Nice article for Victorinox fans

I would certainly be interested in seeing them branch out with some premium steel more conventional locking folders. Maybe find a neat way to incorporate a couple of other tools, but have it be very knife like and less tool like.

It was an interesting article. Its easy to forget high number of different model they make, and the sheer volume of their yearly production.
 
I didn't know about Victorinox's s.beat MP3 player. That was good for a laugh!

http://www.victorinox.com/ch/app/content/support_s.beat_SAK/category/1

519czvx%2BYZS._SL600_.jpg
 
Neat article. Maybe it'll put to rest the nonsense that occasionally pops up on the forums about copies hurting the knife industry/hobby. When you're faced with competition copying your ideas, whining gets you passed up. Innovating is the key to surviving. And thriving.
 
As much as I love Victorinox I would rather say they are extremely conservative in the latest 30 years when it comes to innovation on the swiss army Knives. When was the last time they put a new tool on them? In the article they mention the eye glass screwdriver. That must have been 30 years ago.
Wenger spitted out new tools and models all the time. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Victorinox is doing great while Wengers is dead.
I just wouldn't lable Victorinox as an innovation driven company but rather a conservative when it comes to SAKs.
Compare with Leatherman who spits out innovations, sometimes letting quality and usability suffer.
 
They have a very consistent message.
That victorinox is often copied but never equalled.
They put out a quality product that is affordable.
That they are innovative enough to stay relavant.
And intend to remain so for the long haul.
Yeah, i gotta hand it to them
That it is a feat not many can attain.
Nice article.
And i just became aware of
How simple innovation can breath new life
Case in point, ...
vf57611x1000.jpg
 
of all the things I want but don't need - Swiss Beats. a shame it didn't work out quite like they wanted, but I can see why that might be a collectors only item, and even then geared only toward a younger crowd.
 
Gima Nord said:
As much as I love Victorinox I would rather say they are extremely conservative in the latest 30 years when it comes to innovation on the swiss army Knives. When was the last time they put a new tool on them? In the article they mention the eye glass screwdriver. That must have been 30 years ago.
Wenger spitted out new tools and models all the time. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Victorinox is doing great while Wengers is dead.
I just wouldn't lable Victorinox as an innovation driven company but rather a conservative when it comes to SAKs.
Click to expand...

I agree with your sentiment as it pertains to the selection of knives we SAK fans get to purchase ..... or not. :(

But I suspect on the manufacturing side Victorinox has been very innovative. In other words, maybe they make too many of the "same old" knives, but the way they make them (cranking out thousands and thousands with almost no clunkers hitting the market) continues to be cutting edge. They strike me as a company that's always investing in new manufacturing technology.

Now -- if only they'd invest some energy in a few fresh designs. :)
 
Thales of Miletus said:
Ironically, I'd be happy and give them innovation credit if they "innovated" by bringing back some old patterns like 84mm scissors.
Click to expand...


True but I would also like them to revise the basics. I checked in my local supermarket and it's basically impossible to find cans without the pullring. I think they could make some pattern without the can opener as an alternative and have something more updated, maybe a zip-tie cutter/clam shell opener on at least some models. Also the bottle opener is something I can live without. I can open a beer with my ring, a lighter, scewdriver, basically any hard surface would like a thin philips driver with decent reach.
I think they could at leat reintroduce the Yeoman that has quite a modern tool set.
 
Gima Nord said:
True but I would also like them to revise the basics. I checked in my local supermarket and it's basically impossible to find cans without the pullring. I think they could make some pattern without the can opener as an alternative and have something more updated, maybe a zip-tie cutter/clam shell opener on at least some models. Also the bottle opener is something I can live without. I can open a beer with my ring, a lighter, scewdriver, basically any hard surface would like a thin philips driver with decent reach.
I think they could at leat reintroduce the Yeoman that has quite a modern tool set.
Click to expand...

