Gerber Gear Fast Draw Pocket Knife Assisted Opening Folding Knife - EDC Gear and Equipment

This is a very good buy for the money. It is a nice smooth blade made from reasonably good steel. It comes fairly sharp but is easy to put a really keen edge on it.The size and blade type make it versatile for many jobs. Slicing open packages or anything where a smooth sharp blade works well.The assisted opening feature is especially nice. It is as good or better than much more expensive knives I own from Kershaw or CRKT and several others.One just needs to start it opening with the thumb stud and it snaps open nicely. It is very difficult to get the knife not to open completely once started. There is also a button on the side of the knife that will either lock the knife from accidental opening in your pocket and is also necessary to push down on it to allow the knife to close once opened.I have read some negative comments about the button and the fact it and the handle is made from plastic but I have had zero issues with mine.Look at other similar knives and you will fine the bulk of them using some form of plastic in the handle, it just depends on the quality.Some can be extremely tough.The handle fits nicely in the hand so I can have a good grip. Because of this knifes specs I use it for relatively light duty. That is what it was made for, light to medium duty. It was not designed to be used as a survival knife.Remember this knife costs under $17 and has a nice assisted opening system and decent blade on it. I don't know what more you can expect for the money.

I bought one of these years ago when they were 20 bucks. I've still got it, but the spring is messed up..it's probably fixable, so I keep it in a drawer until someday... I replaced it immediatly with an identical knife, but it was almost 30 by then. I misplaced that one last year and the price was up to 50 bucks, but the identical sized model with a little sereated (sp?) Edge was 35, so I grabbed that one..it's great too, but I missed the regular blade, so i grabbed it at 40$ .It's a true one handed knife with a nice little spring assist. Makes a solid CLICK when opening. I use it for everything from slicing a piece of cheese or sharpening a pencil to skinning a deer. Fits perfect in my jeans pocket. The grip is solid , thin and feels great in the hand...I never notice it in my pocket, but I notice it immediately if it's not there..I don't leave home without it. I feel naked when I check it for air travel. Great little pocket knife .

The basic design of this knife is very good for right handed use. It is very fast and easy to open one handed, the cross hatched design is very nice, it is very easy to grip and it looks great.cons: my brother is a lefty, and he doesn't like this knife at all because it is hard to take the safety off and open the blade without putting the safety back on, it also doesn't clip into a left pocket very well and is more likely to open up in your pocket if it is carried on the left side. 4 stars overall would be 2 if I wanted to use this knife left handed. Also, this blade seems pretty sharp out of the box, and I know that the steel is very hard, but it doesn't cut very well for some reason. The only reason I can think of for this is that it has a noticeably concave grind on the edge which makes for a less durable edge. Hopefully, successive sharpening will re-profile the edge enough to fix this.*edit*My brother ended up getting an SOG assisted open knife, which he likes pretty well as it is more ambidextrous than this gerber, however, the gerber has a nicer feel to it, the handle has a metal liner which makes it stiffer and thinner compared to the plastic bodied SOG, and the assisted open action feels more positive. I've had it for about 3 months now and it has grown on me to the point that if it broke tomorrow, I would buy another one without a second though. I've also re-profiled the edge a little bit, it isn't terribly sharp as far as that goes, but it holds it's edge very well and after 4 or so initial sharpenings to get the blade where I wanted it, I haven't had to do anything in over a month to keep it there. I am raising my review from 4 to 5 stars for right handed use, still 2 for lefties.*end edit*

The Gerber F.A.S.T. (Forward Action Spring Technology) Draw knife is a pleasure to open and requires nothing more than a nudge on the thumb stud, or a simple push from your index finger on the knifes back to snap into action, and locking the blade in place. It has an excellent 3" 440A High Carbon Stainless blade (that is half serrated) is extremely sharp, and holds an edge for a long time between sharpenings! To close the blade you must slide a small, conveniently located button under your thumb forward and fold. The body of the knife is a very grippable, solid feeling glass-filled nylon, that feels great in your hand.I love knives and have several Kershaws, Bucks, SOGs and Spyderco knives. I consider myself a knife junkie and enjoy all of my blades. But this knife is often the one I carry with me everyday! I really like the integrated "steel" pocket clip, it is easy to carry in the pocket and releases only when you want! I have recommended this knife to many of my friends and have given them as gifts to knife newbies frequently!