Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Knife - One Year Later 

you have all of my respect for standing up to the internet

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It looked really hard to do an honest review. We need honest people to tell you how it is for them and this was a great example of truth telling cheers,respect👍

I have given this knife as a birthday gift to a friend about 6 or more years ago who loves Bear Grylls. And all the features was an extra! She still loves it to this day!

I should buy everything with the Bear Grylls logo. Then I won't have to inscribe anything with my initials :)

Don't be apologetic for your opinion, just because other people hate it. I have it and I think it's a pretty good knife.

just because it has a celebrity endorsement people want to hate it. it's a decent knife at a good price point. You can break any knife if you try.

I've never used one but the way I see it, if you buy a knife at a reasonable price, and it does everything it says it'll do, and you can't find any serious complaints about it, it's a pretty good deal. Even if it doesn't blow you away, even if you don't fall in love with it.

I love the knife it's awesome also love the sheath design. I've had the knife for 7 years or so and it's always served me well. Has never copied chipped or broken. I have the serrated version.

my wife got me one 5 years ago and it's still my go to knife for all the stuff I don't wont to put my good knives through. we shot 6 deer this past year and I field dressed them all with old bear, splitting the rib cages, pelvis and removing hooves. and still making a fire to warm up. once I get the deer home Gb is used to skin and quarter. after that I switch to a smaller knife. even with all that all I have to do is touch up the blade and it's shaving sharp again.

For 15 years I've used this knife for many things, including a spear. My edge stays sharp with help from the diamond sharpener inside of the sheath. The ferro rod is soft and more effective composition. I don't need to use much of the rod to start fires, depending on moisture levels. +The orange and grey design makes it easier to locate if ever lost in the leaves :) The orange "BG" logo is tacky, but it is still a Gerber blade. I replaced my whistle with a mini flashlight.

Thanks again Brian. I respect that you were willing to review a knife like this when most RU-vidrs wouldn't be caught dead with it. There are people out there who wonder about these things and you were one of the few to swallow and take some time to put it through its paces. Well done cracking the "standard RU-vid mold" on this one. I wish you well

Finally an honest review of this knife. Thank you.

I use mine a lot, my buddy who is a combat vet uses one, we want to hate it but it's a good knife. I hate typing this but it's a good knife. It cuts and does camp chores and skins animals. I threw it, pounded on it, pried with it, and laugh and called it names. The shape and grip holds up well in the hand (If you had to fight a zombie). The only up grade is call Gerber and but a LMF II sheath! It has become my truck knife and sees a lot of hiking time. Buy one and join the "brown bag club", you will end up liking it!

I carry 3 knives (at least) in my pack, a utility knife, a bushcraft knife and a combat knife. This one is my utility knife. Mine has the serration on the edge. This is a decent general purpose knife and one that you don't have to worry about keeping pretty, if you know what I mean. Good knife and great review, Brian.

As someone on a budget for a survival knife? Your reviews have helped a lot.

Hello Brian, I'm Brian from Alaska Raft Connection here in Alaska. For what it's worth you clearly demonstrate that this knife fits the 'good-enough' class of affordability. Like so many gear/equipment snobs and brand loyalties... good enough in reality represents 80-90% of users satisfying their expectations/tasks/timeline/relevance-to-pursuit. Are there better blades? A. Well of course we know of dozens... some in the pricing point, many others at greater expenditure, some nearly out of reach expensive (almost keepsake more collector knives). I feel your assessment is very fair minded. While not a whole bunch of praise... you delivered the goods w/ reasoning on pros vs. cons as well as more or less said this knife will treat people right if they treat it reasonably. Let's all agree and face fact that a beginning bushcrafter, camper, survivalist, a TV show host fan, or even the individual with quite a bit of skill-set and comfort-zone can make things workable with this knife. This knife also gets folks enthusiastic about blades and the outdoors. Great review!

To me it's a good knife for the price especially when you're getting your gear together. Quality stuff ain't cheap. Later on when you have more gear it can be a back up. A lot of people bought this knife who may not have ever owned any sort of survival gear before and in my mind that has to be a good thing.

Thank you for the review. A lot of people hate the knife (and the entire series) and they don't really tell us why. But I find that Gerber knives ain't bad.

I appreciate your objectivity. I got the serrated version of this knife last Christmas and it suits me fine. I'm not a hardcore survivalist, but I like to be prepared. I can spend my life savings to prep for the next zombie apocalypse or I can have basic supplies at a reasonable cost in the very unlikely event that I'll need them to save my or someone else's life. Maybe it's cheesy looking, but it does the job. I also like the orange on it because it's noticeable. It's about survival, not evasion or concealment. Great videos! You strike me as a man I can trust. Good on you!

