But I have yet to find a fixed blade knife that works for the purposes this one does.
Swing and a miss.....why would you need to carry a fixed-blade either?
A seatbelt cutter, especially this one, has certain safety features so I wont cut myself or the patient
Strike two.....so do a pair of trauma shears.
Secondly, Not quite sure what a whacker is.
Rescue Randy"? Overeager pain in the butt (usually a newbie) that no one wants to work with because they are so overzealous? "Whacker" just seems to be the term everyone on this forum uses for some reason....never heard it used elsewhere. Around here, they are normally called either "Rescue Randy" or "that one d*****bag".
Whats the difference between a switchblade and fixed blade? In essence, nothing.
Are you talking just a folding pocketknife or the actual, push a button and it swings the blade out form of a knife?
Besides, my SAR team requires us to have a knife, seatbelt cutter and window punch (among other things) so why not combine them? Its just a means of utility and convenience.
Ah, I see....it's for a SAR team. We were required to have a seatbelt cutter and window punch in our personal equipment as well, but no one carried them on missions. That said, I've yet to see one of these combi-tools geared towards EMTs that works as well as it's advertised.
Have you spent much time in the field?
Roughly (a little over) eleven years in EMS (paid and volunteer both, usually working one of each), several of them as a supervisor and/or volunteer fire officer as well as a SAR and water rescue/dive team member.
Dont think Im a yahoo that is trying to go out of his way to look cool.
I never assumed that based on the desire to carry a knife. It was just the one you described that made me concerned you were just another overeager newbie like we get here so frequently.
A window punch would have saved me a minute almost.
Assuming you kept it on your belt at all times. That's pretty much the definition of a Rescue Randy in most people's book.
Just because YOU have not needed one doesnt mean other people have not or will not need one.
Neither has anyone I've worked with. I seem to recall a thread on here about pointless, redundant or useless equipment and that was one of the things listed by several people. Actually, the only person I've ever known who used one outside of training was a car thief.
Something most knifes dont have.
May I suggest you look into some of the knifes designed for divers? A lot of them (although almost all are fixed blades) are very tough since they are basically designed as much as a digging tool as a knife, sharp enough to cut but designed not to easily wound someone inadvertently. Also many of them have a little hooked area built into to cut line that will work well to cut seatbelts should you be so inclined. A lot of the SAR team members I dealt with carried them.
