If you are looking for an all-around survival knife that won’t set you back too much, we might be able to help you out. Let’s take a look at a low cost yet relatively high-quality survival knife.
Gerber Prodigy Survival Knife
The Gerber Prodigy Survival Knife is a reasonably high-quality survival knife with a partially serrated blade, excellent balance, decent durability, and lots of functionality, all for a relatively low cost.
Who is This Product For?
The Gerber Prodigy Survival Knife is designed for anyone who wants a durable, functional, and portable survival knife that comes at a decent cost. It may not be the fanciest knife available, but it provides you with a practical tool that works well for a wide variety of applications.
What’s Included?
When you purchase the Gerber Prodigy Survival Knife, you get a partially serrated blade made of 420HC stainless steel; it has an over-molded soft-grip handle and a MOLLE compatible sheath.
Overview of Features
Although the Gerber Prodigy Survival Knife may not be the most expensive of survival knives, it comes with a surprising number of great features. If we didn’t know how much this knife actually costs, we would say that it is worth several hundred dollars, but it’s actually quite affordable.
We like this knife because it is portable—the knife measures 9.75 inches in length, which should add to its user-friendliness.
It’s small enough to carry around in the included sheath with a leg strap and large enough for most jobs.
It’s not the biggest of knives, but it should be large enough for many applications. You don’t want anything too big, or else both portability and maneuverability will be compromised.
The combination leg strap and sheath will keep both you and the knife safe when not in use. Still, it allows for easy deployment.
We like the leg strap because it provides not only for easy carrying but also for a bit of concealment and split-second deployment. This is also quite a safe sheath, as it comes with a friction-release thumb lock, so the knife can’t just fall out when you are walking or running. Let’s not forget that the sheath is also MOLLE compatible.
The Gerber Prodigy Survival Knife weighs over 16 ounces, which is just over a pound, so it’s not the lightest knife.
However, we think that the tradeoff here is worth it. It might be on the heavier side, but at least you know that it’s made of durable and solid materials.
In terms of the Gerber Prodigy Survival Knife’s overall durability and build, thanks to the blade’s black oxide-finished 420HC stainless steel composition and the full tang design, it is definitely a durable contender.
Keep in mind that the front half is a fine-point blade, and the back half features a serrated edge.
It’s resistant to all forms of damage, and of course, to rusting. The full tang design helps balance this knife for additional comfort in your hand.
This knife also features an ergonomically designed handle with a reasonably wide hilt, a curved butt, and a textured design, features that allow for a good grip, even if the handle were to get wet.
Tutorial
When it comes to serrated-edge knives, sharpening can be difficult, but it is doable. For this reason, we will direct you to a tutorial video on how to sharpen serrated knives.
Pros
- Fairly durable considering the low cost
- Combo plain and serrated blade
- Large enough for most tasks
- Compact enough for durability
- Corrosion-resistant
- Good handle grip
Cons
- Sheath could be more durable
- Comes with a dull blade – needs sharpening
Alternatives
If you don’t like the Gerber Prodigy Survival Knife, whether because you don’t want any serrations on your blade or because it’s not as high in quality as you would like, something like the Fallkniven A1 Fine Edge Fixed Blade Knife or the ESEE Laser Strike Knife could be right for you.
Both are substantially more expensive than the Gerber, but in all reality, also higher in quality.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a good survival knife that won’t cost you a small fortune, we would recommend further investigating the Gerber Prodigy Survival Knife.
It may not be expensive, but in our opinion, it gives you a lot of value and functionality for the low cost.