Great idea doing a one year later review

i have several of his knives and love all of mine. for years since they came out, still got them, as a camping woman, and hiker, i would buy it again. no complaints. plus works well with all my hunting purposes, including skining, and carving up the meat.

I still love mine......plus I put hockey tape over the middle of the handle to get a more comfortable feel....plus it covers the big cheesy BG symbol. Another great review

I don't understand why so many hate this knife. While it's not my go to knife, I keep it around when camping & it's always worked well. I have an original model and with what I've put it through so far (minor camp tasks, etc) it's worked just fine. Thanks for another honest review.

good knife, but the ultimate pro is a true upgrade, super tough knife..

Bryan. Thanks for the comprehensive and honest review. Not a bad budget knife for camping. It looks like it gets the job done for not a lot of money.

I had one of those and liked it pretty well. I got rid of it because I realised that what I wanted was a bushcraft knife rather than a survival knife, but I found that it was a much better knife than people had been saying. Mine was from the second run where they fixed the breaking issue. Your evidently is as well.

I got mine with a serrated edge 10 years ago and it has certainly earned its keep 👍🏻

I totally agree with you on this knife. I have the serrated version, and it is not bad. I've had it for 2 1/2 years, and it hasn't shown any signs of breaking. Not a piece of junk, but not the best $50 knife.

Bottom line it performs and does what a survival knife should do!

I really appreciate your willingness to step outside the 'expectancies' of the the survival product review world and give an honest, unbiased view of products like this. True, the detractors out there may have their prejudices against products created by the typical reality-TV personalities, and I can confess I have heightened wariness around such things, but, as they say, even a broken clock can tell the right time twice a day and, just perhaps, this is one of those times the clock is right. =)

I paid 32 dollars for the fine edge version and have battoned a wheelbar full of wood with mine no problems 0. I've had mine for over 8yrs 0 problems. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and suggestions with me today, I appreciate it sir Brian.

I have the same knife with the serrated edge and I really like it. Nice video!

I bought this knife for 30bugs a while back, when I got started with the whole survival and bushcraft stuff. And to be honest I never understood what people had against this knife. Ofc it breaks when you beat the **** out of it, but any knife does. I think people where just specially mean cause they hated on BG. If you use this knife carefully, and within it`s ability, it will hold up. I think this could even be compared to the Mora Bushcraft Black (the Mora is better steel though) when it comes to stability, cause Moras are half-tang aswell, yet noone hates on them and I personally think the handle of the BG Ultimate Survival Knife is a lot better than any Mora handle. The newer version, the BG ultimate pro, is a lot better though, better steel, better handle, better sheath, but also more expensive. So, for someone on a budget, this knife is perfectly fine, I searched and I found them for 25-35bugs new, that is a great deal! But yeah, it looks dang cheesy, I wouldn`t go out with this knife in public. If they just removed the BG logo, I wouldn`t mind the knife at all, the orange is great for finding it.

I have had this knife since it was released and it is still in one piece. It is not my main knife , but it is my main hiking knife. It has taken a beating for what it was designed for and I still use it. For the price I have paid, this knife has performed past my expectations.

Hi Brian, another beautiful and honest video, as usual, love your channel. Survival largely depends on one´s knowledge and multiple other factors, not just the price tag on the knife you have; it is just my opinion. Big hugs.

The Bear Grylls knife & Hi-Point ,Both ugly , Both for budget , Both loved to be hated , Both work just fine and will do the job , Both will take a beating and keep on ticking . Is there better knives & guns sure , For the price , I aint gonna knock anyone for owning the products . Good review.

Great honest review! I really don't like these celebrity endorsed knives but I think for the money you have a good knife. People need to realize any knife can break. I had a spyderco bushcraft break on me. Now I use a mora high q robust and companion. And I beat the hell out of them and they perform great. For the 2 of them I paid just under 30 dollars. I would like to give this knife a try. Take care

I like my BG knife. It was a gift. This knife is in my day bag and I have put it to use. No complaints. Over time and heat in the summer, the rubber handle became tacky. I wrapped it with camo form and it is good to go. Not a bad knife at all. Because I liked the BG, I bought a Gerber Strongarm. It is an excellent knife too.

