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Reviews > Cook and Food Storage Gear > Cooking Accessories > Swiss Advance Kitchen Accessories > Test Report by Morgan LypkaSWISS ADVANCE UTENSILS
TEST SERIES BY MORGAN LYPKA Initial Report - November 11, 2017 Field Report - January 13, 2017 Long Term Report - March 9, 2018 TESTER INFORMATION NAME: Morgan Lypka AGE: 26 GENDER: Female HEIGHT: 5’4” (1.6 m) WEIGHT: 110 lb (50 kg) EMAIL: m DOT lypka AT yahoo.com City, Province, Country: Fernie, British Columbia (B.C.), Canada Backpacking Background: I started backpacking 2 years ago, when I moved to the Rocky Mountains. I am originally from Saskatchewan, Canada, where I have done overnight canoe trips. Most of my backpacking ventures are 1 to 3 days long. I get cold quickly, but handle heat well. My backcountry trips involve hiking, trail running, ski touring and cross-country skiing. I am getting into kayaking, rock climbing and fly fishing. This year, I started solo camping. I camp with a lightweight 3-person, 3-season tent. Decreasing my packed weight in the backcountry is a developing focus of mine (fitting everything was the first). PRODUCT INFORMATION AND SPECS Manufacturer’s Website: http://www.swiss-advance.com MINI BBQ TONGS SAIGA MSRP: $12.55 USD Listed & Measured Weight: 38 g (1.3 oz) Listed & Measured Dimensions: 175 x 15 mm (6.9 x 0.6 in) Material: Stainless steel Listed and Measured Material Thickness: 1mm (0.04 in) POCKET KNIFE CRONO N5 MSRP: $48 USD Listed Weight: 41 g (1.4 oz) Measured Weight: 41 g (1.4 oz) + 4 g (0.1 oz) for pouch Listed Dimensions: 95 x 16 x 6 mm (3.7 x 0.6 x 0.2 in) Measured Dimensions: 94 x 16 x 5 mm (3.7 x 0.6 x 0.2 in) ; Pouch: 8.5 x 3 mm (0.3 x 0.1 in) Material: Stainless steel Listed & Measured Material Thickness: 1 mm (0.04 in) DESCRIPTION The Pocket Knife Crono N5 (Crono) and the Mini BBQ Tongs Saiga (Saiga) came on neat little cardboard pieces, with descriptions on the backside. The Crono also came with a little booklet that talked about where the knife was made and its uses. The Crono also came with a pocket bag with a cord. Crono has 5 separate pieces attached at the base, that together provide a bottle opener, fish scaler, wire stripper, cm-scale, hexagon (4x), wing nut opener, cheese knife blade, bradawl and sewing, square (2x), fork, and a screwdriver. The website gives direction on how to cut with a knife, which I think is a nice touch. The knife only spreads open one way, which seems like a good safety feature. Saiga comes in two pieces, two forks, that can be slid together perpendicularly to form tongs. Both items are smooth to touch and thin, as is shown in the specs. INITIAL IMPRESSIONS The two items are both very light and compact. The knife is very flat. It was difficult to get the knife in the bag, but I assume it will stretch out. The Crono comes with many features, which makes me think it merits a drawn diagram and further explanation of how to use each feature, possibly even videos. As an example, I have never scaled a fish (I wouldn't mind trying this), but I'll have to go online to find out what a fish scaler looks like and then decipher which one that is on the Crono. I am pumped that the Crono comes with a fork, as I hadn't yet seen a pocket knife with a fork. I also like that the blade length is under airplane guidelines, so that I can bring it carry on if I choose. I also am a cheese fan, so I love that it comes with a cheese knife. The forks fit very readily together to form tongs, and the tongs seem to function well. They have stayed together as I have been imitating the squeezing motion. The points of the forks are almost as sharp as a regular fork. The thinness of the items intrigues me; I wonder if the tongs will bend at all over prolonged use.  Saiga and Crono with bag
SUMMARY I look forward to testing both the tong and fork aspect of the Saiga, and using as many features as I can of the Crono. The lightness and thiness of the items is appealing. Likes: Compact; Lightweight; Tongs are easy to put together and Crono spreads out easily; able to bring on airplanes when traveling due to short blade length; comes with a fork! Dislikes: Very difficult to get the Crono in the bag, Would appreciate a picture diagram of exactly which feature is which on the Crono and how each feature should be used Attempted Trip #1: My attempts at bringing the pocket knife to Fort Lauderdale for some camping was thwarted when I found out that the new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rules do now allow knives of any size as carry-on in airplanes in the USA. This was further confirmed by a TSA supervisor. The Crono Knife is advertised as meeting EU guidelines for airport carry-on, and I had assumed USA would be fine as well. Unfortunately with the recent change it's a no-go for carry-on. I was happy to realize this before waiting until security. Trip #2: Location: Yoho National Park, Alberta, Canada Length: 2 days, 2 nights in backcountry Temperature and Weather: -10 C (14 F), lightly packed snow trails, overcast I cross-country skied 12 km (7.5 mi) into the backcountry where I stayed in a hut for 2 days and 2 nights. The Saiga and the Crono fit extremely easily into my 65 L pack, I didn't even know they were there. The flatness of the two items adds to their great packability. I used them for most of my meals; I used the tongs for tossing a salad, and then I separated the tongs into two forks for my friend and I to eat the salad. It was nice not having extra dishes when we had to fetch snow and boil our own water for washing dishes. Although small, the tongs worked great, and held together while tossing the salad. We both felt that the Saiga forks would have worked a little better with one more prong. Sometimes it was hard to get a solid grip on the food, which would slide off, specifically when we were eating vegetables in the salad.  