Whats up with Gerber?

J

JTC

Joined
Dec 22, 2002
Messages
1,398
I was browsing e-bay the other day and did a search for Gerber knives just to see what turned up. There were some knives that mentioned Gerber and Winchester together. I thought it was just a ploy to bring other knives under that search and dismissed it as such. Well I was at Wal-Mart tonight and there were the Winchester marked knives like I had seen on e-bay. There was a Gerber brand sharpener next to them so I picked them up and checked the back. The Gerber sharpener was marked Gerber and the Winchester knife was marked Carolina Knife company. But they had the exact same address. Whats up with that?

But thats not all. At the Gerber store they have a knife that is a very close copy of a CRKT M-16.Take a look and see what you guys think. It's called a Gerber EVO under "whats new" at www.gerberstore.com

Doesnt this seem very strange to you guys?
 
Here are some comparison pictures.
First one is the Gerber EVO, second one is the CRK&T M16 EDC.
 

Attachments

  • Gerber EVO.jpg
    Gerber EVO.jpg
    3.7 KB · Views: 336
  • M16EDCTi.jpg
    M16EDCTi.jpg
    7.3 KB · Views: 240
Thats a shame Kit. I hate to see Gerber doing stuff like that. Sure looks like an awful close copy to me.

John
 
well Gerber inports Winchester from china. The makers of Winchester are Carolina Knife and Tool. If you look at some of there knives they are the same design but different colors and materials. Look at the 3.0 from gerber and the knife from Winchester. Don't have a pic but you can buy them at walmart and bass pro for sure. it is no secret that they import them. most of gerber is made across seas but as long as it doesn't say china i will consider it. Even the Tawian knives don't bother me that much
 
Gerber seems to be going downhill as of late. Their multitools still seem to be ok, but who knows how long that will last. Their hatchets are great though.
 
ElectricZombie said:
Gerber seems to be going downhill as of late.
Click to expand...
Blame Fiskar. They've owned Gerber for quite a while now, and I think some of the corporate decisions don't have Gerber's past reputation in mind.
 
Man, I hate seeing Gerber's stuff going downhill. I have a few Gerber knives that I like alot (A-F Combat folder, A-F Covert folder, Harsey Air Ranger, LST, Bolt-Action) and I've been wanting to pick up a Siver Trident fixed blade, but their China-made stuff like the Paraframes stink. That EVO looks awefully close to the CRKT M16 and it disappoints me. I hope someone at Fiskars reads this thread and realizes that they giving Gerber a bad name.
 
Back in the 80's I had a Gerber Magnum. That was a terrific knife, it's sad that Gerber doesn't make stuff of this quality any more. The movers stole mine, but luckily I bought my Dad the same knife back then. I can handle it once in a while when I visit home. :)

Mine looked a lot like this one:
gerber-magnum.jpg
 
Yep, their old stuff was great! The new stuff isn't quite up to par, althought they do have some good knives, Gators come to mind.
 
Gerber has definitely been on a downhill slide for some time. It seems they may even be picking up speed. I just bought my father-in-law a pair of the nail clippers for his keychain and they had this add copy on the box about "open carefully then run from cover." :rolleyes: They are nail clippers! It's a real shame to see what they have come to. :(
 
Yeap, sad indeed. I've owned my fair share of Gerbers (to be honest I carry two of them every day) and they've served me well.
While I really mean no offense to anyone , dont American knife makers realize how many long time customers they lose , as well as the best advertisement out there "Word of mouth" , when they start having thier knives and such made in China ??
 
It seems to me that every American knifemaker that has exported production to China has done so in order to sell their knives at Wal-Mart. Are there any that have moved production to China and don't sell at Wal-Mart?
 
I am very troubled by the rip off of Kit's design. So much so that I will not purchase any Gerber products.

Has anyone gotten comment from Gerber?
 
The new Gerber stuff is not like the old stuff that is for sure. I bought an AR 3.0 about 3 years ago and never really liked it as an EDC. Currently it resides in my toolbox.

The old Gerber knives were great. I still have my Guardian which I bought over 23 years ago. It went with me on every deployment from 1982 to 1992 and went with me when I was recalled in 2002. Great boot knife.

I still kick myself for trading a Gerber bolt action years ago. The lock held up to quite a bit of abuse and it held an edge. Wish they would bring it back with a pocket clip.

I never quite warmed up to the Gator series blades and never purchased the LMF or BMF line of survival knives that were popular in the 80s
 
UnixDork said:
It seems to me that every American knifemaker that has exported production to China has done so in order to sell their knives at Wal-Mart. Are there any that have moved production to China and don't sell at Wal-Mart?
Click to expand...
Actually, you're on to something there.

Wall*Mart has gotten so big, that Wall Street believes that you cannot be a successful manufacturer unless Wal*Mart carries your stuff. Unfortunately, Wal*Mart is also so big that they can (and DO) tell their suppliers what they will price their products at. In many, many cases, Wal*Mart demands a price so low that the only way for the manufacturer to make ANY profit, is to do the production offshore.

So on one side, you have shareholders demanding that you make a deal with the dev...er, Wal*Mart; and on the other, you have Wal*Mart holding a gun to your head to meet the price THEY demand. If you don't make any money, eh, that's not Wal*Mart's problem...

And it gets better. Wal*Mart typically demands that you reduce your price each year, generally by about 5%. And 5% more the next year. And another 5% the year after that. If you complain, Wal*Mart will cheerfully buy knock-offs of your product from those crappy Chinese rip-off specialists. Oh, and if you lose your Wal*Mart contract, Wall Street will bend you over and have it's way with your stock price.

Yeah, I have a real beef with Wall*Mart, the scum-sucking pigs. They like to brag abotu how many Americans they employ; they don't mention how for every minimum-wage job they create, they shift four or five good-paying manufacturing jobs to China. Bastards.
 
Gryffin, can you point me to any articles or research that back up these figures/claims you posted? not being a jerk, i just genuinely would like to see it.

abe
 
Gryffin is 100% right I have heard the same story over and over about Wal Mart,they put more small businesses out in small communities and overall hurt America by their tactics.Wal Mart could raise the price of some of their clothes by $2 per garmet and create thousands upon thousands of American jobs but wont in order to keep their price down :grumpy: Rant off!Now as far as Gerber goes ,yep some of their stuff is crap but have you seen the new LMFII.Very cool blade and very innovative survival package.
 
I noticed a little while back that Gerber stopped saying what kind of steel the blades are made from. The Gators used to be offered in ATS-34 but now I believe they are all made from an unnamed steel, which probably sucks. I agree, Gerber blows.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top