I got one as a present and don't use it much, but have to admit that for the money it is one of the best deals out there, particularly considering what all it comes with. It's part of my BOB kit as a knife to hand to others :)

As long as folks respect the tool and not abuse it. The knife will work for most tasks.. Now a days we the community wants a knife to be a axe and saw plus a cutting tool.. It's asking to much for such a short piece of steel..

Your my favorite youtuber I watch all of your videos keep up the good work and stay awesome

I've had my Bear Gryllis Gerber knife for 3-4 years. I have no complaints except I lost my ferro rod first time I went out. No big deal since I always carry an extra.

I have that knife and one thing I like is I’m left handed and you can turn knife around and put it in sheath for either eft or right handed

Its odd isnt it, sometimes you run into decent cheap gear and everyone seems to hate it but it works for you. If I needed an extra knife I would not hesitate to pick up one of these cheaply. You are right about cheesy, lol I got the BG Hatchet, and yeah its cheesy, but the darn thing works great and is the size I wanted. Oh well :) Looks good

this man said it all for a 50$ knife it's not bad at all considering it comes with a firestarter a sharpener and a whistle by a good sharpening stone and a firestarter and it will cost you the price of the knife

I just got the non-BG version of this.... the Gerber Ultimate Survival. Almost identical except for the logo and color scheme. I think it's great, especially to have all those extra accessories. I added a small compass on a lanyard to accompany the whistle. This setup will certainly get the job done in a survival situation 👍

I bought mine with sheath and all parts for 10$ used ... its a win win win... thanx for the positive review... honesty is the best policy...

well to me it seems like people are just saying dumb stuff and I wish I could have a knife like that

I got mine on clearance at Target for $15. Absolute steal!

The only knife you have in a survival situation, is the best survival knife you have.

Thanks for the honest review...I am a custom knifemaker and I bought this knife because I like knives and I liked the fact that it came with some nice accessories...tbh, I am not a fan of batoning and judging a knife be ause it breaks because someone was batoning with it doesn't matter to me...I like to use my knives but I like to respect the purpose they were designed for...I carry a hatchet for heavier tasks and my knife is always sharp and at the ready its designed tasks...I don't hate this knife, in fact I quite like it!

Good honest review

Seems a pretty good knife to me.

Hey brian, I have had this knife going on 4 years, it’s never let me down. I agree with your thoughts on it. I have reviewed it myself recently , I’ve been unsurprised but still amazed at the negative things people have to say about it. ATB Dan

Leave bear grylls alone!

I got mine in a 20 buck bargain bin and it's good steel.Holds an edge good grip and strong enough for me. I just use it as a knife don't chop trees down with it or drill holes in rock. best value for my money. Cheers.

I really appreciate your videos. You have an ability to stay objective to the item you are reviewing, unaffected by what other people/youtubers might say. Please keep it up buddy and have a nice day : )

I have had expensive knives that performed like crap and cheep knives that have performed like top of the line. My daily carry for the last ten years is an 8 dollar spring assisted knife I bought 10 years ago at Wall drug and despite serious abuse it still holds a razor like edge.

So im a huge knife guy, i have $300 dollar knives, and $1 knives (seriously i found one at my local dollar tree), and i own multiple Gerbers, and i dont get why people make fun of them, Gerbers are great for the price

it is a 50/50 thing some hate and some love my little brother has one he loves it and i have like you said a 200$ knife they both do the same thing thanks for making the video it was good

you were actually fair. Congratulations. I have one of these in my wife's car and I have no doubt it would help her in an emergency. People hated Bear and did INSANE things to it to make it fail.

Great video! I really respect your confidence to openly voice your true opinion. Well respected personality. I also agree, it's a good knife and unfortunately get's more hate than it deserves. However, great knife and great video! :)

My only problem with it is the gimmicky nature of it. Realistically it's pretty decent, but it's just a goofy looking knife

Personally, I do NOT agree with the claim that the Bear Grylls knife is the "Ultimate" survival knife however, I can say that it is a decent knife that DOES have some good features and is, in fact, very durable. I have my own design that will be coming out in 2017, that will incorporate some features that, based on my own experience, will help "ergonomically" with a so-called "survival knife's" usability. But, will I claim it is the "ultimate" survival knife? No! I'm not that vain, narcissistic or ....................pretentious and I don't believe there is an "ultimate" anything because that would indicate and claim there is nor will there be anything better. When one considers the advancements of technology and NEW materials being discovered and created, there will ALWAYS be room for the PROGRESS towards "ultimate" but will NEVER be attained.

