DPX HEST 2.0: “Extreme Use?!” by Nutnfancy04:33

If we are to believe the sales pitch on the DPX Gear HEST 2.0 folder, this is a knife that might save your life. Afterall H.E.S.T. stands for Hostile Environment Survival Tools. Sounds like a safe bet. Then again maybe not. It testing the HEST 2.0 I came away shocked at its failure at simple and short term wood batoning. It had passed cardboard cutting and stabbing tests well so surely it should be able to deliver the simple capabilities of fire provision ie SOME wood preparation. Surely this should fall under the impressive banner of HEST. Well it doesn’t, at least in this 2.0 version. The soft titanium lockbar squashed against the D2 tang in the testing and incurable rattling of the knife resulted (shown). Granted this isn’t a catastrophic failure but it’s alarming nevertheless. So as a batoner, the HEST fails. Moreover in the application of overall survival blade, the HEST is laughable just in terms of size. But in Tactical and EDC POUs, not saving the world, the HEST still holds promise: a thick 3.75″ D2 clip blade that’s sharp, functional jimping provided by wire stripper notches, an adequate clip, glass breaker pommel, high traction G10, and a reasonable 5.0 oz carry weight. Count as marginally useful the wire breaking/bottle cap notch (maybe good for waving though), the hex bit holder (you’ll never have them and if you do, you’ll have a driver), and the RotoBlock disc. The knife cannot transform itself into a indomitable “fixed blade” as some literature suggests. Value therefore as revealed in TNP testing is poor as I sought to vindicate the RYP hype. I still think the HEST can function as a decent tactical or EDC folder and it gets some points here for that. But I can think of a hundred more preferred knives for me in those POUs. Even still, with the video-indicated improvements, the Lion Steel produced DPX HEST could actually transform into a winner. Time will tell.///////////////////Nutnfancy Likability Scale: 5 out of 10, with improvements suggested possibly 8 out of 10////////////// Available for LESS at /