TOPS Hawke's Hellion "Elite": Field Test/Review

If you're looking for a versatile survival knife for yourself or a loved one, look into the Hawke's Hellion line of knives made by TOPS. The Elite version is slightly shorter, and therefore lighter weight than its big brother, with all the same features. It's suited more towards youth, women, and smaller operators in general. I got this knife from the Hawke (awesome guy btw) to rehab my dislocated shoulder after a very bad mountain bike crash (good medecine!!) In this review, I put the Elite through its paces to test its numerous features. Special thanks to my girlfriend for helping me film!

Tests:
Whittling, Notching, Feather sticks, Chopping, Splitting wood, Sawing and making a Wooden Bowl.

The good:
Medium to Heavy blade feels very good
Tip is strong, and can dig deep
Chopping is comfortable
Whittling with this was very nice considering its thickness. A good balance between sharpness and strength.
Micarta scales are my favorite**
Spike on the butt end has a ton of uses from self defense to poking cocoanuts.
The Saw works well! Expect to cut smaller wood with the Elite's smaller saw section, however.
Dual lanyard holes look good, and keep your lanyard straight (versus twisted)
Backup blade may come in handy when the SHTF. You may complain about not being able to BATON on that side of the blade, but doing it the way I did still works very well.

The Bad:
Left handed operators may wish they had 2 spindle sockets on the handle.
Smaller Hellion Elite means smaller diameter handle which is GOOD for smaller operators, but for me it was a BIT small (but I can still do the business with it).


Awesome Scale
9.5/10 (wish my hands were slightly smaller)

If you are a company wishing to send products for review, please contact me at: Andy.InnerBark@gmail.com


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