Gerber Exchange-A-Blade Saw

A lightweight folding saw great for backpacking, hiking, camping, or any other general outdoors use.  The saw is actually produced and manufactured by Fiskars- the guys who brought you child safe plastic scissors- but distributed and marketed through its sub-division company; Gerber. 

It's marketed as being a tough, durable, and lightweight piece of serious equipment for the serious outdoorsman. Unfortunately the only accurate description is the light weight. Otherwise this saw is very disappointing. It is very sharp, however the blades are too thin and flimsy to handle moderate use much less rugged use. 

While using the saw to cut a 1 inch diameter cedar limb, I was impressed at how sharp it is.  But a larger limb proved to be the saws undoing. I noticed the thin blade would bend during use. Within the first 5 minutes of use, the blade actually broke in two. However the shorter blade was stiffer than it was in its original length. Unfortunately I now couldn't cut anything over a 1.5 inch diameter while using only short sawing strokes. 

I could have lived with the blade breaking, but the saw handle broke in two as well. In short, the saw fell apart with less than moderate use during a minimal period of time.

I would not recommend this saw at all. I instead have a Wal Mart folding saw that I purchased in the gardening section for $8 and it has held up to very heavy usage. Sorry, Fiskars, but this product failed to live up to its marketing and my standards.

I'm giving this product a 1.5 only because it was useful (albeit for a short time) after the blade broke.