REVIEW: Gerber Gorge Folding Shovel

We tested another folding spade alongside the Glock entrenching tool: The Gerber folding shovel. This review, like the spade, will be quite short. That's because the spade went out of commission in no time at all. You can read about how that happened here.

Compared to other folding spades, the Gerber Gorge is quite compact and initially gave us a good impression. Nice packaging, small Cordura bag, and a well-functioning folding mechanism. Add to that a grippy handle and a handle that can be extended with push pins to round out the package.The shovel blade is quite small, measuring 15cm x 11.5cm. With these compact dimensions, one might think the weight is low as well. Wrong, the Gerber George weighs nearly 750 grams, which is 100 grams more than the Glock model – even though it has a larger blade, a longer handle, and a saw included. The material used for the blade and handle is black coated carbon steel, and the handle is made of glass-reinforced nylon.During our reviews, we always conduct tests before taking photos. For some products, more tests are done, for others less – but the items are definitely used. Unfortunately, with the Gerber spade, the preliminary test turned out to be the final test, as the spade blade broke off completely. This happened when we tried to drive a thick pointed branch into soft soil. We struck the flat side of the shovel blade against the previously flat-sawed end of the branch, which didn't affect the coating at all. After about 10 strikes, the blade flew off in a high arc.Before that happened, we were able to dig a few holes, which worked without any problems, although due to the short handle length, you have to rely entirely on your arms. Working with your foot is absolutely impossible.And so it happened that apart from the advertising photos shown here and the "After use" photos, no further images were taken. Too bad Gerber, the spade didn't convince us.

If it had held up, it could have been suitable as a backpack shovel due to its size and slightly lower weight compared to the Bundeswehr folding spade.

CONCLUSION: Unfortunately, the Gerber Gorge folding shovel did not convince us in terms of durability, and therefore we do not recommend it. There are better alternatives available.

The price of the spade is just under 50€, currently reduced to 44 euros at ASMC.

GERBER online: www.gerbergear.com