GRITR Expedition Outdoor Survival Knife Review

We received the GRITR Expedition in a simple box with the knife already locked inside the sheath. The knife unlocked smoothly out of the sheath and had a nice stonewash finishing. It was also assembled pretty nicely with a full tang, and did not look as big as it was. It was also easy to grip and hold on to with a razor sharp blade right out of the sheath. The belt clip or the tech lock also easily opens up. The sheath holes allow the water to drain right through it.

Although it does feel heavy in the hand, given that it weighs 8.8 oz. And although it looks a little wide, its width makes it easy to hold on to. It is also not too thick. The handle thickness is around 1.5”, which makes the knife thinner in overall profile. The blade’s thickness however remains the same throughout the blade.

If we compare the GRITR Expedition with other everyday carry items and folding knives, it outweighs in terms of size. So if you are going hunting, camping or climbing, this knife would probably take up more space than the rest of your stuff.

The handle had very smooth and contoured edges with a large enough lanyard hole to hang a lanyard right through it. It also provided a smooth yet firm grip without any harsh edges.

The fixed blade of GRITR Expedition is quite different from a folding knife in a way that you do not have to worry about its disengagement. However, in the absence of the blade lock, you have to carry it more responsibly. Although the knife does come with an ambidextrous Kydex sheath with a lock belt clip that makes it easy to carry.

The blade length of 4.92” with a drop point makes it a good length. However, the actual area of the serrated hollow grind lines is way too less. It probably only stretches up to just 1.5” before curving into an edge. Same was the problem with GRITR Quest folder. It does not leave much room for the blade to do the slicing and dicing. It only leaves the edge to do its job.

Speaking of the edge, the blade has an excellent edge holding and retention. The 8Cr13Mov is also highly corrosion and wear resistance. That combined with the stonewash finish and the blade’s hardness given the high carbon content makes the blade reliable. However, it lacks a balance between sharpness and hardness. Too hard a blade can make it brittle and lose its sharpness level.

The branding on the blade however, is well done. You can see the GRITR logo at the bottom of the blade near the spine in clear bold letters.

You can also see that the blade stock thickness does not vary along the length of the blade. It stays the same. However, it stands upright perpendicular to the blade spine and into the scales. Unlike folding knives, the fixed blade knife does not need to leave any space for the blade inside the scales, so it is completely covered with the G10 laminated tightly close to it. Therefore, the blade comes with a full tang without any joint or weld in between, seamlessly joining the blade with the handle.

The blade does have fine jimping and aggressive jimping along the spine for a comfortable grip. That really allows you to choke up the knife and hold it however you like for making precise cuts and really take advantage of the edge. The blade is also easy to sharpen but time-consuming, given the hollow grind. The blade also came razor-sharp right out of the box.

The knife also comes with a sharpening choil, but the overtravel stop does get in the way of making full use of it. You can use it to strike a Ferro Rod. The blade is also not skewed to 90 degrees but fairly rounded off, so that also cannot be used to strike a Ferro Rod.

The G10 scales on the GRITR Expedition knife are very well laminated and kind of resemble the Micarta. It provides a pretty strong yet comfortable grip. It is curved in just the right places to support the knuckles. You can hold it from the front, back and center with the overtravel stop pin stopping your hand from sliding on to the blade when performing any cutting task. That makes the handle easy to use for an extended period.

The 4.72” handle length is also enough to hold it from the back, center and front however you like. The end of the handle also has a lanyard hole to attach to any lanyard, Para chord or even a belt for easy carry.

The scales are pretty tightly woven around the blade in the absence of liners because it is a fixed blade knife. That makes the handles quite tough with a smooth and hard grip.

The scales are screwed together with two simple Allen screws that holds the knife together concisely. The ergonomics of the handle are pretty tight too. The scales offer comfortable, smooth, tough yet tight grip that you can use to hold however you like.

You can also use it as a defense knife and make use of the choil and the aggressive jimping along the spine. The overtravel stop eliminates any blade play. The edges are also contoured without any hot spots or rough edges.

The sheath of GRITR Expedition is ambidextrous and made of durable Kydox material with a lock belt clip to really secure the blade in place. You can use it to cover the blade when not in use, use the clip to tightly wound the blade for safety and use the lanyard hole to carry it.

