PETZL Spatha, Yellow, UNI

Product Information

White Glove Delivery is available on many lawnmowers & other highlighted products and is offered free to customers within a 30-mile radius of our showroom. Learn more. In line with current health and safety guidelines, we reserve the right to refuse any items that are (for whatever reason) not returned to us in a clean and hygienic condition. Choosing a climbing knife comes down to a few basic considerations. Main Features: Handle Material & Blade Length Full-length knives (Spatha and Rope Tooth) use plastic handles that also function as a sheath when the knife is closed. The handles are still compact, but they allow for an easier and more familiar grip.

The Petzl Spatha Knife is a specially designed climbers knife designed for cutting rope and cord and features a hold for a carabiner. Most survival references consider a knife the most important piece of equipment you have. There are a lot of deaths that could have been avoided if a blade was handy. But anyway... Like the NIAD, it has a small divot at the base of the blade to allow you to pinch the knife as you cut. The handle is even shorter than that of the NIAD, which means that for those of us with large hands, only the first two fingers can grip the handle. The other three knives all cut through a standard 18mm sling in under ten seconds. The Rope Tooth took more than a minute and a half. The serrated blade seemed both dull and prone to snags, and it required far more energy to cut through even thin material. For emergency use, the small blade was effective if not exceptional in all our tests. The stainless steel handle makes the Piranha a couple grams heavier than the NIAD, but it’s barely noticeable, and the Piranha is just as comfortable on a keychain.When unfolded, the NIAD was an excellent performer in the cutting tests, bested only by the Petzl. A small divot at the base of the blade provides a place for the index finger to nest, which allows a surprisingly secure grip for such a small blade. If you want an emergency knife but balk at the price of the NIAD, the Piranha is a worthy replacement.

The other two (the CRKT NIAD and Trango Piranha) are small, ultralight emergency knives with metal handles and no sheath. Smaller blades (Piranha and NIAD) are less friendly for general use. While the full-length blades have both serrated and un-serrated sections, the shorter blades are almost entirely serrated. That’s great for cutting cord but less adaptable to other tasks. Lighter than many of the knife options on this list, yet comes with nine different tools–including screwdrivers, scissors, knife blade, and pliers.

By nature of its size, the NIAD isn’t nearly as effective for all-around use, but it can manage in a pinch. The only real downside to the NIAD is the price. It’s by far the most expensive climbing knife in our test. We destroyed a heap of webbing and cord to find out which climbing knife will cut when you need it most. The results were clear: The Petzl Spatha outclassed the competition in almost every way. Both styles have their place, but all climbing knives earn their salt in self-rescue scenarios. To make sure each could serve to clear away tat or cut loose an injured climber, we used all four to chop up a variety of connectors from webbing to dyneema to cord.

All in all, the Spatha wowed testers. It’s not the cheapest in the test, but we still consider it a bargain. Best Ultralight Emergency Knife: CRKT NIAD Surrounding the clip-in point is a textured plastic wheel that allows for easy manipulation with climbing gloves, removing the worry of slicing open a mitt. Long, heavy-duty blade with fiberglass, nylon, and rubber handle makes for a great long-lasting knife for multiple uses. Although designed mainly for slicing through ropes, tat and cordage, the Petzl Spatha will make light work of salami and those hard alpine cheeses! Two ways to open the blade: with the notch in the blade if bare handed, or with the textured wheel when wearing gloves.Due to the size and nature of some items, we're unable to despatch them via our usual delivery services. If you don’t need to trim every gram, consider the Petzl Spatha. The penalties are slim, adding less than an ounce of weight and a couple inches of size. In exchange, you get the very best performance in a design that works just as well as a camp knife. The NIAD and Piranha are probably smaller than your car key. Budget Trango also sells the Trango Shark, which combines a nut tool with the Piranha. We’ve tested the Shark as well; you can read our review of it in our guide to the best nut tools. Edelrid Rope Tooth It didn’t perform quite as well in our testing, but it still got the job done on every type of fabric we could throw at it.