After using the DPx Gear HEAT/F knife for a few weeks as my everyday carry, I am impressed. Yes, it is a small blade at under 3″, but don’t let that fool you. When you grab hold of this knife, you know you’re holding a well-built tool. The handle is beefy and fits the hand very well, with a large enough grip to be used as either an emergency glass breaker or as a blunt striking device.
The overall design of the knife is quite appealing. The lock is well made and the blade coating is quite good, better than most other knives on the market. The drop-point blade shape is a very simple and effective profile. Why screw around with weird angles and grinds when this design just works?
The durability is outstanding, but given the knife’s size, the thickness of the blade makes for a poor slicer. This is not a paper-slicing or food-prepping knife.
The knife is heavy, but it is not a pocket anchor. The deep-carry clip is positioned well and the overall size of the knife is not too bad. It is a little thick, in large part because of the blade, but nothing unmanageable for a knife of this type.
The bottle opener/wave deployment feature is an outstanding add to this knife. The wave feature is a virtually perfect design, similar to the Emerson wave feature. The advantage of the DPx HEAT’s wave feature over the Emerson knives is that it’s low-profile enough to not accidentally open the blade each time you pull the knife from your pocket, but it still opens every time you want it to.
After some extensive cutting, I am convinced that D2 steel rocks. D2 is monstrously tough and a very good choice for a hard-use knife like the HEAT. Normal EDC tasks are not really a challenge for a knife like this, so I decided to do some fire prep—shaving wood for fire starters and whittling.
I like the HEAT/F OD quite a bit. It is a rugged knife with a great blade shape and an excellent fast-deployment method. This is a big blade that is plenty rugged for most tasks, but the titanium materials add a premium price and seriously strong lock.
From the manufacturer:
DPx Gear (Dangerous Places Extreme) was created because I had very specific needs for equipment in hostile and deadly environments.—Robert Young Pelton (hostile environment survivor)
Want to know more about Robert Young Pelton, his adventures, and survival? Visit Come Back Alive. To read his recent work, head over to VICE.