We used the pocket knife for cutting various food items. I used the cheese knife to cut the cheese we'd brought for a little cheese board. It wasn't working that well, so I pushed harder down on the knife and then cut open my finger, realizing that I had been using the knife upside down. Although it might be obvious to some, I was unfamiliar with the shape of a cheese knife and either end could have easily fooled me as the blade without looking closely (which I didn't do). Once using the knife with the blade side down, it cut the cheese readily. The fork on the pocket knife was also effective for me in eating meat, cheese and apple pieces. No complaints.  I found the pocket knife only opening in one direction to be a good safety feature. The Crono also now fits readily in its bag, which has stretched a little bit. The one day I hiked 4 km (2.5 mi) around and on Lake Ohara, with minimal elevation gain. I carried my 9 L daypack, with a blanket, snacks and my utensils inside. I stopped in the middle of the lake to have a snack. The utensils were so easy to carry around, even in a small daypack. Quick Shots: Very compact and lightweight. Saiga fork could use another prong to be more effective. Knives cut well. Blade side of cheese knife not necessarily obvious. Location: Lizard Range, Rocky Mountains, British Columbia, Canada Length: 4 days, 3 nights in backcountry Temperature and Weather: -5 to -25 C (23 to -13 F), sunny and snow stormy weather Trek to hut: 15 km (9 mi), accessed by sled Location: Lizard Range, Rocky Mountains, British Columbia, Canada Length: 2 days, 1 night in backcountry Temperature and Weather: -5 to -10 C (23 to 14 F), lots of fresh powder Trek to hut: 5 km (3 mi) and 760 m (2500 ft), accessed by snowshoe I sledded into a hut in the Lizard Range with a large crew for 3 nights. On this trip, plates, cutlery etc. were supplied at the cabin we stayed in, but I brought the forks and pocket tool along as well. One night someone was cooking smokies and couldn't find tongs anywhere. I pulled out the two forks and put them together as tongs. They worked great to flip a dozen smokies on the barbeque, and I then used one as a fork to eat my smokie off of. Once again, I didn't notice any added weight from them in my backpack. I also used a knife to cut some salami. The blade was not quite long enough for the width of the salami, but it worked fine. I didn't test the bottle opener on this trip as I had already put my drinks into transportable light-weight bladders, but I would see a lot of value in the bottle opener on a car camping trip. I snowshoed up to another hut in the Lizard Range. Here, weight was more of a concern, but again I wouldn't have been able to feel the miniscule weight from the forks and pocket tool. For supper, we made pad thai in the hut. I tried out a regular fork, the pocket tool fork, and one of the tong forks. The pocket tool fork and the tong fork were comparable to the regular fork, although I got less in each bite. This just meant I ate slower, which is a good thing! Although the ends of the pocket tool fork and the tong fork seemed similar, I found the pocket tool fork to be a bit sharper. It seemed almost a bit too sharp to be putting in my mouth. Since the tong forks don't tuck away like the pocket tool fork, they were putting a bit of pressure on my travel sack. They didn't poke through the material, but I did poke my finger when I was trying to reach for them in my bag. It would be nice if the forks had means of folding together so that the twines wouldn't pose a small injury hazard. Quick shots: Tongs effective for BBQing. Twines of pocket tool fork almost a bit too sharp for eating. Tongs a bit more difficult to pack with twines protruding. Summary: The Saiga Tongs are versatile for the backcountry, and light weight. They are effective as tongs and as forks. I would prefer if they could be connected together for packing, to prevent the sharp twines protruding. The Crono Pocket Knife has many different tools, all of which I haven't yet tested. The fork is effective for picking up food, but was a little too sharp for my mouth. The knife is effective in cutting many different items. I would like if the Crono Pocket Knife came with more of a description on exactly what each tool be used for, and how it works. Thank you BackpackGearTest.org and Think Industry, Ltd. for having given me the opportunity to have a reliable, compact, diverse set of utensils to carry around the backcountry! These will come with me on many more trips to come. Read more reviews of Swiss Advance gear Read more gear reviews by Morgan Lypka Reviews > Cook and Food Storage Gear > Cooking Accessories > Swiss Advance Kitchen Accessories > Test Report by Morgan Lypka | ||||