Best Victorinox Swiss Army Knives?

in this video i'll run through my eight favorite victorinox knives in reverse order and explain where they fit into my world and this might help you decide what might work for you or someone you know or just shed a bit of light onto the world of swiss army knives [Music] okay so sami and i have hundreds to choose from made in switzerland for the last 125 years fantastic quality at a very affordable price a rare thing that i believe everyone would benefit from owning and if you check on the amazon reviews in the uk at least the lowest rating on any night featured here is 85 and most of them are 90 and that is very hard to achieve on amazon these have thousands of reviews but it just goes some way to show just how good these are okay let's start with eighth on the list and this is the classic sd and this comes in at 19 pounds making it one of the most affordable in the range you know a victorinox knife is popular when it comes in a variety of colors and this comes in ten colors plus some special edition designs that they release every year now this is in fact the best selling victorinox knife in the whole range and that's largely down to the price but also the simple but very functional tool set that you get with this knife so let's have a look at that as you can see this one has a print on there to denote 125 years of victorinox so in terms of the tool set we've got a knife simple drop point and then we've got one of the most useful tools on a victorinox in my view and that is the scissors some people think well if you've got a knife why do you need scissors but there are things that scissors just do much better than a knife would do so a knife and scissors are the most essential tools in my view and then in addition to that you get this tool here with a file on it perfect for filing rough edges off your nails and also a three millimeter flat head screwdriver in addition to that you get the ubiquitous tweezers good for splinters and picking up tiny things and then you get the toothpick i'm not a massive fan of the toothpick i don't use it for my teeth but it is good for say for example picking earwax out of your air pods so there we have it the classic sd okay seventh on the list is this this is the bantam alox and the alox is referenced to the scales here you'll notice they're different from the polished red scales some people prefer these they feature on a limited range of victorinox knives it's made from aluminium with an oxidized coating that gives it a tough finish the real benefit of these scales is that they're super thin so there's very little bulk added to the knife the downside is because of that you don't get any scale tools so if you want your toothpick and your tweezers you're going to be disappointed here but the size of this knife is what sets it apart it's one of the if not the slimmest in the range at six millimeters and because of that it allows for a very discreet carry so if you want a practical sized knife but you don't want any weight or bulk this is a perfect solution let's have a quick look at the tool set it's very basic but very practical obviously you've got the knife the knife is a meaningful size usual drop point very sharp out the box and then you also get one more tool which is this and this is a combination tool i'm a big fan of this tool because it combines what is normally two tools in most victorinox knives and that is the can opener and the bottle open and normally you get a can opener with a screwdriver on it and then a bottle opener with a different sort of screwdriver on it this combines it all into one tool and i like it for that reason so here we have the bottle opener and then also we have a head on the end here and then this pointed end here is the size of a phillips number two so you can use this as a phillips screwdriver in an emergency and you also have a wire stripper here as well so a very practical tool useful as a pry bar very useful for the screwdriver so i like that a lot and obviously you've got the blade what's missing for me is the scissors so it is for a very minimal carry but a really well made quality affordable brilliant addition to the range and the bantam airlocks comes in at 22 pounds if you want more information about any of the knives featured i'll have links in the description below and also at the end of this video there'll be a link to all my detailed victorinox reviews so feel free to check that out too okay number six on the list is this this is the cyber tool light and we've really jumped up in terms of size and weight and bulk and number of tools and also the price which is 105 pounds and this is effectively a toolbox in your pocket and this is a toolbox for more intricate work so this was perfect for me some time ago when i used to build and fly first-person view drones that's flying drones using goggles and when you're building something like that there's always lots of small component parts that need working on and when i used to go flying i always took one of these with me because i could generally fix most things on the go okay let's have a look at the tool set on the cyber tool the first tools to point out appear on a lot of victorinox knives and it's the six mil flat head with the bottle opener and then the three mil flat head with the can opener and this one also doubles up as a phillips screwdriver for use in an emergency then we've got the knife and also backup knife which is around half the size then we have the scissors that's something i wouldn't really be without if i can avoid it and then with the scale tools you get the tweezers you get the toothpick and because these are plus scales you also get the pen then as with a lot of victronox knives of this size you get tools on the back of the knife here we have a bladed awl with a sewing eye then we have the parcel hook now this goes back many years but is useful for anything that might otherwise cut into your hands then we have the corkscrew and in this case it is also used to house this eyeglass screwdriver then underneath the corkscrew we have a pin now a lot of victorinox have the hole for the pin but they don't always come with a pin then we have some of the more interesting tools for this particular knife one of which is these small pliers here they can provide a lot of grip and they are super precision so really good for small and intricate work then we have the