I've had mine for over 2 years now and it has never failed me. Like you, I don't use it everyday, and it's not my main knife or anything, but it's held up great. I got mine for free so when I was testing it I did not hold back. I hammered it into a log and stood on it, and it didn’t even bend. I really enjoy using it. The handle is just so comfortable. I mainly use it now as my fire starting knife at home. Batoning down some smaller sticks, making feather sticks, using it to strike the ferro rod.

Gotta love “my trusty bear grylls survival knife”

LOL!... just grind off the "BG" and all will be fine. :-D Once again, I love that Salsa music!

Yep...I hate it!! HA!!! I will take my Schrade 9N full tang, 1/4" spine with it's smooth titanium coated blade, (which cost me 40 bucks by the way) over this yes, cheezy....BG any day of the week!!! Good review though! Now...what I want to know is...what does Little Stinky think of the BG?? I noticed he left right after you pulled this knife out!!! hee hee >;) Thanks Bryan. Stay well.

I wouldn't have ever thought twice about buying this knife until I watched you're review, I would give it a try now, good review as usual, nothing but the facts.

ive had mine for many years its indistuctable i love it i save my more expencive knives and use that one for tough jobs

I enjoyed this video and the original one you did more than a year ago. I own this knife and for 29.99 shipped has been money well spent. Thanks again for the videos.

I love my B.G. knife. I left the whistle where it was and just tucked it into the loop at the top back of the sheath. I used a piece of elastic shoelace to secure the fire starter through the bottom space of the sheath. It pulls out a good foot from where it's secured.

Haha that face after the throw was epic

I had this knife myself and I could do anything with it, just make a fire on dry leaves with the fire stick, was also a good throwing knife, nice to cut with, and thanks to the built-in sharpener always sharp and then the instructions about how signals to give and how to handle cords and knots. I found this knife very useful and I cannot understand why this would be the most hated knife, I am just hearing this for the first time and I am very surprised about this, because this is a great manure together with everything useful that comes with it and is included.

Great review, thanks. I just bought one for my 11 year old son. He wanted a benchmade blade like mine, but could not see myself spending that kind of money for one of his first camping/survival knife.

Jeez dude !!! Careful with that blade. You had it like right in my face that time. Great rundown on this :) Thanks. I want to get one so this was good info.

I absolutely love that knife the only problems I can see with it is a fact the shift breaks at the top and the Ferro Rod is facing down prone to lose it

Very balanced and fair . Explains all criticisms and reasons. Look forward to reading more of these even handed surveys from a fair man

Thanks for backing up your opinion with real testing results.

Good, objective and honest review. That's what I'm looking for, thanks!

Good job Brian! I personally would not buy this knife but I think you did a good job of reviewing this knife! You did not beat it through a 4" log with a 4" log lol. If used in a respectful manor I believe it would do the job for someone on a budget. Thanks Brian for a honest review!

The only videos I have seen where this knife breaks are those where they abuse the knife to the extent that almost ANY knife would break. One that sticks out was where someone drove the tip and part of the front of the knife into hardwood, then hit the knife from the side with a heavy baton! Of course it broke. I have had one for a couple of years now with no problems. I also have a couple of Busse knives (that are of course better) and others, but they cost allot more. I have one in my wifes cars glove box for emergency, short term problems. I the main reason people hate the knife is that they think because it is billed as a survival knife it should be able to do anything and survive any type of abuse. Good luck finding any knife that fills that bill.

Good morning, good review and honest I’ve had one from when they first came out. I’ve never had a problem with it I think for the money it’s a really good knife. I quite like the fact it’s got orange on you can’t lose it. I’ve also got a knife based on it, I can’t fault it I’m British Army and find it’s never let me down Grat for the money. Thank you once again

I'd wager to say the only reason.....well, the MAIN reason people don't like that knife is because it's a Bear Grylls product and most people in the bushcraft/survival don't seem to like Bear Grylls for whatever reason, or don't take him seriously. I always see people making fun of his line of products and people that use them. For any rock music people out there, I compare this to the general population despising the band Creed, because the singer sounds too much like Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and they consider Creed to be some kind of rip off. I don't exactly agree. Creed may have been influenced by Pearl Jam, but their songs are their own, there IS an obvious difference in the instrumental sound and I do like their music. I think Bear Grylls in the survival/bushcraft community is essentially what Creed is in the music community, as far as public perception. Personally, I think it's all debatable and, while I don't own any Bear Grylls merchandise, I wouldn't shy away from it if it does the trick and does it well.

