Gerber Gear 22-41578N Gorge Folding Shovel, Black , 47.5 cm

This is a great and useful pack shovel and I've been really happy with it. It packs down extremely small and comes with a nice, heavy bag with drawstring and cord lock. You could easily stow this thing under the seat of your car or truck. The folded dimension is approx. 4.75" wide X 8" long. Unfolded, it becomes 15.75" long, so it really is a small tool and the handle gives you limited leverage. It is heavy for its size and is well made. Though the handle is plastic, it seems durable enough. The blade is stout and is not likely to deform from use. (anything is possible, of course!) The blade is not sharpened, but I prefer this anyway; the edge of the blade can easily take an edge from a large metal file, grinder, or grinding wheel, if that's your preference, but I find it just dulls too quickly anyway and makes it unnecessarily dangerous. The dimensions of the blade itself are about 4.75" X 6". It is tapered to a nice point, is slightly cupped, and has a folded-over edge at the top in case you wanted to give it some oomph with the heel of a boot. It has a hammer function for use on tent stakes and such and is actually capable of performing that task without distorting or otherwise breaking the tool, unlike some other camp shovels I've used in the past. This one is heavy and well-made. That said, this is an excellent and useful tool for car camping, camping with larger groups (where you have more backs to carry heavy little goodies like this), and for winter or desert duty with your vehicle where you may find a small shovel useful. (It's small enough to leave under the seat and forget it until you really need it, versus forgetting to take a larger shovel that you wouldn't otherwise carry all the time) When I'm backpacking, however, this baby is way too heavy. Instead, I take along a much smaller, lighter plastic trowel for sanitary duties.

i’m very happy with it although I haven’t used it in real life yet, but it seems to be made very well

I just got back from my first trip with my new Gorge, a 13 mile backpacking trip, and this shovel really delivered. There's a lot I like about it, but the two biggest features for me were the dual-utility of both hammer and shovel and the compact size. I also think the price is pretty fair. I used the shovel for fire chores, cat holes and for driving in my tent stakes and it worked well for all of these tasks. It is VERY sturdy, more so than the E-Tools we had in the Army and I'd have no qualms about using this harshly. Also, the carry case is great because it keeps your dirty shovel from contacting the clean gear that might be near it in your pack. There are 2 downsides, both of which have already been noted by other reviewers. The first is the spade. I live in sandy Florida, but anywhere else this shovel, as delivered, would be useless. You MUST sharpen the spade before this will be a useful shovel. The other problem is more an issue of scale. You don't get the impression from the picture of how small this shovel is. It's great for backpacking, but if you're looking for a shovel to throw in your car or something, it's a bit small. Make sure you check the dimensions before ordering. Overall though, an excellent tool for an excellent price.

Great quality, great size, great value, comfortable to use, very durable.

This is a very well made and sturdy little shovel. The spade is a little small but the quality of the shovel makes up for that. It is great for digging toileting holes while roughing it deep in the woods. It is compact and lightweight so you can throw it in with all your other gear and hardly notice it. Given the option of having a shovel or not in your gear bag, you will not hesitate to carry this one with you because of it's compact nature. If you are a minimalist you may think this shovel is a bit too heavy but, I would consider myself to be somewhere in the middle of the gear carrying category. I expect this shovel to last for years.

As a portable shovel, this thing is great, however, a few things to note after my first weekend using this guy: Cons: - The shovel is dull as heck. It was fine for digging up dirt for putting out our campfire, but anything tougher than that could be made easier by having even a slight edge. - Don't use as a hammer! I used the hammer to pound in a few tent stakes and the handle cracked after a few firm whacks. it still works perfectly fine for a shovel, and the handle still expands/contracts, but i was a little bummed it broke literally on the first use. Pros: - Size: it is pretty light compared to others i looked at, and folds up pretty small. The shovel is a little wider than a CD and when folded, only a couple inches thick and comes with a cinch sack for storage, which is nice. - Even though the "hammer" turned out to be useless (see above), it was still very handy in getting some extra force in my digs since you can easily use the hammer part to place your foot on. All in all, I think it is a good product for the price, but I would recommend looking at something that DOESN'T have a plastic handle =\

I used this shovel while excavating my crawlspace. It was small enough that I could wield it in the ten inches between my joists and the soil, sturdy enough that it held up to pulling several yards of dirt and sharp enough to cut through 100 year old sod. It was fully functional in both the extended and 90degree positions, and while I have not used the hammer face, there is no reason to believe it won't hold up as well as the shovel has. It folds and collapses into a very small package, which would be great for camping, but is heavy enough that I would not take it backpacking. This is a great update to the traditional GI trenching tool

Nachdem ich schon mehrere Klappspaten im Einsatz hatte, ist dieses der erste Spaten, der schon beim Auspacken einen soliden Eindruck macht. Zusammengeklappt passt er in jeden Rucksack oder ins Staufach im Auto. Die Verarbeitung ist gut. Erste Tests haben bisher die gute Qualität bestetigt. Mal schauen wie er sich im rauhen Betrieb bewährt.

Al final, me decanté por la marca GERBER y acerté. Dejé a un lado todas las demás palas plegables de entre 10 y 20 euros. Lo verdaderamente auténtico es observarla de cerca al abrir el paquete de llegada. Pala resistente por todas partes, de pintura negra satinada sin brillos y dotada de su funda de tela. La abrazadera que sirve para asegurar de una posición a otra parece de gran calidad y metálica, a diferencia de otras que son de plástico y se rompen con el uso. No me arrepiento en absoluto de la compra, e incluso la recomiendo.

The Gerber folding shovel is ideal to keep in the car during winter months when travelling in areas prone to snowfall. It'll help get you to dig out around wheels ext out but you may want something bigger to move large amounts of snow as this is very small (about the size of my spread out hand). It packs away nice and compact so takes up little room in my car organiser. It's well made and sturdy and easy to deploy from folded, it can be used as a hammer too.

This folding shovel is a must-have product for every hunter/police/emergency/tactical/survival people out there! This folding shovel live in the trunk of my Jeep Wrangler and I carry it everytime I go hunting/hiking. It is REALLY light and mechanics of the folding blade are awesome. Really good quality from Gerber, as always. The hammer checkered plate works flawlessly and doesn't bend at all, even on 3-inches steel nails. I would have liked a little longer arm on this shovel for the winter season, but getting on my knees to take off the snow/ice from my wheels won't be too hard to do! When folded, it is REALLY SMALL... Lenght is around 9 inches and package comes with a quality little bag to transport the shovel. It fits in every backpack or take almost no space in the trunk! A must have for everyone who lives in a place where winter means you have inches of snow every year! :) Also, I want to say that Amazon is awesome for SHIPPING... They ship fast and it's always in great shape when it arrive! Seriously, way better than any Ebay or anything like this! Will definately buy other items on Amazon!

Très bon produit compact et facile à utiliser même si l'écrou qu'il faut visser et dévisser pour tenir la pelle fermer ou ouverte est un peu dure. Reste à vérifier sa durabilité sur le long terme car je ne l'ai utilisé que de manière occasionnelle.