Gerber Gear Gator Machete – 25″ Dual-Purpose Gardening Machete Knife for Chopping and Sawing – Includes Protective Sheath – Black, Recyclable Packaging

A Serious Bang for Your Buck. Let’s start out by shouting from the rooftops that this little guy rocks! There are a couple of minor issues, but it’s definitely getting 5 stars for an amazing value at $15.59.Let’s go over the good stuff first (and there’s plenty of it):The Gerber junior has several attributes that take it way beyond just a good deal.As said above, the price is right. At $15 – $20, it’s a total bargain … Your argument is invalid.While this mini machete certainly isn’t made of the finest, imported, hand crafted materials (refer to price), if used within its limits, it seriously gets the job done. Because it’s lightweight and half the length of a full size machete, you can easily carry it on your belt, or strap it to a pack and you’ll barely know it’s there until you need it.That being said — Don’t let the smaller size fool you. OK sure. You probably won’t get far cutting through towering oaks or sequoias, but it will chop right through a 3/4 in diameter branch with one clean shot. You can take down one inchers with a couple more chops, and you can get through branches that are 2 in in diameter or more if you have a little patience and throw in a dab of elbow grease. Somehow they definitely found a pretty solid balance between being light enough to take backpacking but heavy enough to chop through some decent branches.Another rare and good thing to find in a cheap cutting tool (despite some reviews that say otherwise) is that the blade comes out of the factory pretty sharp. After a few minutes with a decent sharpener, you can get the edge to cut through Kryptonite. No complaints in that department. Especially for the price.To protect and haul your blade, the nylon sheath is decent enough. It seems like it should stand up to some punishment while still being light enough that it doesn’t add any noticeable weight when the blade is sheathed and on your hip. The velcro strap isn’t particularly sturdy, but hopefully it will hold up. For the money, you can’t ask for too much more than that.Now on to the bad (just a couple of minor non deal breakers):The machete is not full tang. For those that are new to knives and machetes, the tang refers to how far the metal blade runs up the grip. The Gerber jr. is not a full tang blade. This could become problematic somewhere down the road and could potentially lead to a broken blade or grip if you are using your blade as a rock hammer. Don’t forget that you aren’t paying big bucks for a product that will last you generations. Despite it’s … lacking of tang, if you treat the blade right and use it properly and within it’s limits (that means NO prying), it feels like it will last through many outings in the woods.The other little hiccup in an overall awesome product, is the saw function. It’s a great idea (note the use of the word “idea”), and if absolutely necessary, you could use it to (eventually) saw through larger pieces of wood. However, I think that this one looks a little better on paper and is exactly as I said before. A great “idea.” It just isn’t that practical. The saw blades are sharp and staggered like a saw is supposed to be. The problem is that they are too thick to efficiently saw through large diameter material. When trying to saw back and forth, you seem to have to devote a lot of energy and attention to avoid getting the saw teeth stuck in the log every other stroke. It can become frustrating and time consuming, and if you’re backpacking or camping, your time would probably be better spent searching for dry tinder or picking a guitar by the fire. Now remember. This is far from a deal breaker. How much sawing are you really planing on doing with your MACHETE anyway?The conclusion is simple. This Gerber jr. is a serious bang for your buck. It works. It looks solid. It feels solid, and it hasn’t failed yet. Overall this blade is absolutely ideal for taking on the trail to help gather fire wood or clear a site for a shelter. Although it seems to be born to be taken into the mountains on a trek, it can also be used around the yard for small to medium sized clearing jobs. If you are looking for a smaller answer to a full sized machete and don’t want to dull up the blade of your hunting knife, this bitchin’ little piece of hardware is definitely for you.

Nice knife. Simply, it’s a good knife. I have some issues with the balance, and a “relationship issue” with the handle.The knife is nose heavy, which should be expected I guess. It’s a weird feeling when the knife is perpendicular to your wrist. You can feel the knife pushing into the thumb crevice. Chopping with it causes you to rethink your grip with most swings. It’s not bad, just a something to get used to.The handle… My issue is that it feels okay in terms of mass, but it doesn’t feel “right”. Straight out of the box, the grip could benefit from some 80 grit sandpaper. Then the finger indents feel like they “wanna be there” but aren’t. They’re shallow, and then you feel “that” spot, but it’s far from the guard, which promotes the nose heavy nature.It’s an excellent knife for having “with the camping gear”, which is what I bought it for. I’d buy it again for that without hesitation.

Not the best, but it works ok. Literally unboxed it & went out to test it in my work clothes. No real time put in. Take aways. It could be sharper. It’s pretty dull which makes you have to hit the blackberry stalks several times. Chopped a few at the base, checked the blade after every few swings. Grip felt nice, but gloves are advised. After my trial run. Blade suffered several gouges & deformities with little to no abuse from my end. The sheath is really nice looking. But I’ll probably never use it. Worth the $30 but not a penny more.

Great. Better thank I ever dreamed

Great multi use machete. This is the perfect machete for when I’m at work as a land surveyor cutting line all day. With the saw side it makes my job so much easier. You just need to sharpen it the straight blade side when you get it. Was pretty dull.