Soto Pocket Spork

Too small for practical feeding, at least for this this big gai-jin, but at least it doesn't collapse during use.

In a companion review to this one, I seriously dissed a similar folding spork from Optimus that I purchased at the same time as this one, one for me and one for my wife. The differences are subtle, but the Soto is somewhat better.
Compared to the Optimus:

• It is a crucial little bit longer, making it more suitable but still less than ideal for stirring food while cooking or eating a freeze-dried pouch meal.
• The locking mechanism is more reliable because the locking bar slides tightly against the head of the spoon, so that it is less prone to collapse.
• And, because the wire handle is straight rather than bowed, sliding the locking bar up towards the idiot end doesn’t cause the spork to fall apart.

Still, the bowl of the spoon is too low-volume for my taste—or appetite to be more precise—and the Japanese ramen-style flat bottom reduces the volume further. (But this Ramen spork, if offered in titanium, could be a game-changer…)

As with the Optimus the tines are useless, and also lower the effective volume at least when it comes to spooning soup.

It still weighs (22 g) and costs more than a one-moving-part (the part that moves from your bowl to your mouth) plastic spoon.

Like the Optimus, the foldability allows it to be stashed in a mug or other small space, but for me that small convenience is outweighed by its flaws. I have to admit that the recurved shape is rather nice, but not enough to rescue it.

There are now longer, and more expensive, titanium folders on the market for pouch feeders, but color me skeptical. I regret dropping my hard-earned Norwegian kroner on both this and the Optimus version.

Background

Used it a couple times, but I prefer a conventional Delrin spoon.