Gerber Prodigy Tanto

This is a good deal on a quality American knife. The knife is well balanced and has a nice thick blade that holds an edge fairly well. The weak point of the knife is the rubber impregnated handle that causes the grip to be compromised if the handle gets wet or dirty.

I bought this knife to replace my MK3 navy knife that I gave to my wife. This is one of the knives Gerber still makes in the USA, and at $45 it is a good bang for the buck. It has a true full tang construction with a nice thick blade that is balanced very well.

So far I have used the knife for chopping 2 inch branches for firewood, opening metal cans, cutting rope, boxes, etc... and the blade has maintained the edge surprisingly well. I have used it to pry apart semi split logs to use as firewood without the blade bending or even feeling like it was going to bend.

I have also toyed around with it and used it as a throwing knife and never damaged any part of it. In this regard I am well pleased with the knife and can say that for $45 it was well worth it.

The weak point of this knife is the handle. Gerber website states the handle is "TacHide(TM) Handle - For secure grip in all conditions" Unfortunately this not entirely true. While the handle grip is very good in most conditions, it fails in two.

The first is with sand and sandy dirt. While chopping firewood I dropped the knife in sand and when I picked it up I realized the sand had caused me to lose a tremendous amount of grip on the handle. The rubber attracted the sand like tape. When I washed the knife off I noticed the water also caused a loss of grip until I dried it off. I am used to knives with solid plastic handles with deep textured perforations that give good grip in all conditions. A substantial improvement on this knife could be made here.

The sheath that it comes with is digital camo and has a positive locking system for the blade and a cover to pull over the handle. It can also be worn horizontally or vertically from a belt. Although the sheath seems well made, I did not use it on the trails due to it being to bulky for my taste. I substituted a leather sheath in its place.

Although the knife has room for improvement, I am well pleased with the quality I received for the price that I paid. I would recommend this knife for the budget minded hiker that wants a quality American blade.