HEST 2.0 Glass Breaker question

B

bluejayburly

Joined
Jan 25, 2010
Messages
463
So I was digging round the junk yard for car parts and I remembered I had my DPx Hest 2.0 folder in my pocket. So I thought it would be a good idea to test out the glass breaker on a free car window.

Well after pounding the fixed rear window of a 90's acura about 5 or 6 times, nothing broke. There were a few dents or little chips I guess, but NO crack through the glass and no where near broken. The only real damage it did was taking the black paint of the tip of the glass breaker.


My question: exactly what type of glass is the glass breaker designed to break? If its only meant to break plate glass, like in a picture frame, whats the point, a ring on a finger or any knife frame can do that. Am I missing something?

I am glad I didn't have to rely on it in a life threatening emergency.
 
Did you hit the corner of the window? It's well documented that glass breakers don't work well unless you are hitting on the lower corner of a window, where it has the most support and least flex. They also only work on door/side windows, not windshield and rear windows which have thick laminates between the panes.
 
+1 on side windows. Remember, it's an emergency glass breaker, they work but aren't as good as a spring punch or other glass breaking tools.
 
The Hests glassbreaker is made of metal and not the much harder material, carbide, like the glassbreakers Benchmade uses. I could imagine that had something to do with it? Was the glassbreaker point slightly flattened after using it?

I remember reading about a guy on another forum, that used a glass breaker on his Pohl Force to smash a truck window in an emergency. He who wrote that he really pounded it on the window , which he was able to smash, but IIRC the glassbreaker point was flattened a bit and the spacer broke. Everything was fixed free of charge by Pohl Force though.
 
I guess I will have to go back and work on my technique. Yes I pounded on the center of a fixed rear hatchback window, I've never tried it before.

Ill try the lower corner of a door window next time.

It maybe slightly flattened the tip, it pealed the black paint off the tip for sure, so I can't tell if its paint or metal pushed back.

I thought it was made out of tungsten carbide or something like that, but yes the metal is shiny silver like stainless under the black coating, not dark like a drill bit.

Slightly upsetting experience but at least I didn't cut myself either.
 
Definitely go for a corner; I broke my mum's Saab rear window using a Boker Vox Access Tool. It took two attempts-its a titanium breaker.
 
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