magnifying glass really like that for close-up work and also for reading small print and then we have this screwdriver here now this is the real game changer for this particular tool there are about three cyber tools in the range and they all come with this screwdriver and what you get here is a screwdriver with four bits and they're double ended bits so effectively you've got eight screwdrivers and the spare bits are held in here and they're concealed out of the way when the knife is closed so a really nice screwdriver the cyber tool and this is one of the reasons why it does so well then we have the light here and that gives it its name the cyber tool light and you'll notice it's pointing in the direction of the screwdriver so if you're working in a space with very little light then this light can illuminate what you're doing which is really nice now this is my favorite large victorinox in the 91 millimeter category but a lot of people like the swiss champ now the swiss champ is the same size but it has a different feature set and my preference is for the cyber tool but just to explain the difference between the two for a start the swiss champ comes with the saw blade which is really nice to have then we have a fish hook disgorger and fish scaler that's something i've got no interest in at all but if you're a fisherman you might and then we have this tool which is a file and that again is a very useful tool to have there's also an inline phillips which again is a very nice tool but that's not needed in the cyber tool because we've got the eight screwdrivers so effectively what you get in the cyber tool is this great screwdriver and a light and what you sacrifice for me at least is the saw and the file so it's up to you which you think is preferable but to me i use a screwdriver more than anything else with this tool and that's why the cyber tool is in my list then in fifth place we have the manager and this comes in at 26 pounds you'll see we're back to the smaller form factor here but for me this knife has the perfect tool selection for its size so let's have a quick look at what you get so here we have here the knife and the scissors the two tools i use the most we also have here the file with the three mil flat head on the end as well then in addition to that we have this combination tool here which is one i'm a big fan of we've got a bottle opener here wire stripper and then a small phillips screwdriver so that's great for getting those battery covers open we also have tweezers here which i really like and also we have a pen and this is what really sets this apart you've got a built-in pen it slides into place and when you open that tool there it actually makes it really good to use so really useful pen you can get refills for that you're losing in the scale tools the toothpick i don't think that's too big a sacrifice there is a knight manager which includes a light and you sacrifice the tweezers for that but it increases the bulk quite a lot and i always carry a flashlight anyway in terms of use the manager here finds its way in to this kit this is my urban everyday carry get me out of trouble kit and this is the knife i've chosen for that so that fits in there and if you want to know more about this kit then just follow the link here and number four we have this and this is the explorer this comes in at around 40 pounds and this is the one i have with me in my tech kit so this goes in my backpack follows me to the office i'll have it close to me if i'm working from home i know some people carry this as their everyday pocket carry but for me it's a little bit too big to keep in my pocket but i do have it close by pretty much all the time so let's see what it comes with okay this is the tool set so first of all you get the bottle opener can opener screwdrivers and the large knife and the backup knife you also get the scissors which for me are essential in a knife of this size on the back you get the bladed all you get the parcel hook and you get the corkscrew with the eyeglass screwdriver built in there's no pin in here as standard but you can easily fit one the hole is there for it and then you get two really useful additional tools you get this which is an inline phillips the phillips on this is really good it doubles as a kind of number one number two and it works much better than the phillips you sometimes see replacing the corkscrew here in the middle of the knife so i really like that and then you have the magnifying glass really good for getting close-up and obviously really good for reading small print as far as scale tool goes you get the tweezers and you get the toothpick but they're not plus scales so as standard you don't get the pen which is a bit of a shame so this is a great compromise between size and weight and functionality a little bit too big for pocket carry for me at least but not too big or heavy to carry in my bag to and from the office and now we're down to my top three and in third place we have this this is the pioneer x a locks and this comes in normally at 40 pounds although this is a special edition color victorinox introduce a new color in a select range of alox knives every year and you need to pay about 30 pounds more if you want one of those special editions this one in orange is from 2021 now if i could only ever have one victorinox knife this will probably be it because it's a brilliant compromise of tool set and size and weight now the alox knives of this size have heavier duty tools so if i compare the knife with the knife on the explorer here you can immediately see the knife on the pioneer x is thicker and heavier duty and the same holds true for the other tools here with the possible exception of the scissors which are standard scissors so let's have a quick look at the tool set now and see what you get so this is the tool set on the pioneer x the x by the way stands for scissors so if it's got an x in it for the a locks range then you know it comes with scissors so you get the traditional bottle opener and can opener but they are heavier duty and you can see that in the screwdriver here and this makes for a really sturdy pry tool as well then you get the knife and the scissors the two most useful tools then you get this this tool here is an inline all a really useful tool it can be used to create holes as pilot holes for maybe a screw it's got a bladed edge here so it's perfect for