McNett Saturna Blunt Tip Outdoor and Dive Knife

I buy everything I review. To receive FIVE stars, a product must meet >90% of the manufacturer's claims. I don’t subtract because I don’ t like the color or appearance (too subjective and personal). I review form, function, ease of use, and construction quality. Please forgive typos: I’m an evidence-based scientist, NOT a typist. If you find my review helpful, please click "YES". This helps me improve future evaluations (which I do for free to help people make more informed decisions).Their Claim: Easy access SCUBA knife that is great for divingMy Verdict (details below): Not trueThe knife is good, blah blah. I won't go into that except to say it's a sturdy knife that looks like it would hold up to routine use.The problem is this. When you need your SCUBA knife in an emergency, it has to release in a simple and quick fashion. This knife does not do that. Most sheaths are designed that you push a button, and it releases the knife by moving off the protrusion on the handle that sticks into the sheath holding it in place. It's like a see-saw. WHen you push that button DOWN, the other end goes UP, off the handle notch and releasing it. Release the button and the end comes back down to clamp on that protrusion. That's not how this one works however.Instead, you have to jam your thumb in between the handle and the sheath and LIFT the edge of the sheath off the protrusion. In my 72F bedroom without gloves, this was a tad difficult but was doable. In the 60F lake with diving gloves on, it was literally impossible. I needed two hands, and even then it was quite difficult This is a design flaw that cannot be overcome. I'd NEVER be able to get it out in an emergency situation (trapped by fishing line, for example). It's a great KNIFE: but getting to it is very hard and if safety is an issue (as it always must be when diving), stay away from this knife.I gave it two stars because the knife is great; the sheath release is its downfall. And if you can't get to your knife, then it's not a usable knife, is it?

*Edit: Reduced my review to two stars, the line cutter on the blade was barely able to go through low tensile nylon cord or aproximately a shoelace. Without sharpening this thing is dull all over, there's no way it'd work to cut a seatbelt in my opinion. If you like the handle and the shape of the blade it's great - as long as you spend time sharpening it - if you buy it and toss it in your kit trusting it to be a solid knife it will fail you.I like the overall size and feel of this knife but I wear medium sized gloves and can only fit three fingers onto the grip so if you have larger hands it may feel small, otherwise feels very natural in an inverted grip as well.My only real complaint - and it's superficial, is the blades completely failed a paper test out of the box, if you're not familiar with a paper test for a knife look it up but basicaly this means pushing the edge into a sheet of paper it would not actually cut it but instead simply pushed it. I say this is superficial because I put a new edge on the straight edge side of the knife and can now shave with it.I gave a 4/5 rating because for the price it's a great piece of steel with a good even if it's abit small, putting a new edge out of the box was a bit disappointing but not a huge issue. After sharpening I also made sure the front corners were still dull/rounded.

I purchased this for kayaking and the knife seemed good in quality but I ultimately returned it. Its weakness is the release method.It snaps into the case and you have to simply pull it out to release it from it's sheath. Depending on your need this may not be right for you. I got it so I could attach it to my PFD lash strap. It takes way too much force to remove it. I know there is a fine line between not falling out and not being able to get it out but I don't think they hit the mark. I feel in an emergency situation that the amount of force required to remove the knife from the sheath would result in me either ripping my PFD or slipping out of my hand after it snaps loose. Overall good quality but pass on this one if you would depend on it in an emergency. FYI I'm a 30yo male in good health.

I bought this knife to hang on my BC for warm water scuba diving. The knife is compact, sharp, and it is held firmly in the sheath. The sheath provides several options for easy attachment to a BC. What I don't like is the poor corrosion resistance of the blade. As most divers do after completing their dives for the day at a dive resort (Cozumel), I submerged my entire BC with knife attached into a clean water rinse tank 2 or 3 times and let it drip off the excess water before putting it away in a storage bin for the next day's dives. I didn't think of drying the knife, as I never had to with my leg knife. By the morning of the 3 day, I noticed the the rivets on the sheath were totally rusted, and the knife blade had rust stains all over it as well. I was able to clean up most of the rust on the blade at the resort, but some deeper rust had to wait until I got home to my tools for a proper cleaning. The blade looks clean, but the rivets are still covered in rust. I suppose I can't complain too much because of the purchase price, but a tool advertised for scuba diving should resit salt water better than this one.

The knife itself seems to be an OK quality, the handle is hard, not so grippy plastic but the blade is sharp enough. I know this is a less expensive knife than some but my big concern is the catch on the sheath is very hard to opperate one handed, and even harder in gloves. Since this was purchased as a rescue knife for Kayaking that has me very concerned with the ability to use it when it matters the most.

I purchased this item as a gift for my son and he gives it five stars, it is the ideal size (compact) and it has excellent build quality.I made a great choice as he is very particular about his diving equipment.Thank you.