New military victorinox

[Guardian]

A proposed OH Trekker for the Malaysian Police?
http://www.malaysiandefence.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1-IMG_7276.jpg

[felinevet]

Very cool, I like it.

[enki_ck]

I'd love me the bottom one but with those black scales. Those look great.

[Marius]

Too bad the bottom one (with scissors) has the smaller, not lockable, large flat screwdriver.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

They look pretty good

[nuphoria]

Nice... but I'd lose them straight away

[Marius]

So the bottom one must be side lock or no lock. Only the top one appears to be liner lock.

[Reinier]

So the bottom one must be side lock or no lock. Only the top one appears to be liner lock.

Correct, also there are no 111mm models with liner lock & scissors, if I'm not mistaken.

[Guardian]

The scales colour on the Trekker also looks new; black with green. But the million dollar question is can we get one!!!

[duder]

I`m afraid no, as far as I know these are just prototypes.
Do I get a million dollars now ? 

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

The one on the bottom is a slightly modified Outrider; the Phillips driver on the back is a corkscrew on the Outrider. 

To my knowledge there is no OHO 111 mm model with scissors.  I would love to know if the scissors/small Phillips layer from an Outrider or Work Champ could be put in something like a Soldier, OHT, or a OH Forester.

[Marius]

A little bird told me that scissors won't work on a liner lock model without modification (read: enlarging the mounting hole the rivet goes through). Why the liner lock 111mm have this reduced set of tools available compared with the side lock/no lock 111mm, perhaps comparable with 91mm versus 93mm.

[tosh]

Once again Victorinox produces a tool that's.............. a compromise !!!!!

Why don't they stop being so bloody arrogant and give us - the paying customer - what we really want.   

I want a Juice szed Spirit
I want a Farmer with both scissors and inline philips
I'd like a RangerGrip style  SAK  that's legal for UK EDC
Etc Etc Etc.....

It's such a shame they now own Wenger - who to my mind, were far more innovative.
You almost get the impression the mighty Vic has grown to BIG for his boots!

 Deep Rumbing Bellow 

" You'll have it like this, or not at all "

[ICanFixThat]

Oh nice find!  Let's hope they sign a new contract for these and someone is able to get us some.

[Steinar]

It's such a shame they now own Wenger - who to my mind, were far more innovative.
You almost get the impression the mighty Vic has grown to BIG for his boots!

As a good Vic fanboy, I respectfully disagree.

Grown? They have rather shrunk. Buying Wenger was a bail-out of a bankrupt company to save the brand from becoming a knock-off and thus diluting Victorinox' own brand, it was not a growth strategy. It was the first time ever Victorinox went into debt, AFAIK. After 9/11 30% of their revenue disappeared pretty much overnight, but they didn't fire a single person. Wenger is still run as an independent company AFAIK, so it is not obvious whether the new ownership has been a hindrance for innovation and oddball designs.

The reason "all" the designs are compromises are probably boring and economic, just like the thinner blades, the weaker scales, etc, and looking at the shrinking selection, I guess the 93 mm line is nearing the end of the line too. Also, multitools are compromises by nature, and most buyers aren't enthusiasts, like us, they're people who probably aren't even interested in knives. From threads here we see the idea of what the ideal multitool is like vary extremely, just within this self-selected pool of people.

Military/LEO/etc knives like those in the original post are what the customer requests from the options Vic presents, not what designed by Vic to meet the needs of the enthusiast market.

To cut it short: You obviously don't like Victorinox' direction (as I mentioned, I'm not too keen on much of it myself), but I'd rather have Victorinox be run competently and last in the centuries to come than go out in a blaze of wonderful designs that weren't what the customer ordered or too expensive to compete.

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

Steinar, I think you hit the nail right on the head...

I'd say I'm a Vic fanboy too, although I have become more interested and impressed with Wenger's products myself.

That said, I certainly can see where Vic could take a page or two from Wenger's book.  For one, the scissors; I find the Wenger scissors to be superior to Vic scissors.  Not just in terms of the spring mechanism, but also the edging.  Aside from the "self sharpening" serrated edges the Wenger scissors have, their edges are also straight.  Vic scissors (as nice as they are) are slightly curved.  So when the scissors of one of my Vics get dull, sharpening them is a bit of a PITA because I end up having to reprofile the edges.  I also find that after doing so, they tend to stay sharper longer.

I'd also love to see Vic take the locking blade design from the 84 mm S models and put it in their 91 mm models.  Or even the push button release of the liner lock that's on the Rangers.

I've been fighting with myself over getting a PER S16... It looks like a great little knife, and Smaug's review of it really has tempted me even more...  I keep telling myself I don't need another SAK!   

[tosh]

To cut it short: You obviously don't like Victorinox' direction (as I mentioned, I'm not too keen on much of it myself), but I'd rather have Victorinox be run competently and last in the centuries to come than go out in a blaze of wonderful designs that weren't what the customer ordered or too expensive to compete.

Actually Steinar


I do like victorinox - certainly hope so, given that i've got possibly 20 or so of their SAKs (minute collection I agree).
But, lets not be coy, I'm pretty sure Vic are right on the ball of what would be a "Clear  Winner" allround.
I suspect the real reason is more to do with following the advice of so called ""Marketing Strategists".

Why. when you have had the playing field all to yourself, along comes young Tim with a radical design concept of an All-In-One  pocket tool, would you sit there and watch.
It doesn't make sense.
The clever swiss more or less had that market to themselves prior to the multitool explosion - there cannot be many who have had more experiance in that area than both Wenger and Victorinox. But yet, they simply stepped aside and let the BIG three monopolise the multitool market. And now as the big guns battle it out for supremacy, Vic' seems to have all but lost interest.


I really don't get it - the brand name itself is renowned throughout the world. The almost mythical swiss cross is synominous with unriveled precision, workmanship and absolute quality, even amongst the very elite brand names - and not just in pocketknives.
But, they simply refuse to give what the modern consumer wants - which I might add is a very different consumer to that of 10 or so years ago.

[BIG-TARGET]

Why can't the Philippine military issue cool knives the Malaysia?

[Currahee]

  I keep telling myself I don't need another SAK!   

That's crazy talk, Heinz! Go to your room!

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

  I keep telling myself I don't need another SAK!   

That's crazy talk, Heinz! Go to your room!

No, no, no... I don't have to... I just got a new one yesterday... a pre '05 Explorer in a trade with Lynn.  And, I have a standard 111 mm Hunter on the way that should be here tomorrow...
 

[silentio]

Nice. I hope these get made. I'll be making a few calls to my friends in Malaysia if so.

[BIG-TARGET]

I wonder if Felinevet has an FVEAP branch office in Maylaysia?