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Camco SUV Camp Knife

us Offline JNieporte

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Camco SUV Camp Knife
on: September 12, 2012, 11:43:55 PM
I got this from that Amazonian store for $10 and some change. Just as a note, the measurements listed are from my tape measure, not an on-line product description. The item is in fact what was advertised, and that's about the only positive thing I can say about this product. I have a few Camco knives, and while they're not great, they're worlds better than this. I'm not even sure if the company named is the same Camco, as there's no copyright date on the package to compare (Camillus and Camco went out of business years ago, but were recently "brought back" under Acme United Brands). Anyway, to the actual product review...



The knife is 3-5/8" long when closed and 7/8" thick. It's made of aluminum liners, stainless springs and tools, and plastic handle scales. I don't know what the pins are made of, as none of them are visible, even when everything is opened. The overall feel of the knife is cheap: the tools are all wobbly, nothing really "snicks" open, and it just doesn't feel like a quality tool. The springs all have a gritty texture. The plastic is fine in all regards; it's nicely-textured, feels solid, and is attached with no wiggle. Note that when doing the individual tool review, I'm not noting the looseness of the tools and lack of "snick" as they're all like that, so it would be redundant. I'll go down the tools on this product in the order they're opened. Note that there are no tweezers, toothpick, or keyring attachment, common to most Swiss Army knife-type tools. Instead you get a sheath.



The knife blade is 2-5/8" long with a 2-3/8" cutting edge. It's 1/16" thick and has a clip point. A flat grind, like on most Swiss Army knives, is present. Apart from the STAINLESS CHINA stamp, there's nothing on it. A nail nick facilitates opening. The blade came dull, and when sharpening, I found that it actually had some chips in it from the factory. I'm guessing this is 440-A, as it behaves far worse than any other blade steel I've used, except 420J2.

The second tool is the plier. It's 2-5/8" long and just under 1/8" thick. It opens to 7/8" wide at the tip and the grippy portion runs 5/8". A Victorinox-style spring makes this a spring-loaded tool. A last-minute addition of a wire crimper on the bottom rounds out the plier. The grippy area is very shallow and the teeth are spaced too far apart. The plier halves are riveted together, and there's quite a bit of play between the two halves. A quick trial at tightening some small bolts stripped the teeth of their grippiness and added even more play. I'd say you could consider this a heavy set of tweezers, but you can't: the tips don't align and have space at the end. Well...

The next two tools share the same backspring: the square tool and the Phillips driver. I'll start with the square tool, as it's on the same side of the knife as the other tools. It sucks. That's all, really. It's 1" long and 1/8" thick. It's basically a piece of metal with a square at the end, for driving squared-headed screws and bolts. The square is 3/16" so I hope that's the size you need. It's not even cut right; the tips are uneven and the sides are swelled instead of flat, so this thing won't even fit into the proper hole size. I tried it on a variety of items, and I just don't know what use this feature is.

The Phillips-head screwdriver is 1-1/4" long and 1/8" thick, sized for a #2 screw. It's a two-dimensional driver, meaning it's really a flat piece of metal with four small grooves in the end to give the metal a better bite on the screw. Upon trying it, my previous guess was right: the steel is way too soft. The driver deformed at the tip and at the base; what a useless driver. I actually had to use a real pair of pliers to straighten the screwdriver before it would fit back into the handle.

Next up is the last layer, consisting of the LED light and flathead screwdriver. The LED is 1-1/8" long and 3/8" in diameter. It runs on (I assume) three LR41 button cell batteries. I say that because I can't get the batteries out. The head unscrews and I can see the top of one battery, but they're stuck. I tried every trick I know as a flashlight aficionado, and they just won't budge. The light still comes on though. It's about eight lumens of blue-ish light. The last tool on this side of the product is the flathead screwdriver, which measures 1-1/8" long and 1/16" thick. The driver portion is 3/16". Again, it's very flimsy and poor quality. The tip isn't even, so I had to grind away one side to make it even fit in the screws. The tip is hollow ground, which I like, but it doesn't mean anything if the tool deforms under light (even for a tool like this) pressure. And it does deform. It bends badly.

Flip the product over and you get the corkscrew. This thin, twisted piece of wire is 1-3/8" long and 1/16" thick. I typically use corkscrews like this to untie knots and other non-drinking tasks. This wasn't even up to the standard I expect on a dollar-store Swiss Army knock-off. It's easily the most flimsy tool on the "Camp Knife" and it almost snapped off while untying a pretty easy knot. The point is extremely sharp though. That's it. That's all of the tools.

The sheath is typical dollar-store quality. In fact, I remember getting this exact sheath with a multi-tool from Deals for $3. It's black nylon with a simple 1/2" web strap sewn to the back for your belt. It closes with a cheap imitation Velcro material, which came loosely-sewn.

I really don't like this thing. It looks nice on paper, but stay away. Spend your ten dollars on a used Swiss Army Knife. Want to buy one? You're a masochist, but here you go... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003D3PP7Y/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i00

(Note: None of the images here belong to me. They are for reference only.)
This is gonna hurt...


scotland Offline Gareth

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Re: Camco SUV Camp Knife
Reply #1 on: September 13, 2012, 12:27:51 AM
Quote
Want to buy one? You're a masochist....
:rofl:

Cheers for the review mate, I suspect I'll not be going anywhere near one of these tools. :D
Be excellent to each other and always know where your towel is.


us Offline Lynn LeFey

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Re: Camco SUV Camp Knife
Reply #2 on: September 13, 2012, 06:25:37 PM
While tempted by this trash-a-rific tool... I like to keep my junk buys well under the $10 mark.

And... wow, you bent the drivers.  :facepalm: What a POS!

EDIT: also, thank you for posting this same review on Amazon. Sometimes I feel like buying a crappy tool and giving it an honest review is worth the money I spend just to actually know a product and warn others away.
« Last Edit: September 13, 2012, 06:27:52 PM by Lynn LeFey »


 

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