Gerber EAB Lite Stainless Steel Exchange-A-Blade Utility Razor Pocket Knife with Clip

I received this product at no cost as a Spark reviewer. I am a long time user of the original Gerber Exchange-A-Blade knife. I purchased my current one about 5 years ago to replace one that I lost before. I’ve carried all kinds of knives from the trusty buck to an expensive Microtech Ultratech OTF. This is hands down my favorite knife. I open a lot of boxes and packages in my work. They tend to dull a knife down pretty quickly and I just don’t like to sharpen knives. Typically I find pocket knives are either soft metal that dulls fast and sharpen easily or they are better steel and dull slowly and are difficult to sharpen. I was pretty happy when I found this type of knife. It’s a lot easier to just “exchange” the blade entirely. When it’s noticeably dull at work I can just swap the blade around and point it the other way or just change it out with a pack of razor utility blades from the glove-box of my car. All you need to change the blade is a 10 cent screwdriver (use a dime). The original EAB has become my go-to knife. It’s just easy and compact. I often put it in the watch pocket of a pair of jeans. The liner lock action locks the blade securely and I am very confident that it will not close on me. My main concern has always been putting a finger in the area near the blade. The new EAB lite has a much more pronounced nub instead of the concave area of the original knife. Depending on what you’re cutting you and the sharpness of the current blade you can also just hold the knife by the spine. That is usually enough of a grip to slice through most tape. The new EAB lite honestly feels about the same weight to me as the old one. It’s included default blade is much heavier than the current lenox utility blade i’m using in the original though. I attached some photos of the EAB lite, the original EAB with 5 long years of wear from everyday use, and a SOG Key knife with a coin and a AA battery as a size reference. If you’re using a utility knife for really heavy work like cutting carpet or anything that requires a lot of force I wouldn’t suggest this knife. You’ll want your full handle for that heavy duty stuff. I’ve never used it as a money clip. I use it too often to want to pull out my wad every time I cut something. If you want a replacement for a pocket knife that you can just replace the blade instead of sharpening look no further.