Hey everyone! If you saw one of my recent YouTube videos, I did some first impressions on the Kershaw Dividend and Gerber Dime. I saw the Dime going for $10 on Amazon and thought it'd be a great time to finally try one out. I've always mentioned how much I've loved my Leatherman Squirt P4, so people have told me to check out the Dime too. Honestly, it comes nowhere near the P4. The quality is lacking, and some of the tools don't function as well as I'd like. More about that a little later. The Dividend has a neat story behind it too. I had originally ordered a Fraxion, but Amazon sent me the Dividend instead. It turns out they had a Fraxion barcode label on the Dividend's box. I don't feel like going through the exchange process, so I'll be keeping it. I wanted to try the Dividend this year anyways. I guess it all works out in the end. Anyways, let's get into some of my initial impressions.
I'll talk about the Dividend first, since that's the one I'm most impressed with. It's a very solid knife so far. I see why everyone loves them. I can already tell it won't beat out the Ontario Rat 2 as my favorite mid-sized knife option. Still, if you're into the design, I think it's worth checking out. For $35 to $40, it's a great deal. I normally go for colorful knives as you all know, but I'm really liking the gray scales. The handles have more of a matte finish to them, which feels nice in the hand. The ergos are great as well. I like how clean the blade looks with no Kershaw logos or anything. I'd love to see more companies ditch the logos on the blades. In certain lighting, the blade-to-handle ratio seems off to me, but that's probably just me being picky. The design is just so sleek overall. It's got some interesting cutouts on the backspacer too, which I was surprised to see on a budget knife like this. I like that it's made in the USA too. The SpeedSafe action isn't that obnoxious either. With Kershaws I've had in the past, sometimes the action was on the clunkier side. On this Dividend, it flies out quickly and quietly. Stay tuned for my in-depth thoughts after I carry it some more. I expect my review to be very positive.
The Dime's downfall is ultimately going to be its quality. When compared to the Victorinoxs and Leathermans I've tried, the quality just isn't there. The toothpick on mine is defective, as it's clamped shut and doesn't have that springiness that they usually have. The tools will sometimes get stuck on the handles since they don't want to close straight. Not sure if any of that makes sense, but I will eventually get a video up on it. Quality is a big thing for me, so I can already tell this tool is going to go. There's no way the carry I give it in the next few weeks would convince me to consider it as an smaller option. It just sucks that I got a bad one. I've always had hit or miss luck with Gerbers, and this one seems to be a huge miss. I do like that the pliers are spring loaded. Sometimes you don't see that on these cheaper and smaller multitools. I don't necessarily like that the bottle opener sticks out the way it does. There are some torx screws near it which I'm assuming means I could take it off. I don't think I'll bother though since it'll be going soon anyways. The purple is awesome! I'm happy Gerber decided to do these in all sorts of different color options. The inclusion of the clam shell opener tool is really neat. I can't say that I've had one of those on any of the multitools I've tried. The scissors don't do well in detailed cutting since they're so thick. They're no where near as good as Victorinoxs scissors. I don't want to turn this into the whole review, so I think I'll end it here. It's not looking promising for the Dime thus far. Thanks for looking!
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