Which brand of Swiss Army Knife do you prefer?

Note this isn't asking what you own, it's the brand you think is best.

We can discuss our reasons here as well.

I prefer Victorinox. I had (actually still have somewhere) a Wenger and it seemed like a cheap imitation to be honest.

It had a stupid blade lock thing sticking up on top of it, which never worked from the day I brought it, the blades where harder to open and the big kicker for me was that it didn't have the small screw driver on the can opener blade like Victorinox have as standard on all their knives, which is probably the most used tool for me.

Even the emblem is cheap looking. It's some kind of sticker which over the years wears down, and probably eventually off.

<<< Victorinox

I perfer the Victorinox over the Wenger because the Vicorinox is more for people who work with it all the time, the Wenger to me was just junk, i remember one time i was pulling out a knife and the thing feel out of it.

I picked the Victorinox. I tried to talk my husband into giving me the one that I ordered for him. Instead he is still working with my no named black one. So that I can have it when I need it. Maybe I should take a magnifying glass and see if I can find a name on it some where. Did Victorinox make a black SAK?

they did what does yours have on it?

I don't know I haven't really looked that closely at it. It's missing the tweezers. But I know they are floating around some where. Let me grab a magnifying glass and look. Gene re-oiled it last night so I could open it. There is nothing on the case. One of the blades says that it was made in China (lol) I'm going to get Gene's and take a look at it and take a picture of it to post. So sit tight for a few.

Here are the pictures of Gene's SAK. Even the blade says it was made by Victroinox Swiss Made.

Attached Image

Here is a picture of the box. My step-brother gave me the black one. Oh well. At least I have it if I ever need it, and I can open it easier then I can Gene's. I just wish I had the real red one with the swiss emblem on it. Instead of being made in China.

Attached Image

Used SAK's aren't that expensive- ebay sells them pretty regularly for under $10 for basic Spartans and Tinkers. You have to oil, clean, and sharpen them sometimes, but if you can't afford new and you still want a real Swiss made knife, they are still the real deal

Looks like that's a Huntsman Plus? Good knife!

I prefer Victorinox. But I don't have EVO series by Wenger.

I am also interested in swiss army style knife used in "The Stringer".

Victorinox has gotten more of my money than Wenger through the years by far. I bought a few Wengers early on just to check them out, but in the end they are really of slightly lesser quality than Victorinox. Namely, the springs that make the blades snap open and shut lose their tension, and the blades don't have the action that they should. They don't take as sharp an edge, and I am with Rocky on the can opener being my most used tool. I've had:

WENGER:

Esquire
Commander
Viking
Handyman

VICTORINOX:

Tinker
Huntsman
Spartan
Sportsman
Executive
Minichamp
Camper
Climber
Champion
Swiss Champ
Bantam
Classic SD
Recruit
Compact
Rambler
Spartan Lite
Scientist
Yeoman
Mechanic
Ambassador
Cybertool 34
Super Tinker
Hiker
Golfer
Tourist
Small Tinker
Explorer
Waiter

And a bunch of custom modified layouts, so I hope it means something for me to say I am far more impressed with the quality of Victorinox's lineup. And I totally don't need counseling for my addiction/obsession... or at least the voices tell me I don't
Wenger handles have thinner areas around the edges that can be more prone to chipping and cracking. The awl isn't sharpened on Wenger, which really deprives it of a lot of usefulness it could have. I do like Wenger's scissor design with the integrated spring, but the serrated edge reduces their usefulness a little for me.

Wenger was bought by rival company Victorinox in 2005 because f Wenger's slumping sales. Victorinox agreed to leave them autonomous, and more or less did it as a favor. SInce that time, I've seen some pretty impressive things like the Evo Grip and locking blade models come from them Hopefully sometime down the road they will be on par with Victorinox.

According to our list of knives used in the episodes, that would be the Ranger model.

According to our list of knives used in the episodes, that would be the Ranger model.

Yes. But I once insisted that in SAK's used in each episode.

And MacDriver agreed with it.

To be honest, I wanted MacGyver to use a Ranger model in final episode.

SAK Victorinox is the BEST . We can look back in History and see the diference
made in Germany and Switzerland...I do not care about others....
You want a Swiss knife , get one made in Switzerland by Victorinox.

Some of the Wenger knives have a nice looking flare , but to me the shield is
a turn off , and the CAN OPENER ain't right....

Yeah, I buy my husband the real deal, and mine from my step-brother was made in china. Oh well beggars can't be choosers.

Victorinox vs Wenger Knives

Knives

Definely 100% Victorinox SAK! No one can beat it

As far as I'm concerned, There Can Be Only One, and that's Victorinox.

By the way, can images in the threads be of a limited width so that the screen isn't suddenly blown up to monster size? The huge images make the entire thread almost unreadable and unnavigable, and it's probably chewing up bandwidth as well. And since the image gets blown up beyond the size of most screens -- we actually see less rather than more.

Victorinox all the way there can be only one.

I think wenger has superior quality to victorinox and has better tool combinations.

I've still got a Wenger lying around somewhere, but I just got another Huntsman at the beginning of the year - after I decided to retire my 20 year old one with notched blades. The Victorinox's red is much nicer and still looked pretty good even after 20 years. I'm a bit at a loss as to where my Wenger is, but if I remember it correctly, the red cross was only a sticker. Can that be?

See upthread:

Speaking of comments made upthread -- is there any way to reduce the size of those monster pictures in the earlier posts? They are still shoving my window so I have to scroll for miles to see the entirety of any other post in this thread.

KiwiTek, do you have that ability?

Well i think victorinox is maybe little better quality than wenger, but wenger has few knife models wich has tools that victorinox doesn´t have. I voted victorinox, but i like both brands.

Yep, done.

Hurrah! Thank you!

I have a Victorinox and another SAK but I do't know what brand. I don't know which I prefer. I am yet to get myself a Wenger and see the difference, but I like the two I have now.

My first SAK was a Wenger (and the second too, because I had lost the first) and I always kept it in my poket when I was in the high school.
A few years ago a friend to mine gave me a Victorinox.
I still have that SAK.

Victorinox is by far the nicer knife...

Better look.

Better feel.

Finer quality.

Just a nicer tool all 'round..

I have to say that I've always liked the Victorinox models the best. My favorite part about them is how long they last.

Wenger has more gimmicks than Victorinox, for sure. By gimmicks I mean stuff that certainly has a wow factor, but may not be all that useful in real life. Wenger also seems to go through more design and name changes, with stuff being introduced and dropped frequently. While new stuff can be good, it can also be lame when you can't easily get a replacement of your favorite model because it's been discontinued.

All that being said, there's a few Wenger models I like to have, including a SwissGrip, which is basically a SAK with a normal size set of pliers built into it. I could see myself using it while working on wiring in cars and whatnot.

Wenger was actually purchased by Victorinox in 2005. Both are part of the Forschner Group.

Joe Thoms