Exept for the lack of Velcro it’s awsum after 4 years of use 👌👌

I have two of the BG Ultimate knives and I like them both. I'm not put off at all by the BG branding - it's a Gerber knife, after all. My impression of the BG Ultimate is that it's a strong, useful knife and will handle the tasks for which it is designed. I have other knives - some more expensive, some less. I wouldn't feel at a disadvantage if I were stranded in the woods with this knife as my primary cutting tool. Cheers.

I have a new BG parang, and BG ax, but the ultimate survival is the green grey. It'll make a good camp blade

I have the machete, hatchet, folding knife and now the serrated version of that knife. Put them all to the test and they all have exceeded my expectations.

Haters will always hate. Half of them probably sit in their Mum's basements and never have tried the gear, but somehow feel qualified to comment. I bought the Gen 1with a half-serrated blade when they first came out. I have a stack of knives and my routine go-to bush knife is an unknown brand 20cm (blade length) Bowie in Solingen steel made in Germany, with replaceable timber scales bolted to the full metal tang. It's seriously heavy, indestructible and will fell small trees with ease and opens food cans easily without damage to the blade. But one back-up that just happens to sit in one of my survival kits in the 4WD is this BG knife. It's done a heap of work, and I've never had a complaint with it. I'm not keen on the serrated bit although it can be handy on some types of rope and when cutting notched in traps. I'd rather have half serrations on the back if one must have them but I prefer a clean main edge. Like you, I also secured the Fire steel under the loop to prevent total loss if it got snagged. I find the large sheath would be a bit of a hassle and over;y pretentious to wear around town, assuming it was legal to do so in some places, but in the scrub it'd be OK. I took the diamond steel off and uses it separately to avoid your hassles with it. The knife is very comfortable to my hand. This knife is developed as far as I can tell from one of the Gerber LMF survival military knives which are around two-three times the price, albeit with a glass breaker instead of the hammer pommel, refer: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000G0HP5C/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=envisionio-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B000G0HP5C&linkId=e7127a6e0ca55fad5aeb14a32f248674 I work in seriously remote areas all around the world and the one thing you soon find out is that at the very least, with a knife you can survive and the knife you have with you at the time is the knife you need to be real happy to have!! If it's a BG knife, I'd do it the honour of being pleased to have it along!

I got the serrated version of this knife in 2010, coz it looked like a LMF2 which I liked a lot, but good not afford. I had it for a year & absolutely hated this knife

Hey Brian, I love your videos. I learn so much. Don't worry about negative comments. Haters are out there, Just ignore them. You are helping a lot of people like me . Everybody does things differently and that is okay! We all learn from each other. I think you are great!

Got one as a gift. Have had it for years. I can’t knock it. Gets the job done and still going.

Been using mine for a year solid for hog hunting. Great hunting knife, nice thick and sturdy. Well balanced, sound grip in wet, mud and covered in blood. Also really like the sheath as when slipping it back in after using it slips in very nicely with the plastic and the wider lips to start with. As with the colour yeah you could say its a little cheesey, however with the colour you can't miss it in the bush if you happen to drop it or place it down for a moment. Only dislike i have is likewise the sharpener, personally i think its useless and just stick to the buck flip stick one i store in my back pack. That said i hardly need to sharpen whilst in the field as the blade holds its edge more than well enough for any trips.

Good job Brian. I’ve owned one of those knives for almost ten years. That steel won’t take as sharp an edge as some of my others, but is useable, affordable price.

Thank you for an excellent review on IMO, an excellent knife for the money. Real world use and an unbiased review. Very good video!

At minute mark 4:20 you mention a metal insert that can dull the knife. I ran into that problem on mine. Here is how I remedied that flaw, I cut a sliver of milk jug just wide enough so it would slide in the sheath. I made it long enough to get about an inch longer and bent it to the outside and wrapped some tape to hold it. Hope this idea helps someone.

These guys just mimic what Dave Canterbury tells them, then they parrot each other. They all say you HAVE to have this, and you ALSO HAVE TO have that. No one but a few RU-vidrs like you and David from Ultimate Survival Tips actually checks it out for themselves. Great review, as was the first review you did of this knife.

U did mention, but not clearly enough that the hated version of this knife was of the early edition. Then the bad name simply stuck. After Gerber had fixed the issues, not many gave a .... to test again. Well, so u did 👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼 For the record - this is one of the better looking knives out there, with WORLDS MOST COMFORTABLE GRIP !