I would not have paid full retail for this knife...but it was on sale for 30 dollars instead of the 57 Canadian that a local store wanted for it. After taking this knife home, here are my impressions.
Darn, is this knife light for its size. This is a knife that someone might what as a backpacking knife where weight is a factor.
Then I really took a closer look and didn't quite like what I saw. More on that in a moment.
The sheath is a solid concoction of hard plastic, textured rubber, and soft stretchable rubber. No worries about getting the sheath wet. There is even a thoughtful drain hole located at the bottom to evacuate any water. In a survival setting, you could easily plug said hole and use it as a watertight drinking container...of course...no telling how toxic the sheath is in the first place.
My issue with this however, is the soft stretchable rubber parts of the sheath. I have to wonder how durable they are, and more importantly, will it crack and harden like many rubbers out there with time? Furthermore, the belt loop is made of the same rubber. Now, when I tried this on my belt, the rubber gave me enough resistance that it wouldn't be something I would care to do on a daily basis...take this on and off. On the plus side, is stayed exactly where I placed it on my hip. This one will not shift on you while going for a walk, running, or even wrestling if that is your bent. I still worry about the durability of the whole thing though.
A neat feature of the sheath, there is an included knife sharpener on the bottom of it. Problem is, you can't use it while wearing it, and taking the sheath off is such a pain in the butt, that I can envision myself pant-less if I ever had to use it in the field. Yes, that is how much I hate that rubber belt loop.
The knife has a 3 inch blade..and man, is this knife not heavy to carry. Unfortunately also lightweight in construction. The handles are very grippy and comfortable. Many Gerber knives have great ergonomics, and the Myth folder is no exception to this.
The knife is a lock-back. I am ok with this, as the locking mechanism snaps shut with authority. My issue is this. the only metal in the whole knife is the blade, the bolt that holds it to the handle, and the locking spring mechanism. Everything else is plastic or rubber. The locking mechanism is difficult to disengage as the finger indent molded into the plastic handle is not very deep. When I try to press down, I have to exert a little more force then I think I should to unlock the blade. I feel if they made that indentation a little deeper, I wouldn't be bottoming out and trying to push the locking mechanism past the handle surface. Maybe this is a fault of my copy, I do not know. What I do know, I am not getting another to see if I have a slightly faulty copy on my hands. I have a gut feeling this is how they are built however.
Once opened, the carbon steel blade is nice. I usually don't have issues with Gerber blades. This one comes factory sharp so no complaints there either. the Myth folder features a left and right thumb stud for ambidextrous one hand opening. The brown plastic of the handle is the hardest. The black parts feature a rubberized texture which lends a great grip to this knife.
Back to my primary issue with this knife...build quality. I took a look of Gerber's web site, and they do tout this knife as the perfect companion for someone wanting to travel light. However, making this an ultra-light compromises other important aspects. For instance, the handles are very flimsy due to lack of metal, or even rigid plastic. As far as i can tell, the rubber textured handles are melt welded to the hard plastic...but there is none of that hard brown plastic acting as a foundation. Plastic is no substitute for good old solid steel, but having just plain rubber is nuts in my opinion. Here I am exerting hardly any pressure. See how I can easily bend the rubber sides to touch each other. I do not like the squishy moving feeling I get whenever I grasp these handles.
Overall Length: 7.25"
Closed Length: 4.25"
Blade Length: 3.0"
Weight: 2.7 oz.
So to sum up my feelings on this knife.
Pros:
- Very light.
- The carbon blade is ok and sharp.
- Love the ability to sharpen in the field without bringing anything extra.
- Materials are good for a wet environment.
Cons:
- Lack of sturdiness. To save weight, not enough metal, or heavier supporting plastic was used.
- locking mechanism difficult to unlock due to having to press that steel mechanism past the ungenerous thumb indentation of the handle.
- Blade can be moved side to side because there isn't anything solid to support it.
Final word...If you can find this for a very cheap price, it is ok. However, Gerber sacrificed too much to keep the whole package weight to a minimum.There are far better knives out there.
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