Gerber ® Gator ™ Machete

Comments about Gerber Gator Machete:

After spending the last 10 years of my life in and out of warzones as soldier and as a US private security contractor, I've used and relied on many Gerber tools and knives(multitools, folders, LMF-1) and respected the brand. This Gator machete looked cool and was sharp......but worthless in actual jungle and I cannot believe Gerber put their name on it.

Unfortunately my $6 machete from the local Costa Rica hardware store has turned out to be much more durable and reliable brush cutter and jungle path maker. In Costa Rica using a machete is a way of life for many locals. They're used for jungle clearing, grass cutting, shrubbery and bush trimming and even chopping branches off of trees. After getting this awesome looking machete in the mail, paying an additional 20$ in customs and mail forwarding fees, it lasted about 10 minutes in the thick jungle before getting large dings in the blade. The blade was actually getting BENT! With my 6 dollar local machete I can cut down small trees(and I wasn't even doing that with this Gerber one!). The Gator Machete steel is either far too too soft or too thin.

I loved the handle, the design and the tree saw on the back, but is Gerber aware aware that this blade does not hold up when "fending for yourself" in thick jungle? I'd be happy to field test an update if they ever develop an update.

I emailed sale and customer service. They offered me a replacement. Unfortunately, I don't want an addition worthless soft machete in my garage. I hope they put a little more time into the Bear Grylls survival machete.

Comments about Gerber Gator Machete:

Bounces off woody material, vibrates when stikeing, good luck tring to hold onto the straight handle. Made in China.

Comments about Gerber Gator Machete:

I wanted one tool that could handle the task of taking down invasive shrubs that include light whippy branches and occasional larger limbs and trunks (autumn olive, shrub honeysuckle). Though the handle is very nice and the scabbard is cool, the blade is not sharp enough to swish through light, whippy stuff. I found myself often striking down at the ground or near the base of twigs where their movement was lessened enough to cut. The blade's not heavy enough to really chop well. I never got a sense of being in control of the blade...on half the blows the blade ends up flexing instead of biting. Trying to girdle larger trunks was really hard because that type of glancing blow caused the blade to flex and slide around. The saw side binds up easily and cutting all the way through a limb greater than 2" diam, was really hard work. It would have been better if made with larger, wider kerf teeth like a bow saw, rather than the currently trendy little spikes like a pruning saw. It's great for posers, not worth carrying if you're really going to work. There are better choices.

Comments about Gerber Gator Machete:

Cut small branches, bushes and weeds clear outr spots.
It has good feel and very sharpe