We tested three new knives from Bosch—the H11-11100-1 Folding Utility Knife, the H11-13000-1 Retractable Utility Knife, and the H11-12100-1 18mm Snap-Off Utility Knife. All three are excellent knives, but they don’t have the speed and ease of use that mark the Fastbacks.
Milwaukee has a number of other Fastback knives, all of which are excellent. Although we prefer our picks, if any of the other models appeal to your specific needs, you’re likely to be satisfied. The Fastback Compact Folding Utility Knife is smaller than our picks and a little harder to grip, but it’s also inexpensive, in case you’re looking to add another knife to a toolbox or workbench. The Fastback 6-in-1 Folding Utility Knife has a screwdriver and bottle opener added to the mix. The screwdriver adds bulk, but it works well for minor projects.
The James Brand Palmer forgoes the construction-ready vibe of the others in favor of a sleek, stylish, urban look. Available in a variety of colors, the knife—made of anodized aluminum—is very thin and casts a smaller shadow than a credit card. It’s a fun knife, but the downsides are that its lack of grip and small size make it a not-so-great choice for any kind of rugged work. It’s also an expensive item, typically sold around the $40 mark. It’s not a great choice for a knock-around, toolbox item, but if the aesthetics appeal to you, and you have a decent budget, you’ll likely enjoy having this knife around.
The Stanley 10-499 is a common inhabitant of pro tool belts nationwide. It’s durable, simple to use, and has on-board blade storage. Compared with the Fastbacks, it’s not as easy to grip, and it’s more difficult to stick in a pocket. It’s a solid knife, but we prefer the Fastbacks.
The Stanley STHT10432 Control Grip Utility Knife has a thin body, a recessed slide button, and rubbery padding on the grip area, making it one of the more ergonomic knives we’ve used. But as much as we liked this knife, it still suffers from the downsides of other retractable knives. Most importantly, the blade can peek out while the knife is in the pocket, something that happened to us a few times during testing.
The Irwin 2088600 Self Retracting Safety Knife, has a spring-loaded blade that’s tensioned so it always wants to retract back into the tool. As soon as you let go, the blade vanishes. It’s certainly a safe system, but it isn’t practical for any involved projects like cutting out old caulking on the kitchen sink or trimming a rug pad.
The knives in the Irwin FK Series (FK100 and FK150) share some similarities with the Milwaukee Fastbacks, but they’re far less refined. They have an awkward thumb open that usually needs two hands, and they’re nowhere near as comfortable to hold.
The Olympia Tools 33-187 Turbopro Autoload Knife is a nice retractable knife with the traditional thumb slide, and it fits well in the hands. It also has an auto-loading feature, which automatically inserts a new blade into an empty cartridge. The downside is that it’s simply not as comfortable or “grippy” as the Fastbacks.
The Olympia 33-200 Turbofold has the easiest blade-change mechanism of all the tested models, but two hands are required to fold and unfold the blade. The handles also don’t have the Fastbacks’s nice contoured grip.
The Gerber EAB Lite Pocket Knife is so small that, when it’s folded up, it can fit on a credit card—with room to spare. But with its small size you get poor ergonomics. With any medium-duty or aggressive cutting, the knife’s metal edges dig into the hands. Also, changing out the blade requires undoing a flathead screw, and it cannot be done quickly or easily.
DeWalt’s Folding Retractable Knife is an interesting model in that it is both folding and retractable. There’s no question that it’s a solidly built tool, but it’s cumbersome. When compared with the speed of the Fastbacks’s blade deployment, the DeWalt’s thumb slide seems like an unnecessary extra step. Also, the comfort of the handle is nowhere near that of the Fastbacks.
Greenlee’s Heavy-Duty Folding Utility Knife is a large knife that can store five additional blades. Unfortunately, there is no belt hook, and this knife is too big for any standard pocket. Because of the very stiff hinge and locking mechanism, the Greenlee has a two-handed open and close.
The Sheffield Lock-Back is an attractive knife, but you have to use two hands to close it, so it’s not as efficient as some of the others. It also has the fussiest blade change: To lock in a new blade, we had to press against a piece, basically pushing our thumb up toward the underside of the blade while the top piece was being pressed downward. If it slips …
The Alltrade Squeeze Utility Knife is large and has a massive, 10-blade storage compartment. It’s very comfortable to hold and has an internal auto-load feature that feeds in a new blade once a dull one is removed. Because of the number of stored blades and the comfortable rubber padding on the grip area, this is going to be a winner for someone who literally has a knife in their hands all day long. But for general use, it doesn’t beat out the Fastbacks.
The Olfa XH-1 uses a segmented snap blade. This is a long blade that can be extended almost its full length if need be (in this case, just over 4 inches), giving it the ability to cut thicker items like foam insulation. When the edge dulls, take a pair of pliers and break off the end segment to expose a new edge. The blade locks with a wheel that’s a little fussy and slow. It’s not our first choice for around-the-house use, but if you think you’d want to be able to extend a longer blade, the Olfa XH-1 is definitely the most comfortable snap knife we’ve held.
Cheap utility knives, like the classic Stanley 10-099, don’t cost much, but they offer nothing more than the most rudimentary functionality and safety features.
