Kevin P

I broke the red handle the first time I used it which was in firm/icy snow. I wouldn't want to be relying on this for digging someone out of an avalanche. (but I bought it for emergency/solo shelter building). The Aluminum welds in the blade also appear to have fracturing that might fail. It is light weight and compact- very impressive on that front. Also... I had to debur/sand all the perimeter edges of the blade - they were sharp enough to tear up my pack.