Have swiss army knife knockoffs made improvements?

[Nhoj]

Here are a few of my sakk (swiss army knife knockoffs)
I was looking at how they all share that the bottom is completely cut out instead of just the side with the corkscrew.
Then I started to wonder have knockoff brands made an improvement? This design allows for  more bottom tools, and unlike real saks there can be a philips driver and a corkscrew. This style does have downsides though. This method results in the back tools being smaller on all these knives, here is a comparision between a real sak and a sakk
As you can see the "Quebec" knife has a significantly smaller philips driver than the real sak. I am not sure if this can be blamed on the open bottom design though because since this is a sakk it could be smaller to use less material and be cheaper. Another flaw with this design is that some people do not think it looks as good. I have seen people saying they didn't like the look of a corkscrew cutout on one side of the scale on a real sak and with these it is cut out on both. When you think about who is making these knives you realize this design might just be to cut costs because the layer dividers are all identical. Bottom line, have sakk producers actually made an improvement over the real thing?

[Lynn LeFey]

I had a long rambling response typed out.

The gist was that these knives sacrifice quality for quantity, to a degree where the knife is so prone to failure that the majority of its implements are likely to fail at the minimum level of performance required to succeed at the task they were designed for.

What's the point of a knife with 12 functions, if it will fail at 8 of them?

Feel free to test this yourself by pulling a wine cork with the corkscrew, turning a moderately tight phillips head scew, turning a moderately tight flathead screw, trying to cut anything more serious than paper with the scissors, sawing a 3/4" oak branch with the saw, pushing that awl through a leather belt, spending 5 minutes of sewing canvass with the needle, or... man, come on... a fish scaler?

[ColoSwiss]

Depends on how you define 'knock-off'. Some of the other European pocket knives are also excellent. I'm particularly fond of the Richartz and Aitor Picnics (Hobos), which have a capacity neither Victorinox nor Wenger can offer.

[PTRSAK]

The concept is quite good, the execution on the average Sak-a-like... not so much.

[nuphoria]

Lynn is spot on - use it and see how it holds up!

No doubt there's a number of knock-offs out there well worth having, but you have to sort the wheat from the chaff

[Wootz]

Mikov, Mongin, Richartz, Rodgers, Henckels, Adler, Amefa, Robeson, Klaas, AG Russell,
make SAK-like pocketknives that are not bad at all!

[dks]

The closest facsimile you can get, in both style and quality is the Shcrade Century range.

Look it up!   

[Nhoj]

These knives are not nearly as high quality as the real thing, I am just wondering if the back layer design is actually an improvement because it allows a philips and corkscrew

[kkokkolis]

When I was in the Army I didn't take my Swisschamp with me at the beginning. It was somewhat expensive for us then (I allready had lost one), year 1997, and my wife bought me a Chinese folder that had 6-8 tools.
What a piece of junk it was to say the least.
It wasn't inox. The tools were not sharpened. The fit was awful. The saw was less sharp than the Vic fish scaler. The awl was less penetrating than a BIC pen. The scissors would hardly cut simple cotton thread. After finishing the basic training I got my Swisschamp with me for the rest of my service.
I also have somewhere a big Chinese knife that looks like a British Army knife I bought some 20 years ago. That wasn't sharpened also but a pro with a sharpening wheel made the blade and awl very sharp indeed. It is somewhere in a toolbox.
The only non Swiss knife I had that was as good as a Swiss made was a little folder I lost after a couple of years and I hardly remember. It was made of steel, it had an ad on it (something car related) and, now that I think of it, it was an Executive or Executive like knife. But it wasn't Swiss, it had an inscription about Solingen if I recall. Almost as good as a SAK.
But these tools date some decades back. Since Chinese telescopes and eyepieces now are almost as good as German, Japanese and American ones (at about half to 1/3 of the price) I believe that Chinese could produce knives as good as SAKs some (ten?) years from now. Their true potential is unknown and their steps forward are huge year after year.

[jrp316]

I won't regurgitate what's already been said here, but being a 'knockoff' implies that it copies or mimics the design of the original item and thus, no real innovation is taking place. Design wise, both Victorinox and Wenger have created their own designs and engineering, and they have stood the test of time; I doubt that they would look to the knockoff market for improvements. Some knife makers make good Swiss similar knives, others are cheap copies. Wheat from chaff, as has been said.

As quality goes, again, wheat from chaff. Better knife makers will make a good knife that will last a long time, Swiss style or not. Inferior makers will not, Swiss style or otherwise.

