Although designed mainly for slicing through ropes, tat and cordage, the Petzl Spatha will make light work of salami and those hard alpine cheeses! By nature of its size, the NIAD isn’t nearly as effective for all-around use, but it can manage in a pinch. The other two (the CRKT NIAD and Trango Piranha) are small, ultralight emergency knives with metal handles and no sheath. Due to the size and nature of some items, we're unable to despatch them via our usual delivery services. If you don’t need to trim every gram, consider the Petzl Spatha. The penalties are slim, adding less than an ounce of weight and a couple inches of size. In exchange, you get the very best performance in a design that works just as well as a camp knife. The NIAD and Piranha are probably smaller than your car key. Budget

For emergency knives, the choice comes down to price. The NIAD is significantly more expensive, but offers slightly better performance in a more usable design. The Piranha isn’t quite as user-friendly, but it’s a decent performer at a wallet-friendly price. How We Tested The Rope Tooth’s unpredictable ways made for a slightly dangerous test. Smaller blades (Piranha and NIAD) are less friendly for general use. While the full-length blades have both serrated and un-serrated sections, the shorter blades are almost entirely serrated. That’s great for cutting cord but less adaptable to other tasks. For a relatively cheap knife by good knife standards I'd recommend a spyderco serrated delica, VG-10 - though any VG-10 sypderco will be good. Unless you need to carve, serrated is pretty good. There's more cutting area, and even when relatively blunt they still act like a saw. Not to mention serrated cuts through things so much faster than plain edges. I suspect you'll lose the knife before you need to sharpen it, though. You can open delicas very fast with one hand, too. One handed opening is important.

Summary

When unfolded, the NIAD was an excellent performer in the cutting tests, bested only by the Petzl. A small divot at the base of the blade provides a place for the index finger to nest, which allows a surprisingly secure grip for such a small blade. All four knives have clip-in points and/or lanyard attachment points. The Spatha and Rope Tooth can be opened while clipped to a carabiner, but the Piranha and NIAD cannot. Size, Weight, & Intended Use A little industrial research reveals that the Spatha uses the highest-quality steel of the bunch. It’s sharp and versatile, but should hold up well to long-term use and resharpening.

Although it has the longest blade of any knife in our test, the plastic handle is shorter than the Spatha’s and has no texture for grip. It’s still more versatile than the emergency knives, but it’s not reassuring during all-around use. For emergency use, the small blade was effective if not exceptional in all our tests. The stainless steel handle makes the Piranha a couple grams heavier than the NIAD, but it’s barely noticeable, and the Piranha is just as comfortable on a keychain.

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The Rope Tooth is cheaper than the Spatha, but in this case the extra money is well worth spending. With such serious flaws, we think the Rope Tooth is poor value even at for how cheap it is. Summary In line with current health and safety guidelines, we reserve the right to refuse any items that are (for whatever reason) not returned to us in a clean and hygienic condition. Surrounding the clip-in point is a textured plastic wheel that allows for easy manipulation with climbing gloves, removing the worry of slicing open a mitt. The greatest asset of the Piranha is its price. As of this writing it ties the Edelrid for the cheapest in the test and is less than half the price of the NIAD. For comparable emergency performance, that’s a good value.