Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Spartan (Red)

I received one of these knives as a Christmas gift. It was translucent blue, much like the future.

It is a great knife if you don't ever find yourself in need of the handy scissors most other Swiss Army knives come with.

However, I constantly find myself in need of tiny and almost-unusable scissors!

As a result, I had to buy a second Spartan. When I need a scissors, I open the small blades on each knife and, like chopsticks, cut what I must cut. The small blades are a bit too large for my needs sometimes, but they get the job done well enough, I suppose.

I was given a Spartan Swiss Army Knife in 1996 and carried the knife with me everywhere for 12 years. I worked extensively overseas and used this knife on a regular basis and because of it's size, it was easily carried and unobtrusive. One of the most handy features to me was the corkscrew. I couldn't tell you how many times this little item saved the day. It was only until I recently lost the knife that I resorted to buying a replacement or would be still carrying it today. I had found other knives similar to the Spartan but with a philips screwdriver instead of a corkscrew and it just wasn't the same. This is a high quality product that will last for years, if you don't lose it first! A perfect all purpose knife.

I have 5 saks, which made my friend joke with me ("But the point of those things is not to use one device?") I carry a tinkerer with me all the time, but for trips where opening a wine bottle will be more useful than opening a computer case the spartan is the choice. It is small, will not make a bulge on your pants, and has the most useful functions. It is so useful that I left it in my pocket going through security in the airport. Well, I bought another one now, and also a compact, which might become my daily sak.

There was an occasion that I needed to buy a bunch of small gifts and I saw this general purpose pocket knife on sale for $11. I compared it with many other similar models of Swiss Army knives (Waiter, Tourist, etc), and decided to go with this one. It has just the essential tools that one needs for everyday use, not bulky. People usually get to use the knife blade more often than other tools, so it is good that this model has two knife blades. It has separate bottle/can openers, which is more easier to use. I chose corkscrew over Philip screwdriver because I knew that this particular group of people would prefer it for their purposes. I only wish it came with scissors, but those models with scissors usually have other tools that one doesn't use everyday and they are bulky to carry around. Spartan, the best everyday knife from Swiss Army, couldn't be happier with this choice.

This wonderful knife has been around the world with me and on many miles of wilderness trails. But I recently had to take an unplanned plane trip and had to surrender it to airport security.

I was crushed, but was very happy to see it is still being made.

A classic.

Enough stuff to get you through many crises like no corkscrew for the wine or a lose screw on the camp stove, but not so much it wears a hole in your pocket after a few back pack trips. Right up there with duct tape and hot glue!