A short story for me: on my honeymoon, my wife surprised me with a personalized Swiss style knife that she'd found at one of the local shops. I used the corkscrew to try to open our bottle of champagne...the corkscrew literally twisted itself off after about 2 turns. I ended up taking my real SAK (Cybertool 34) and using it to get the cork out. No problem at all. (Sidebar: I took the scales of the personalized one and reattached them to one of my Spartans. On the way home, we stopped at SMKW, where I bought two matching Pioneers and had them engraved with our initials and wedding date. It was a treat.)

[Tired_Yeti]

THOU CONVERSATION SO LONG DEAD, I CONJURE THEE NOW AND RESURRECT THIS THREAD!

I was online aimless wandering the halls of Amazon, when I happened upon a listing for a MT that is obviously a SAK knock off and even boasts,
"We are so confident about our product that it beats Swiss Army Knife, Victorinox, Wenger in Quality and Functionality"
It's made by a company called Whiz Tool. What surprised me was the 5 star reviews. One uninformative review even said "Best pocket knife ever".
Are there really that many people in the world who don't know Victorinox quality?



I just don't have the stomach to trust my safety to this tool. I've been in the trenches with Vic as have many others. "Whiz Tool"? Sounds like a slang term for the male anatomy.

Whiz Tools even has the integrity to use a copyrighted photo of "Jack" from the show Lost in their ad.




Sheesh!


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[El Corkscrew]

THOU CONVERSATION SO LONG DEAD, I CONJURE THEE NOW AND RESURRECT THIS THREAD!

I was online aimless wandering the halls of Amazon, when I happened upon a listing for a MT that is obviously a SAK knock off and even boasts,
"We are so confident about our product that it beats Swiss Army Knife, Victorinox, Wenger in Quality and Functionality"
It's made by a company called Whiz Tool. What surprised me was the 5 star reviews. One uninformative review even said "Best pocket knife ever".
Are there really that many people in the world who don't know Victorinox quality?

(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)

I just don't have the stomach to trust my safety to this tool. I've been in the trenches with Vic as have many others. "Whiz Tool"? Sounds like a slang term for the male anatomy.

Whiz Tools even has the integrity to use a copyrighted photo of "Jack" from the show Lost in their ad.

(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)

Sheesh!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Even if they made one that actually rivals a SAK, I would not be interested.   It's like buying a Fender or Gibson copy... why not just get the OG?

Actually, I feel more strongly about SAKs.  I'm kind of a SAK purist... 

[KandiKlover]

THOU CONVERSATION SO LONG DEAD, I CONJURE THEE NOW AND RESURRECT THIS THREAD!

I was online aimless wandering the halls of Amazon, when I happened upon a listing for a MT that is obviously a SAK knock off and even boasts,
"We are so confident about our product that it beats Swiss Army Knife, Victorinox, Wenger in Quality and Functionality"
It's made by a company called Whiz Tool. What surprised me was the 5 star reviews. One uninformative review even said "Best pocket knife ever".
Are there really that many people in the world who don't know Victorinox quality?

(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)

I just don't have the stomach to trust my safety to this tool. I've been in the trenches with Vic as have many others. "Whiz Tool"? Sounds like a slang term for the male anatomy.

Whiz Tools even has the integrity to use a copyrighted photo of "Jack" from the show Lost in their ad.

(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)

Sheesh!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Even if they made one that actually rivals a SAK, I would not be interested.   It's like buying a Fender or Gibson copy... why not just get the OG?

Actually, I feel more strongly about SAKs.  I'm kind of a SAK purist... 

It is pretty pointless, the quality is still way less on the good knock offs and SAKs aren't that much more expensive either so it's just a waste. And I know, I wanted one so bad last month I thought about getting a knock off but logically concluded there was no point and to just get a real SAK. A little 5 dollar keychain foldy plier multi tool for the keychain is one thing but a fake SAK is just low and pretty retarded honestly. 

[KandiKlover]

THOU CONVERSATION SO LONG DEAD, I CONJURE THEE NOW AND RESURRECT THIS THREAD!

I was online aimless wandering the halls of Amazon, when I happened upon a listing for a MT that is obviously a SAK knock off and even boasts,
"We are so confident about our product that it beats Swiss Army Knife, Victorinox, Wenger in Quality and Functionality"
It's made by a company called Whiz Tool. What surprised me was the 5 star reviews. One uninformative review even said "Best pocket knife ever".
Are there really that many people in the world who don't know Victorinox quality?

(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)

I just don't have the stomach to trust my safety to this tool. I've been in the trenches with Vic as have many others. "Whiz Tool"? Sounds like a slang term for the male anatomy.

