Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Knife w/ fine edge

The Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Knife (from here on after reffered to as "Gerber BG") is one of the bestselling knives in the world. Why? I decided to review how my Gerber BG would perform in different scenarios you would encounter when bushcrafting. I'm not a knife expert, but I know what one should expect from a good knife.

At first glance the Gerber BG is a very cool knife. It has a hint of tactical look like military knives without any tactical color. The blade i quite wide and heavy and has a coating to prevent corrosion. The handle is rubber with a large metal pommel at the end. It also comes with an emergency whistle attached to the handle.  The sheath is really big, but it has a few extra features than just holding the knife. It has a sharpener, a small survival guide, and a fire steel.

Gerber BG as a fishing knife.

I brought the knife to a fishing trip to see if it could replace my regular fishing knife. It took a while before I caught my first fish of the day. The thick and heavy blade is perfect for killing the fish with a whack in the head The thickness of the blade makes gutting and cleaning the fish a bit harder than usual, but not impossible.

Bushcrafting with Gerber BG

Chopping: Used the knife on some big branches for fire wood. The heavy blade was a great help when chopping.

Whittling: It wasn't easy. Got a feeling that there where something wrong with the handle when using it at that particular angle. The edge on the blade isn't optimal for whittling. I prefer a scandi grind when using it for that. 

Gerber BG as a hunting knife.

Haven't tried it on any huntet animals, but to get the feel on how it would perform I used it to prepare some beef for barbequing. I can see how the rounded edge at the tip would be good for skinning and gutting - but that's just guessing.

The extra features on Gerber BG

The survival guide: it covers a few basic survival skills that could come in handy in a such situation.

The sheath is big and bulky, and not very comfortable to wear on your belt. I've attached a small carabiner to it, so it will hang on to my belt more comfortable. I've also wrapped a few feet of extra paracord around the sheath.

The whistle is really loud, but not very solid. It took my three year old son under one minut to break it. I recomend moving it from the handle of the knife to the handle of the fire steel. Then it won't come it the way of the pommel. I used the pummel to break some sea shells so my son could fish crabs from the pier. The knife performed well at the task, but so would a rock have done.

The sharpner is too coarse to make a good fine edge, but with no alternatives anything will do. This knife looses its edge quikly so having a sharpner close becomes quite usefull.

My conclution:

It's really cool looking, but just an ok allrounder. It's not perfect for anything I used it for. It's a lot of money to pay for just an ok knife, but if you're a fan of mr. Grylls - as I am... then why not? ;)