Hardly impossible. It probably depends on what you buy in the supermarkets, but most of what I get in cans needs an opener... Bush Beans, for example.
In re bottle openers, I prefer dedicated ones rather than expedient because I'm not always good at improvising (have sometimes chipped glass, marred furniture or spilled contents), don't wear a ring, seldom carry a lighter, and if I have a screwdriver on me, it is usually attached to a multitool or SAK, so a bottle opener is also present. At home, I have really swell dedicated can and bottle openers, and have no need to display my manliness to the wife, at least not in the kitchen.
Most of all, I subscribe to the principle of using the right tool for the job. If one is not available, only then am I willing to resort to any means necessary. After all, standards must be maintained or we descend into savagery. :very_drunk:
 
znapschatz said:
Hardly impossible. It probably depends on what you buy in the supermarkets, but most of what I get in cans needs an opener... Bush Beans, for example.
In re bottle openers, I prefer dedicated ones rather than expedient because I'm not always good at improvising (have sometimes chipped glass, marred furniture or spilled contents), don't wear a ring, seldom carry a lighter, and if I have a screwdriver on me, it is usually attached to a multitool or SAK, so a bottle opener is also present. At home, I have really swell dedicated can and bottle openers, and have no need to display my manliness to the wife, at least not in the kitchen.
Most of all, I subscribe to the principle of using the right tool for the job. If one is not available, only then am I willing to resort to any means necessary. After all, standards must be maintained or we descend into savagery. :very_drunk:
Click to expand...

Impossible may be exaggerated, but once every two years I may need to open a can without pull-ring outside my kitchen so I´ll happily exchange it for a tool I use more often or I´d be happy to use the combo tool, like on the excellent Yeoman (that by the way should have the philips, dont get me started on the corkscrew) to save a layer,- I mean Victorinox must have 30-40 patterns with the opener, why not have a few without it and put something more modern, since this pull ring is so common nowadays.
 
I appreciate that when victorinox innovates, its out of a desire to improve, not just change for change's sake. the swiss-beats was an attempt to get into a market that left a lot of other companies out cold, while there are still some non-apple mp3 players out there, they are few and far between. Not a surprise it died out considering what happened to the rest of the market. Not every innovation works. I don't see any new tools that people might run into needing often right now, but that's mostly just due to how tech rolls, for a while we thought that USB drives were worth stuffing into every device, now they are cheap enough that they've replaced CD-Rs and are nearly disposable.

For me, I use all the openers often enough to make them worth having. And if I'm not using them for the purpose, I find new uses for them from time to time. Either way, I do look forward to whatever comes next. Maybe it will be metallic glass blades, or using newer manufacturing tech to finally realize the dream of custom patterns?
 
Gima Nord said:
As much as I love Victorinox I would rather say they are extremely conservative in the latest 30 years when it comes to innovation on the swiss army Knives. When was the last time they put a new tool on them? In the article they mention the eye glass screwdriver. That must have been 30 years ago.
Wenger spitted out new tools and models all the time. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Victorinox is doing great while Wengers is dead.
I just wouldn't lable Victorinox as an innovation driven company but rather a conservative when it comes to SAKs.
Compare with Leatherman who spits out innovations, sometimes letting quality and usability suffer.
Click to expand...
Conservative maybe, but I like how they think. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If a product is good, keep it that way! How many times have you bought an updated version of a knife, gun, whatever, only to find that this "new and improved" version has you wishing the older model was still available?? Seems to happen to me a lot.

That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing a new model or two in their line of multitools lol.
 
Gima Nord said:
Impossible may be exaggerated, but once every two years I may need to open a can without pull-ring outside my kitchen so I´ll happily exchange it for a tool I use more often or I´d be happy to use the combo tool, like on the excellent Yeoman (that by the way should have the philips, dont get me started on the corkscrew) to save a layer,- I mean Victorinox must have 30-40 patterns with the opener, why not have a few without it and put something more modern, since this pull ring is so common nowadays.
Click to expand...

They told me it was a Yeoman but as it has a phillips and a corkscrew, i am confused now, but i do prefer the inline phillips.

k9IwE9rl.jpg
 
I'm surprised Victorinox doesn't have a way to custom configure a knife with just the tools that the buyer wants. Admittedly they offer so many configurations it's practically redundent but there's something special about getting something exactly the way you want. They could probably charge a premium but I bet they could make out like gangbusters on something like that. Put the order in and wait 6-8 weeks.
I was thinking about that once when I was checking out the Van's shoe site. They have a custom configurator. You'd pay about 30 bucks more than the sites retail for their other shoes, who knows how much more than street price.
 
MP3 players are dying breed anyway, since you can play ANY song with spotify in your phone and hence having practically infinite library of songs + have less stuff with you, and less investments.
 
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