Most military E-tools and civilian spades that I've tested are either made of low carbon steel (which cannot be heat treated) or in rare cases soft medium carbon steel that has not been heat treated. So the Cold Steel version of the Russian shovel is far better made technically but falls a bit short in the ergonomic department because it's overbuilt and heavy.

There is a similar problem with many other Cold Steel products - they follow the basic design of a well known, highly efficient tool and make it "stronger" and more "rugged" - the downside being that the Cold Steel version ends up heavier and somewhat unwieldy.