scraping as well and that is a really nice tool so the whole tool set in the pioneer x is really useful and the fact that they're heavier duty and you've got this very slim profile makes this one of the best victorinox knives you can buy in my view and in terms of the range there are a few to choose from in the pioneer alox range there is a version with more tools than this and it is the pharma x and it comes with all these tools in the addition of the saw now i've not gone for that because it just sort of bolts it out with another layer and creates a little bit more weight and size and i only use the saw really when i'm outdoor so for general carry i don't think it really justifies it but if you do use that saw a lot then that would be a great option too so the pioneer x a locks one of the best knives you can buy and then at number two we have this and this is the victorinox huntsman again one of their best selling knives again you can see that from the number of color options that are available and it's very affordable at around 30 pounds now for me this is the best outdoor victorinox knife you can buy so let's have a quick look at the tool set so we've got the drop point knife and the backup knife and the great scissors we've also got the screwdriver bottle opener and screwdriver can opener and on the back of the knife we've got the bladed all with the sewing eye and the parcel hook then we've got the corkscrew questionable as to how useful that is for outdoor use however don't forget you can use this to loosen a knot by screwing the cork screw into it so it's useful in that way and also it can be used as a holder in this case for some spiral tinder now that can be used in conjunction with a ferro rod and it just so happens that i've replaced the toothpick on this knife with a compact ferro rod so this knife can now be used to start a fire and i'll link to where you can get those in the description below then we've got the standout feature which is the saw now the victorinox saw is well renowned for being exceptionally capable and this is what you want when you're outdoors if you want to chop up some wood in order to feed a small fire so this is what really makes this a perfect outdoor tool so here you've got everything that you need nothing you don't need in a very compact form factor now you can get bigger tools like this one which are more capable outdoors but i've not included that in this list because in the uk at least they are banned because the knife blade is over three inches and locks however i do like the fact that this is compact and lightweight for outdoor use you are generally walking distances and therefore weight becomes a real issue so for me this knife is a brilliant compromise between weight and size and functionality for outdoor use and that's why this is number two in my list and that brings us to number one this is my favorite victorinox knife and those who are familiar with the channel won't be surprised to see that it is the victorinox compact and the reason this is my favorite knife is because i carry it every single day in my pocket and i use it multiple times and i wouldn't be without it and the reason i can carry it every day in my pocket is because it's not too heavy and it's not too big it's only two layers thick which means it slips into my pocket easily and i don't even know it's there now i could obviously carry one of these smaller sized knives we've seen already in this review but i much prefer the 91 millimeter for practical use so in my view this knife has the best compromise for size and weight and then utility so let's quickly run through the tool set you'll notice straight away hanging on the keyring loop here we have this pocket hanger from keysmart this allows the knife to sit in the pocket where it can be easily accessed and i have tried all sorts of different ways of carrying victorinox knives and this is by far and away the best for me so i would highly recommend this then in terms of the tool set we've got the drop point knife and we've got the scissors and then we've got this combination tool here we've seen before which i really like combination of can opener bottle opener flathead screwdriver phillips and also a y-stripper which also works really well with the mini ferro rod to light a fire on the back side of the tools we've got the parcel hook again the jury's out on that one but anything that involves cutting into your fingers this has a use but on the back of this one exclusively on the compact is a diamond file so you can use that for filing your nails down and that suddenly makes the tool much more useful we've got the corkscrew as we've seen before and in here i've got two things stored one is a small piece of spiral tinder and the other is the eyeglass screwdriver so all of a sudden we've got added functionality there and then we've got the pin built in as well in terms of the scale tools we've got the toothpick which i've replaced with a ferro rod we've also got the pen now these are plus scales on the compact which is great to see so we've got a pen there for emergency use and then we've got the tweezers on this side which i've just picked with a red top you can buy those from victorinox and then you'll notice we've got black scales here now the compact doesn't come with black scales it only comes with red scales but i've replaced them and that's quite easy to do you can buy the scales new as replacement parts so it just adds a little bit more uniqueness and it's a little bit more discreet in the pocket for daily carry so there we have it a well-featured two-layer compact and lightweight victorinox knife perfect for everyday carry and my favorite in the victorinox range and as promised if you want to see more detailed reviews on the knives featured here then just click on this playlist that's it for this one thank you as always for watching have a great day and i'll see you in the next one [Music]

Channel: Jon Gadget

Views: 42,876

Keywords: edc, everyday carry, bags, travel, camping, hiking, multitools, tactical pens, wallets, knife, leatherman, victorinox, torch, flashlight, gadget, gadgets, travel gear, camping gear, hiking gear, survival, backpack, work bag, uk edc, bellroy, wallet, able carry, alpaka, swiss army knife, best victorinox knife, best swiss army knife

Id: z31AngMLYQY

Length: 20min 29sec (1229 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 09 2022