Whiz Tools even has the integrity to use a copyrighted photo of "Jack" from the show Lost in their ad.

(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)

Sheesh!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Amazon has a lot of fake reviews so they're not really trustworthy anymore. They've sold out to junk companies like this and aren't as reputable anymore. It's not that hard to fake a verofied review or make a bunch of accounts buy your own product so the whole thing aboit them cleaning up is just bogus PR. There's also a problem with rival companies making up a bunch of fake low star reviews on competing products as well.

[El Corkscrew]

THOU CONVERSATION SO LONG DEAD, I CONJURE THEE NOW AND RESURRECT THIS THREAD!

I was online aimless wandering the halls of Amazon, when I happened upon a listing for a MT that is obviously a SAK knock off and even boasts,
"We are so confident about our product that it beats Swiss Army Knife, Victorinox, Wenger in Quality and Functionality"
It's made by a company called Whiz Tool. What surprised me was the 5 star reviews. One uninformative review even said "Best pocket knife ever".
Are there really that many people in the world who don't know Victorinox quality?

(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)

I just don't have the stomach to trust my safety to this tool. I've been in the trenches with Vic as have many others. "Whiz Tool"? Sounds like a slang term for the male anatomy.

Whiz Tools even has the integrity to use a copyrighted photo of "Jack" from the show Lost in their ad.

(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)

Sheesh!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Even if they made one that actually rivals a SAK, I would not be interested.   It's like buying a Fender or Gibson copy... why not just get the OG?

Actually, I feel more strongly about SAKs.  I'm kind of a SAK purist... 

It is pretty pointless, the quality is still way less on the good knock offs and SAKs aren't that much more expensive either so it's just a waste. And I know, I wanted one so bad last month I thought about getting a knock off but logically concluded there was no point and to just get a real SAK. A little 5 dollar keychain foldy plier multi tool for the keychain is one thing but a fake SAK is just low and pretty retarded honestly. 

Well said, KK!  Bravo! 

[cody6268]

I've had copies under numerous brands. While many European, Japanese and American makers have made knives similar in both appearance function, and quality, (Adler,  Sakai, Richartz, Schrade, Adler/Schrade (ISC), Puma, Henckels, etc.), they'll never compare to what a Victorinox or Wenger is.   The Chinese all fall behind drastically, compared to very close with the American, Japanese, and European knives are. Most don't have anything worth a darn. The scissors can't cut a thing, and most tools will end up breaking. As a kid, I probably went through 5 Chinese SAK clones before banning myself from purchasing them. And all the clones failed spectacularly with light use.

[NorCalJim]

Amazon has a lot of fake reviews so they're not really trustworthy anymore. They've sold out to junk companies like this and aren't as reputable anymore. It's not that hard to fake a verified review or make a bunch of accounts buy your own product so the whole thing aboit them cleaning up is just bogus PR. There's also a problem with rival companies making up a bunch of fake low star reviews on competing products as well.

I've concluded the same thing about Amazon reviews.  Sometimes I really have to wade through so many garbage reviews to get to some that I consider genuine. It is also evident to me that there is some bogus bashing of competitors.

Concerning knock-offs, I think that there is a huge difference between no-name competitors selling a day pack for a bargain price and stealing a company's design or even counterfeiting someone's product. For those familiar with Victorinox's quality products, nothing but the genuine article will do.

Jim

[Tired_Yeti]

As far as I'm concerned, when you look at current production LEGIT multitools (Vic, Leatherman, Gerber, SOG), a Victorinox SAK is almost insanely affordable by comparison. We're all well aware that a LM or a Gerber (or any other legit MTs) can be EASILY over $100 for a basic model. With a SwissChamp commonly being in the ballpark of about $70, I simply don't see the point of buying a knock-off. I mean, I'd NEVER carry the dang thing and if I was in dire need of a MT, I'd be extremely nervous about trusting it.
Victorinox has a very long, GLOBAL, reputation for exceptional quality and the level of consistency in their quality is almost supernatural! I just don't even see the point of anyone who wants a SAK to buy anything other than a Victorinox. Maybe that's just me...but I kinda doubt it.

