Swiss Army Evolution

I’ve used Swiss Army knives for many years, but this is my first “Evolution(18)” model. It has some advantages over my other SAKnives. The size is slightly smaller than I have been used to and fits easier into my pocket along with keys, etc. The scissors has what appears to be a much stronger mechanism than the wire spring, which is a weak point of the standard scissors and has broken in two former knives of mine. It also has a small saw, which I use for camping and gardening. Some people miss the small knife blade from the standard models, but I like having a finger nail file, since I am always needing to touch up my guitar-plucking nails. It makes a great EDC knife!

This is an item that is good to have rather than to be without. It is a relatively basic swiss army knife and I love the features, the blade is very sharp so be careful!May need a little oil to loosen a few of the tools.

I'm a big fan of the Handyman SAK; but, this Evolution model has everything you need for an EDC knife. Get a ferro rod to replace the tooth pick, hide some tinder under the bottle opener and you have just about anything you would need unless you plan on opening some wine! Although I prefer the traditional scales, the new contoured scales really feel good in the hand. I do miss that tiny eyeglass screwdriver you can hide inside the corkscrew, but a knife you can comfortably carry can only do so much. The only cons I could find would be that the new slightly serrated scissors are not as sharp as the older ones, and they do not use a separate spring...they utilize something connected to the knife's spring leaf mechanism and so when you close the scissors, they move appreciably so it's slightly more difficult to do accurate cutting with the scissors bobbing up and down. But it all works fairly well and I'm only nitpicking. This knife is slightly more compact than other SAKs, measuring 84mm vs 91mm. And best of all, it has that terrific Victorinox guarantee.

This is one of the great 3-layer Swiss Army knives. (SAKs)I've had the Victorinox Super Tinker, Climber, and Hiker before, and this one trumps them all. Why?It has a more durable scissors spring. The lever you see in the pic actuates a backspring for the scissors, instead of having a leaf spring, which will eventually break or get bent out of alignment.It has the self-locking large flat head screwdriver on the end of the bottle opener, carried over from Wenger. When you bear down on a flat head screw, it wedges in place, rather than folding up on you.Instead of a small blade, it has a nail file. The tip of it works in #0 and #1 Phillips screws and also as a light-duty prybar.Now that this is a Victorinox model instead of Wenger, it has the great Victorinox can opener.The Evo scales are quite comfortable in the hand.The corkscrew works great, not just on wine corks, but also for helping to untie knots.The 85mm length is more comfortable in a hip pocket than the 91mm Victorinoxes.

The perfect multi-tool/pocket knife. Good combo of size and utility. I feel like the nail cleaner is fatter on this new model than the older ones, more difficult to clean well beneath the nail. I also wish I didn’t have to use the dremel to grind the key loop protrusion AKA pocket destroyer off of all these Swiss Army knives. Seriously, this thing is pretty big, who is carrying this on their keychain? Nobody that’s who.

Like this one better than my first one. The large blade doesn’t feel Flemish. It feel more solid and not worry about the blade breaking while using it.

My favourite in the Swiss army family. Very useful. Always with me.

This was my first ergonomic style Swiss Army Knife. I had been reluctant to try this style as it was originally a Wenger product and I’ve always preferred the Victorinox knives. When Victorinox bought out Wenger, they kept some of these ergonomic grip knives in production. I’ve been carrying this in my pocket for a few weeks now and wish I’d bought it a long time ago. The Evo series knife is a little smaller than the standard medium size Swiss Army knives, about 85% the length. But the big difference is weight, as these Evo knives definitely run lighter. I had been carrying a Rambler, but this doesn’t feel much heavier and has far more capability. The ergonomic grips also feel good in the hand. I thought they’d take some getting used to, but they fit quite naturally. This is one of the smallest and lightest Swiss Army Knives I know of with both size flat screwdrivers and a Phillips screwdriver. I don’t miss the small blade, as I rarely ever use it. Having a nail file and cleaner is a good trade-off for me as I find the need to smooth a nail a lot more frequently than the need for a second knife blade. I live in South Florida, where we wear light clothing year round. A larger, heavier pocket knife just isn’t practical down here and the small Classic series knives lack serious tool features. Overall, I find this knife really hits the sweet spot for a lightweight EDC pocket knife that still has practical tools. This knife is highly recommended.