Survival Hax Tactical Credit Card Tool Review

I have received this Survival Hax Tactical Credit Card Tool in exchange for an honest review.

It arrived on time and was well protected from damage during shipping, encased in a box and foam insert which was appreciated.

Upon unpacking one of the first things I noticed was its size. Yes, it’s length and width are about the same size as a credit card but it’s thickness is considerably larger as compared to one of those folding credit card knives you may have seen:

This, of course, is to be expected considering all of the tools included, but being a “credit card tool” I was half expecting it to be able to fit in my wallet. If I didn’t already have a ton of stuff packed in my wallet then maybe, just maybe, it would fit… but this tool really shouldn’t be expected to fit in a wallet unless you really carry nothing but a bit of cash and a few credit cards.

So, let’s talk about the various tools included (in no particular order) and here’s a photo of the tool with its various components removed:

Knife

The knife blade is about 1 1/2″ of usable surface area (maybe a little more) with a large portion of that being serrated. Personally, I would have preferred the knife be straight the entire length as I find that design more useful; again, that’s just a personal preference.

The knife does include a finger indent for better handling which is nice. I did, however, notice that even the straight edge of the knife wasn’t very sharp out of the box but a little touch-up should fix that. There’s also a small cutout in the knife to include a Hex Tool which I really wished they hadn’t done as this may compromise blade integrity.

Fire Starter

I like that it includes a fire starter and after some work I was able to remove some shavings and a few sparks, though I would have preferred it to be about twice as long to make using it a bit easier on me. It’s still usable, just not VERY usable.

Button Compass

There’s also a button compass inset into the tool that, when comparing to my phone’s compass is relatively accurate, at least enough to point you in the general direction you want to go.

Magnifying Lens

There is also a small magnifying lens inset into the tool next to the button compass. The magnifying lens is usable when you get it at the exact right distance which may be helpful in removing splinters, for example, but the bigger interest on my part would be whether or not I could use it start a fire. My inclination is “probably not” but that’s just a guess as I haven’t tried doing so. If someone has been able to do so I would certainly like to hear about it.

Tweezers and Toothpick

The tool also includes a small set of plastic tweezers which, to be honest, aren’t very usable whatsoever. I really would have preferred they were metal as I don’t see these plastic ones being able to properly grasp a tick, let alone a splinter. The toothpick, however, isn’t half bad even though it’s plastic.

Blade Sharpener

I was excited to see a blade sharpener included in the tool but, regrettably, it’s inset just enough into the tool that actually contacting the knife edge is rather difficult. Move the sharpener out a bit and it’s a nice addition.

Bottle Opener

While neat to include one I don’t see much of a survival use for this unless you happen to have a six pack you desperately need opened, lol. It looks like the tool also includes a flat head bit on the end which could prove useful in some situations.

Built-in Rulers

Each side of the credit card has a built in ruler, one in metric and the other in English, measuring about three inches.

Mini Whistle

This is a part of the tool I really liked, that being the mini whistle. It is rather small as you can see here (that’s my current keychain whistle and a mini Bic lighter for size comparison purposes):

The whistle is also rather shrill which I consider a good thing. The only drawback is that the whistle was included separately from the tool rather than being contained within like everything else. I would think that if they changed the design of the whistle a bit and made it fit in the credit card tool that would be a good thing.

Regardless, the whistle is good enough to be useful and quite small and, so, I’ve chosen to swap out my wife’s keychain whistle with this one which I’m sure she will appreciate.

Paracord Lanyard

There’s also a two or three foot lanyard included as well as a built-in anchoring point in the corner of the tool if you wish to use it. They say it’s 550 paracord but it sure doesn’t look like it to me; of course, I could be mistaken as I didn’t attempt to take any inner strands out.

Final Thoughts…

Ultimately, I really want to like this Survival Hax Credit Card Tool. It has some nice features and potentially useful ideas that other credit card sized tools simply do not.

That said, I cannot recommend it as a truly useful survival tool until some changes have been made.

Regardless, at a price of $12.99 this could be just the thing to get a child (maybe even a grandchild) into survival and preparedness. After all, I still remember some of the nifty gadgets I got to play with as a kid, how about you?