Is This Carabiner Knife A Rip-Off?
By Eric Dykstra
I hate having a ton of junk in my pockets, even when that junk is useful, so this cool Kershaw carabiner caught my eye. It incorporates a little serrated blade into the body as well as two screwdrivers and the obligatory bottle opener. “Cool, I can clip my junk outside my pockets,” I thought. Then I saw the asking price: around $35. That seemed a bit steep — and after doing some shopping I found out exactly how steep it was.
It seems companies such as 4imprint.com are selling this knife in bulk as a promotional item for as little as $3 a unit!
I don’t know for sure that they’re the exact same item, but they look suspiciously similar. So is this just a cheap knockoff or an extreme discount for buying in bulk? Give us your two cents in comments.
Kershaw Street Price [Google Products]
Promotional Carabiner Knife [4Imprint.com]
January 7th, 2008 at 11:38 am
I believe the one from 4Imprint does not have the Kershaw blade which would make it far cheaper than the other products. I have on of the original ones from about two years ago and I have yet to sharpe the blade. I use it all the time from fishing, camping, opening beer bottles, etc.. The one from 4imprint looks very much like a cheap knock off.
January 7th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
It’s got to be a rip off. Kershaw makes nice knifes with good quality steel in their blades.
January 7th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
And the mnimum order on the one from 4Imprint is 50 units.
January 7th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Aside from all that, it looks like a very awkward tool to use. Just how do you get your hand around it?
January 7th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Why doesn’t TM order a bunch with the logo and sell them/give them away? Then we can do some testing.
January 7th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I second Tom’s motion!
January 7th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
saw one of those discovery channel survivor guys using one of these…
January 8th, 2008 at 12:29 am
If you buy the Kershaw, you can be confident that it’s at least been in the same room as somebody who knows something about knife blades.
With the other one? Well, in my experience, cheap knives are expensive.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:45 am
The Kershaw has a hole in the carabiner just under the knife blade. The cheapo knockoff doesn’t.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:39 am
Andrew, sharp eyes!