experience with the product, and knowledgeable people who do gave favorable reviews of it. At this point, if this were taking place in person, I would generally ask the person detracting from the knife to put up or shut up. But that’s just me. All in good fun.

Sam :thumbup:

Exactly.

I'm seriously considering selling a ZT0566 to generate funds to buy a Pro and review here.

BOSS

 

[B34NS]

Exactly.

I'm seriously considering selling a ZT0566 to generate funds to buy a Pro and review here.

BOSS

Want a list?

Eyelets/Handguard removes the ease of choking up on the blade also not sure who would strap their only knife to a stick when you could just make a spear and spare losing or damaging your knife.
Choil closest to the blade is dangerous when the knife is wet. It's grippyish, when wet it's a little slicker feeling than G10.
Both choils give a hand placement of the thumb on top o the blade, not the safest knife control hand position, nor the most efficient.
I don't need another firesteel, but what they hell, more the merrier.
I don't need a field honer built into the sheath.
No need for a plastic sheath with a nylon retention strap with a TV show host's guidelines for survival.
3/16 at over 4.8" is not exactly the most efficient slicer out there.
Tip strength is better than the ultimate. But not as good as the heat treat on the LMF.
Don't need my pommel to be a hammer, this one has it, but the handle feels hollow and isn't the best new thing since the hammer.
No need for a whistle.

For someone who wants a knife with all those bells and literal whistles, than sounds like a deal for some. Certainly doesn't make this knife a necessarily cheap alternative to whats out there for under $100. A Faberware $8 knife is about the same spec and will do all the same tasks.

 

[Codger_64]

I've been in a situation where I had to strap my knife to a long stick to use it as a thrusting spear/twist. It does work. And one generally does not throw it, but uses the stick to extend the reach of the knife.

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Coote, that used to post on here, did a lot of trapping and he used his knife lashed to a pole, as a spear, to finish off trapped pigs.

I have yet to hear from anybody that has dispatched game of any size with a wooden spear.

Doc

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Batonning wood is not a survival skill. It's uneducated knife user showing where they're at, or in some cases good people on here demonstrating a new tools marketed capabilities on youtube. Adam from equip in that video edited out the part where he destroyed a knife guard, but the blade was still intact after the damage, and he already had a fire going. Just throw another log on the fire and work on your sharpening/stropping skills instead.

I can't believe you're calling
• Ray Mears - page23 of 'Bushcraft - An Inspirational Guide to Surviving the Wilderness'
• Chris Janowsky (R.I.P.)
• Mors Kochanski
• Ron Hood (R.I.P.)
• Les Stroud (as per his new book)
• Jeff Randall (as per page 77, November 2000, Tactical Knives
• George Jasper - Six ways in & 12 ways out (USRSOG page 110
• Cody Lundin (as per page 175 of 98.6)
• Ethan Becker (as per his Machax article)

uneducated knife users.

Doc

 

[B34NS]

I've been in a situation where I had to strap my knife to a long stick to use it as a thrusting spear/twist. It does work. And one generally does not throw it, but uses the stick to extend the reach of the knife.

I thought it could be useful for picking cherries/other stone fruits that way.

"or in some cases good people on here demonstrating a new tools marketed capabilities on youtube"

Doc

I'd be frustrated too if I only read half a sentence and didn't finish before commenting.

A good number of those personalities have branded tools thus demonstrating marketed capabilities as said characters selling said books doesn't seem to far out of reality does it? There's quite a few great users here who demonstrate these things again. Which is the beauty of the internet, wanna know if your knife will baton wood, bricks, steel, look it up on youtube, chances are someone's tried it so I see no reason to replicate with my or my friends gear. Not hating on modern adapted primitive survival techniques, I just don't think it's one of the best to teach newbs when it comes to knife handling or fire basics. Pretty sure the ancients weren't splitting logs with obsidian knives to start "survival" fires thousands of years ago. I certainly wouldn't be basing my "survival" knife purchase around whether or not it'll split wood. I'm sure in a survival use case scenario I'd have plenty more to worry about then. I'd rather rely on real knife skill if my life truly depends on it. "a cutting edge's superiority comes from the hand holding it more than it does the knife itself." -Jeff Randall

Having interacted with this one, I'd suggest a new user try one before buying if you can, just like any knife.