Customer Reviews

Gerber 31-000751 Bear Grylls Survival Series Ultimate Knife, Serrated Edge

5 star:		(205)
4 star:		(70)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

Well, as an avid Bear Grylls fan, I really truly was hoping for the best on this, and I originally rated this a 5 star product, but after some reviews of the pommel falling off, I decided to go in my backyard and hack at a branch. Just like them, I hacked into ONE branch, about 20 times and there goes the pommel, detached from the plastic. They are correct, the pommel is NOT attached to the blade tang. It's attached to the PLASTIC. It's really cheaply made. Very poor. I really wish this was made different and I think that even Bear would agree that if he used this product himself, he would be greatly disappointed. BOO!!!

UPDATE 11/2010: (for those of you who may have an old version)

I've contacted Gerber regarding my issue, and it looks like this is essentially a "beta" or promotional version, and there will be modifications done Jan/feb of 2011 to correct the issues at hand. Maybe the new one will also be made in Portland. Here is their correspondence.

Thank you for contacting Gerber Legendary Blades regarding the Limited Lifetime Warranty with your Gerber - Bear Grylls product. Gerber warrants to the consumer that this product will be free of defects, in material and workmanship for as long as you own the product. This warranty does not cover damage due to rust, accident, loss of product, improper use, abuse, negligence, or modification of or to any part of the product. Normal wear and tear is not covered under the warranty.

Should your product have failed while being used as intended, we recommend contacting your retailer for Replacement. At this time, we do not have Warranty Replacements to offer from Gerber. The early release of this product was promotional effort and additional product is not available until approximately January/February 2011.

Of course, you're welcome to return your Bear Grylls product to Gerber for a new replacement when they're officially released in January/February 2011. In addition, there are modifications to the handle that will enhance performance with the 2nd release.

If you prefer to send your Bear Grylls Product in for a new replacement in 2011, please send the product, along with an explanation of the defect, your name, physical address, and phone number, to the address below:

Gerber Legendary Blades

Attn: Service Dept.

14200 SW 72nd Ave

Portland, OR 97224

It is recommended that you send your package via UPS, FedEx, or insured mail. Gerber Blades will incur all costs for return postage.

UPDATE 3/2011!

This should be the new version that is corrected, I'm still awaiting my replacement to verify and test, but the word is out that what you will be ordering from now on is the corrected new version. You should feel a little more confident with this issue.

rate this review if helpful!

Alright so I have read all the reviews on Amazon, and Youtube about the Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Knife, and people said it was a peace of junk. So I saw that Gerber fixed they issue so I decided to order it (I need a good knife for the outdoors). So I got the knife about a week ago and I have to say not one issue with the knife, and i really put this knife to the test like all of my other knives, and guess what, the pommel did not break off.
So I have to give credit to Bear Grylls and Gerber, and its hard for me to do that, because I hate Gerber Knives... well I did, not anymore.
So if you are on the fence like I was about this knife, go buy it! Its well worth it! Not an issue yet (and if anything happens I will come back here immediately and retract my good review).

I got my Ulitmate knife this week. Today, I took it out to see how it performed. This knife is a cheap marketing joke of a knife. I review lots of knives. This is the worst "Survival" knife I have had the displeasure to test. The sheath is cheezy and cheaply made. The plastic handle broke after only a few minutes of rugged use. The pommel went flying into the bush. It was cheaply pinned to the plastic handle which cracked after chopping through exactly one branch. The blade tang did not even extend into the pommel. Good grief. The pommel came off just from the vibrations of hitting the blade with a baton (a technique Bear Grylls often uses on his Man vs show). The fire steel worked fine, and the blade held up well enough. The diamond sharpener works fine too. But to have the pommel separate after such ordinary use is absurd. This knife can't even compare to inexpensive Moras costing half as much. It is just a gimmick. Go out and get Gerber's LMF II if you want a real survival knife from Gerber. I have used that one for years and it is still as tight and good as new. Gerber and Bear ought to be ashamed of selling this as the Ultimate Knife. With quality constuction, this could have been a great knife. The concept was good. The materials and construction were cheap and shoddy.

I just took this knife out into the woods for a a three day survival course. As a knife, it performed well. As a fire starter, it was good enough. The whistle was a joke. As a hammer, it was horrible. I broke it trying to crack open hickory nuts. I didn't expect to use it to build a house, but I expected it could crack some nuts without coming apart.