The lock clip also works automatically. You can just slide the blade right in until it clicks into place, and it will not slide off. No blade edge protrudes out of the sheath from anywhere. The rounded off edges makes it safer to carry. It is sanded down good and the grommets are also well rounded off without any mess ups.

It also comes with drain holes in case moisture builds up inside the sheath. The water will run right through it, keeping the knife secure. That also makes it easy to wash off without any water buildup or having any problems with drying it up.

The most interesting thing about the sheath is that it has really good retention and comes with a tech lock design at the bottom that holds the clip in place.

Although it does not mention that it is a tech lock, it is more like a copy of a tech lock and works pretty well.

You can also use the tech lock to securely place it on your belt. However, the knife is not lightweight. It weighs 8.8 oz. without the weight of the sheath and 11.2 oz. with the sheath, so you can say that the sheath itself weighs 2.4 oz. So if you are carrying the knife alongside the sheath on your belt, you better make sure you hold it on to thicker fabric or a thicker belt. It would not hang on to the pocket, unlike the pocket clip of a folding knife. You will feel the weight of the knife.

So the price of the knife along with the sheath is a pretty good deal. The sheath itself would cost you around $10 with $4 for the tech lock. But you are getting the knife along with the sheath and the tech lock, and that too on sale in just $15.49. So it is better to take advantage of the sale if you really want to buy this knife to add to your outdoor gear.

The best thing about the fixed blade knife is that you do not have to worry about it disengaging in between tasks. That is exactly how we felt when we used it. The high carbon blade also made it tougher in use. We were able to really pound on the knife to cut through a wooden stick pretty easily. The knife did not endure any damage. Its blade also worked perfectly well and cut off pieces of wood tactfully. So you can say it is indeed a tactful knife. Although it may not be too easy to carry, given its size and weight. But it is up for heavy EDC tasks such as chopping wood.

It performed equally well when slicing off wooden chips. We were able to choke it up using the jimping and the finger choil. The over travel pin did its job and stopped the hand from getting in the way of the blade.

It was also pretty comfortable to hold without having to apply too much pressure on the hand or the wrist. The size of the blade allowed it to cut through a rather thick piece of wood pretty easily.

It was also able to cut through thinner pieces of wood a lot easier. The sheath may have looked like a hassle, but was pretty easy to carry. The knife automatically locks itself in without leaving the blade disengaged. The belt lock is also easy and simple to clip and unclip.

GRITR Expedition vs GRITR Quest

GRITR Quest is kind of like the foldable knife version of the fixed blade Expedition knife – except that it is a lot smaller and lightweight.

Given both are different breeds but we got them from GRITR for Review, therefore comparing them

Both the knives share the same blade and handle materials with the same blade style and finishing. However, the blade of Quest is not as sharp as that of Expedition. Its blade is too thick with a smaller blade space. The Expedition, on the other hand, came with better blade sharpness as compared to Quest and passed its field test when it comes to price.

There is no match of Expedition when compared with ESEE 3 or Fallkniven S1 or Fallkniven F1, which i have reviewed as these fixed blades are much superior in ergonomics and edge retention but are very expensive too…!

The grip on both the knives is relatively same with exaggerated stop travel. However, Expedition has fine jimping and a finger choil that Quest lacks.

The glass cutter of Quest also does not work well and does not have a lanyard hole. The Expedition has a large enough lanyard hole that functions well.

So while the Expedition only costs slightly more than Quest, it is a better knife in comparison in terms of functionality, features and performance.

We found the GRITR Expedition Outdoor tactical survival knife to be pretty good. Although it is fixed blade, larger and heavier than folding knives, it has good features, knife geometry, profile, and functionality.

The blade was razor sharp out of the box and was capable of performing tougher EDC tasks like chopping wood. It also proved to be durable under pressure. The handle provided a comfortable and ergonomically friendly grip. There was also no blade play encountered. It also has enough jimping and choil to choke up the knife.

The sheath comes with a tech lock system with automatic blade lock system. It loops on to the belt pretty easily, and is easy to maintain with the drain holes. It makes washing the sheath a lot easier.

The price perfectly fits the knife’s offerings. It is available at just $15.49 instead of $20, which is a pretty good deal.