P.S. I write a lot of Amazon reviews. They're all legit. I've intentionally never participated in the "we'll give you a free one in exchange for your review" programs. One telltale sign of a fake review is the 5 star review that only says "Great product" or "gave as a gift and recipient loves it" (if you haven't used the product you can't offer a review), or the really dumb ones that simply say "thanks".
I'm sure the Whiz Tool review that said, "best pocket knife ever" was not only fake, but that was probably the most English the writer knows.
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[WoodsDuck]

As far as I'm concerned, when you look at current production LEGIT multitools (Vic, Leatherman, Gerber, SOG), a Victorinox SAK is almost insanely affordable by comparison. We're all well aware that a LM or a Gerber (or any other legit MTs) can be EASILY over $100 for a basic model. With a SwissChamp commonly being in the ballpark of about $70, I simply don't see the point of buying a knock-off. I mean, I'd NEVER carry the dang thing and if I was in dire need of a MT, I'd be extremely nervous about trusting it.
Victorinox has a very long, GLOBAL, reputation for exceptional quality and the level of consistency in their quality is almost supernatural! I just don't even see the point of anyone who wants a SAK to buy anything other than a Victorinox. Maybe that's just me...but I kinda doubt it.

P.S. I write a lot of Amazon reviews. They're all legit. I've intentionally never participated in the "we'll give you a free one in exchange for your review" programs. One telltale sign of a fake review is the 5 star review that only says "Great product" or "gave as a gift and recipient loves it" (if you haven't used the product you can't offer a review), or the really dumb ones that simply say "thanks".
I'm sure the Whiz Tool review that said, "best pocket knife ever" was not only fake, but that was probably the most English the writer knows.
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I'd review a free item if any company is interested. But I won't lie about the product; if it's a piece of smurf I'm gonna call it a piece of smurf.

[Tired_Yeti]

I'd review a free item if any company is interested. But I won't lie about the product; if it's a piece of smurf I'm gonna call it a piece of smurf.

Agreed, but accepting a freebie puts the credibility of your review in question. There's no way around that. It's natural. Most freebie reviews I've seen have been 5 stars anyway. That's natural too. People automatically have a "warm fuzzy" about gifts. You're less critical of a freebie. Human nature.



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[WoodsDuck]

I'd review a free item if any company is interested. But I won't lie about the product; if it's a piece of smurf I'm gonna call it a piece of smurf.

Agreed, but accepting a freebie puts the credibility of your review in question. There's no way around that. It's natural. Most freebie reviews I've seen have been 5 stars anyway. That's natural too. People automatically have a "warm fuzzy" about gifts. You're less critical of a freebie. Human nature.



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Nature may have failed with me because I hate crappy gifts and I'll get irritated. I would actually rather receive nothing than something that's terrible, and people in my life are all aware of this. Every time my mother goes on a trip she brings me a souvenir knife (sometimes the SAK knockoffs this thread mentions) and I tell her I hate it. Apparently she finds my disgust with them funny.

I should also make it clear that I don't  automatically scorn gifts that aren't expensive, high end items. One time a friend gave me a Buck folder he found in a parking lot that had clearly been run over on top of being abused by the previous owner before its loss. That gift was used, damaged, cost him nothing, and I was glad to receive it because it was thoughtful. I still have that knife, ~15 years later.

The point is, I don't have any urge to factor in the freebie status of an item given to me for review. Not being a friend or member of my family, the company wouldn't even have a chance at me being generous enough to say it's good for being free. I'll review it with the retail price in mind, and tell you whether I think it's a good value.
All of this is probably a big part of why I don't have a job in the product review field 

[Tired_Yeti]

I'd review a free item if any company is interested. But I won't lie about the product; if it's a piece of smurf I'm gonna call it a piece of smurf.

Agreed, but accepting a freebie puts the credibility of your review in question. There's no way around that. It's natural. Most freebie reviews I've seen have been 5 stars anyway. That's natural too. People automatically have a "warm fuzzy" about gifts. You're less critical of a freebie. Human nature.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nature may have failed with me because I hate crappy gifts and I'll get irritated. I would actually rather receive nothing than something that's terrible, and people in my life are all aware of this. Every time my mother goes on a trip she brings me a souvenir knife (sometimes the SAK knockoffs this thread mentions) and I tell her I hate it. Apparently she finds my disgust with them funny.

I should also make it clear that I don't  automatically scorn gifts that aren't expensive, high end items. One time a friend gave me a Buck folder he found in a parking lot that had clearly been run over on top of being abused by the previous owner before its loss. That gift was used, damaged, cost him nothing, and I was glad to receive it because it was thoughtful. I still have that knife, ~15 years later.

The point is, I don't have any urge to factor in the freebie status of an item given to me for review. Not being a friend or member of my family, the company wouldn't even have a chance at me being generous enough to say it's good for being free. I'll review it with the retail price in mind, and tell you whether I think it's a good value.
All of this is probably a big part of why I don't have a job in the product review field 

Good to know there are still some people who can't be bought.


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