Someone needs to take this design and make a quality survival knife. It has all the right parts with some suggested changes:

1. The firestarting rod needs to be about a half inch longer.

2. The knife needs to be full tang.

3. The striker notch on the top of the knife needs to be slightly serrated.

4. Forget the hammer function and build a quality whistle into in the handle.

5. DO NOT MANUFACTURE IT IN CHINA!!!

I got the knife thinking, awesome, I have a knife that can do almost anything! It has too many features to list. That was not the case. I destroyed it in 2 days. First off, yes the knife has great features like a fire starter, a blade sharpener, and a whistle, which all work, but these are worthless if the blade itself is junk. The metal is really soft. Within 5 minutes of trying to start a fire, the serrated edge was mangled on a piece of firewood while i was trying to make kindling. Also, when i tried to break off a smaller piece of wood, the tip of the knife bent. This should not happen with a knife as heavy as this one, and i'm not that strong. If anything, it should have cracked off (according to Tony Nester who was with me that weekend) Then, while we were fixing the blade, the pummel actually broke off! Its not a full tang (looks are very deceiving) the pummel is a 3/4" piece of metal held in the plastic handle by a tiny pin. I gave it 1 star for the peripherals, but the knife itself, is not the ultimate survival knife! I'll be sending it back to Gerber ASAP.

Just as everyone else who gave this product a low rating, I have the same problem with the pommel falling off. I got the knife couple of months ago but just recently started using it more. Just today I went for some hike in the woods and decided to cut down a small branch. After I was done I noticed that the pommel is missing. It just broke off as it wasn't part of the tang but rather it was cheaply attached to the plastic handle. What a horrible design.

Overall the knife would be pretty decent with all the gadgets and fire starting tool but this defect is a pretty big turnoff for me.
I don't think I want to wait for the new redesigned one and most likely will be returning it to Amazon and replacing it with the gerber Infantry.

Very dissapointed, Bear should be ashamed that such a POS was marketed with his name.

Ok, I purchased this knife from a local retailer(Un-researched implulse buy). I got it home, examined it in detail and began the internet research process. I've read good and bad reviews on it, saw pictures of broken pommels and complaints about the steel composition and quality. Rightfully so, the survival community is skeptical and suspicious of any product with the stones to call itself "The Ultimate Survival Knife." I was a bit, I admit. I went straight to Gerber and posed the same questions. Customer service was quick and helpful.
Q) Whats up with the pommel? Have you fixed it.
A) The first run of this knife has an orange stripe just north of the pommel measuring 1/8 of an inch. The corrected version has an orange stripe measuring 1/4 inch. Thicker and reinforced.

Q)How about the steel composition? What is it? The package says high carbon steel?
A)The fixed blade is made of 7Cr17Mov stainless steel with a 57-59 HRC hardness rating. It is comparable to 440A which has approximately .75% carbon content.

It takes a nice edge and holds it very well, and is a stainless steel. It's a very good steel, but isn't priced with the exotic super-steels. Some categorize it as a "high value, reasonable price" type steel. Gerber uses this type of steel on a number of their products.

The sheath is well constructed and retains the knife well with a number of ways to attach it to gear and the like. It has a ferro rod that strikes well on a section of the spine specifically designed for fire striking. It has a diamond sharpener on the back of the hard shell sheath.

Bottom line is that this knife threw itself to the "wolves" by title and endorsement alone. I like it, I'd carry it. Bear's crazy antics have many critics (Me included) but Gerber puts out good products and has for years. This knife holds up. If I discover differently, I will be sure to post my findings.

Ordered this for my son for Christmas. A few days after, he was using it on some wood projects and the bottom "hammer" part broke off. Turns out the handle is all plastic. Very surprised a $80 Gerber knife was so poorly constructed. There are cool other features of the knife, but if your survival depended on this knife, you would probably be dead.

Sending it back and hoping for a refund. Will not waste my money on another one.

The first time I used this knife for anything more than light duty use it suddenly felt odd in my hand, I looked down and the pommel had just broken off. The metal pommel was only attached with soft plastic. This is a defective design for anything other than a pretty toy. I guess that is what Bear Grylls is really all about. This is not a survival knife. I have about 10 other Gerber products and purchased this on the basis of my previous good experience, but this shows that the company is headed in the wrong direction. I had not used this knife much since getting it and have waited too long to return to Amazon. Gerber responded with their boilerplate when I asked for redress. How does one prove that this was not due to "improper use"? There is not any proper use of this piece of garbage.

Hugely disappointed. Received as a gift and as notated in other negative reviews, you can easily break the knife in your back yard in 5 minutes performing basic, advertised tasks.
Hugely disappointed. Was able to return, thanks to excellent service at retailer. They stated they had sent all their inventory back.
Like me, they are awaiting it's re-release to see if Gerber mans up and fixes this unit.
I would gladly pay full price for a model made in the USA and of Gerber's "legendary" quality.
As for Bear, I would be embarrassed to endorse such a poorly executed product.