Why the Compact is the Best Swiss Army Knife for EDC
If you haven’t found Jon Gadget on Youtube, you need to go subscribe now. Jon is probably the best exemplar of what I like to think of as “European EDC.” The heavy restrictions on knives and the easy travel from country to country has resulted in an entirely different perspective on EDC. Jon’s perspective is heavily informed by both these things—the knives are all slip joints (mostly SAKs) and a lot of his recommendations are for light, travel-friendly items organized into easily packable and swappable kits. All of this is a fascinating example of insular evolution or “island syndrome.”
The effect of this evolution is a distinctly different approach to knives. Jon LOVES SAKs and really, who doesn’t? But he regularly uses them as his primary carry. When we’d pick up a Sebenza, he’d be a criminal and so his options are different. I often tell people in my professional life: rules pick winners (or…the converse, rules pick losers). In the case of European EDC, the saying is slightly different: rules pick carry. So among is comparatively limited options, which knife is his favorite? The Victorinox Compact. After more than two years of carrying a Compact, albeit with the PDW scale mod, I can say that I 100% agree with Jon. This is the best SAK, and frankly, it’s not particularly close. But I do think there is value in explaining why.
The variety of offerings from Victorinox is staggering. They make fixed blades, pliers-based multitools, and knife-based tools. If you narrow it down to just the knife-based multitools, there is still a huge variety of options. There are six sizes, but really, only four. The six sizes are as follows: 58, 65, 84, 91, 93, and 130mm. The 65mm option is for knives with nail clippers and while the clippers are great, they have limited utility beyond personal hygiene and cutting fishing line. The 130mm knives are quite large and aren’t really the SAKs we all think of when the issue comes up. I am, for these reasons, going to ignore these two sizes. This leaves us with the keychain-sized tools in the 58mm size, the small tools in the 84mm size, and the medium sized knives in the 91 and 93mm. I don’t think you can do real work with the 58mm size, as stuff like fire prep and food prep is really challenging and anything other than opening shipping boxes is a problem. So they are out. We are now down to a manageable range of tools.
In that range though there are things that I am looking for and organizing the tools based on these criteria eliminate a lot of less than ideal tools.
Criteria 1: Must have a knife blade
There are a few knives that that Victorinox makes that don’t have a knife blade, the Companion line and the like, and while they serve a purpose (especially for the European EDC set—Jon has a lot of kits with Vic’s knifeless tools), I am not sure why you’d buy a SAK without a knife unless you have a very specific use case. This doesn’t weed out a bunch of knives, but given how great the Vic blade is, this is an essential.
Criteria 2: No duplicate implements
Okay, if you are kid, then you probably should have two knife blades. The Gear Gremlin, especially when he is in an outdoor mood or the weather is nice, will dull blades faster than a roofer cutting shingles. But if you aren’t a kid or an ultra heavy user, one blade is plenty. But having a bunch of duplicates, like multiple screwdrivers, blades, saws, and the like adds layers to tool and weight in your pocket. You only carry a piece of kit if you like carrying it, so make it as light as possible while covering your bases and the Compact, with this non-overlapping took complement does that quite well.
Criteria: 3: Scissors are REALLY important
It is hard to overstate the value of scissors, but really no scissors you can buy for less than $100 (oh yes, there are custom and crazy handmade production scissors) are even close to as good or as useful as the Victorinox scissors. In fact, you asked me what the most important implement was, that the secret to Victorinox’s success was, it would be there scissors. So a SAK without scissors in like a plane without wings—useless. This is what puts the Compact ahead of the similar two layered Cadet. I still like the one layer Bantam for ultralight carry, but if you have a second layer and it doesn’t include scissors, you are doing it wrong. And I write this after being in the Cadet Cult for more than a decade. The Compact is just a better Cadet.
Criteria 4: Look for the best implement of a given kind
The 88/93 Combo tool is the best driver/cap lifter in the Victorinox implement catalog. Its pointy tip can drive Phillips head screws and slotted screws, the aggressive angle of the cap lifter makes it really effective. And it can “hide” in a layer meaning it is small enough and thin enough to sit next to the main blade without necessitating a layer itself.
And the Compact is like this everywhere—it has the best scale tools—a hidden pin and the two common scale tools. It has the best main blade, which is common to almost all SAKs, but the main blade is paired with another tool it is layer. In short, the Compact’s top side tool complement is better than any other SAK on the market, and it is not particularly close.
The Compact’s bottom side is not as strong as it is unbeatable top side, but it’s not terrible either. The corkscrew, which is often maligned as super useless, is not bad as it stores the microdriver. I’d prefer the T-handled screwdriver, but there is no non-custom SAK that offers the Compact’s front with a T-handled back. And the twine hook, while not the most useful implement, does have a file built it.
Criteria 5: Consider Perception
Corkscrews are pretty silly to include on a tool destined for an American audience. There are a whole universe of French knives, including the always beautiful Laguiole knives, that simply MUST have a corkscrew. But here, in the Land of Budweiser, that feature isn’t necessary. Of course Victorinox and others have made accessories for the corkscrew, but its real value in this set up is the communication it sends to others—this is not a weapon. It is funny how powerful the message is, but even non-knife folks get it. I was at an ice cream stand this weekend and I dropped my Compact. Someone picked it up and handed it to me and said: “Having a picnic?” My guess is that their response would have been different if the tool that clanged to the ground was an automatic knife or a Kunwu Compadre. Time and again, the Compact works because its tool complement is more tool than weapon. There is no saw. There is no one handed opening. And with the normal red Cellidor handles, it is probably either the most people friendly or tied for the most people friendly knife in the Victorinox catalog. Even with a blade.
There is no perfect SAK, but the Compact is the best SAK. And this is not a “smartest Kardashian” scenario. Over the years I have genuinely loved carrying the Compact. Adding the pocket clip and the excellent PDW scales has made it one of my most frequently carried items. There are other very good SAKs—the Bantam, the Cadet, and the Super Tinker—but none have the size and tool complement the Compact does. And that is why it’s Jon Gadget’s favorite SAK and the Best SAK for EDC.
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