Thought I'd fire this thread back up. I was gifted a BG knife last week and did some modest testing on it.

First, the knife itself is nicer than I expected. The handle is grippy when wet or wearing slick gloves, I was at a lake to test this. The blade is very similar to the Gerber LMF2 or Prodigy, darkened with a couple inches of serration at the bottom that easily cut through some cordage I needed. The pommel has a hammer that I only pounded against some river rocks and it did not cave in the checkers, nor jump out of my hand.

Some light wood cutting with the blade only showed it does what its intended purpose is. Same with some hard salami and block of cheese. And the aforementioned cordage with the serrations. I didn't try cutting a tomato or punching through a garbage can.

Accessories. The whistle is corded to the bottom lash point of the handle. Two other lash points are at the top of the handle. Its quite small but my daughter was able to make is go off loud enough that we asked her to stop. I blew it at the lake and a friend 500 yards away heard it quite easily. Its good.

Firestarter. A ferro rod is built into the sheath. It takes a modest pull w/ two fingers on the orange and black triangular handle to pull it from the its attachment point. Of course more testing/use will determine if the seal stays strong. To scrape the rod you use the backside of the knife blade. There is a 1/4" rough spot above the handle that has been left shiny so you can see where to scrap in order to produce spark. After a few scrapes to remove the protective coat I was able to light dry grass I collected nearby in a couple minutes. I have started three fires this week using this product. All comparable in time, effort as my Light My Fire FireSteel.

Sheath/Sharpener. The sheath is nothing special, cordura over a hard plastic insert, (I suppose). It is not bulky, wide or thick which is nice. There is four carry loops on the back, 2 vertical, 2 horizontal, to carry as you wish. A velcro strap secures the pommel to the sheath. The scabbard has a tight seat with the knife so that they mate tight and a slight pull is needed to remove the blade. The scabbard attaches to the sheath at the bottom with velcro and a velcro strap mid way up. When you unhook the mid level velcro the scabbard peels away from the sheath and a knife sharpener has been embedded on the back of the scabbard. I have not used this yet, but by touch its very rough.

Stitched onto the back of the sheath is weatherproof guide to universal rescue signals. Included in the box is a large weatherized paper fold out designed by Bear also giving simple instructions and icons for survival. Not something I would probably carry with me, but I haven't thrown it away yet either.

Overall impression. I own more expensive knives that do less than this. I suppose if someone were looking at buying a fixed blade they could do much worse on the cost and weight. The whistle and fire starter should be factored into the return on investment of as they are in my opinion as good as any individual similar product on the shelf and not mere window dressing.