Survival Hax Tactical Credit Card Tool review

Pocket survival tools are a great way to be prepared for those emergencies that randomly occur in life. To me, the two key features in a survival tool are functionality and size. If a survival tool does not have some minimum features such as a cutting edge and a fire starting tool it misses the mark for me. When it comes to size, it has to be small enough to carry around without notice. I already own and reviewed an older model Tool Logic Survival Card 2 which I would say is more of a daily urban environment tool than a hardcore survival tool, so when I was offered a chance to review the Survival Hax Tactical Credit Card Tool I jumped on it.

Note: Images can be clicked to view a larger size.

As I stated above I have another survival credit card, but what makes the Survival Hax Tactical Credit Card Tool more of a hardcore survival tool are the tools that are included with the tool.

For clarity in this article, I will be referring to the Survival Hax Tactical Credit Card Tool as the SH Tactical Credit Card Tool. The SH Tactical Credit Card Tool comes with the following:

• Credit Card Tool
• Protective sleeve
• Paracord
• Emergency whistle

The measurements for the SH Tactical Credit Card Tool are as follows:

• 3.5 inches long
• 2.3 inches wide
• 0.2 inches thick

The SH Tactical Credit Card Tool comes with the following tools as part of the card:

• Knife with a partially serrated blade, a fishing line cutter and a hex tool built into the blade
• Blade sharpener
• Magnifying glass
• Compass
• Ruler
• Bottle opener
• Toothpick
• Tweezers
• Fire starter flint (Magnesium rod)

To compare my current survival tool has the following:

• Knife
• LED flashlight
• Whistle
• Tweezers
• Toothpick
• Magnesium fire starter

By comparison, you can understand why I differentiate between the two, with the SH Tactical Credit Card Toll being more of a wilderness survival tool.

The knife for this credit card tool has a lot of nice features, but one in particular caught my eye, the hex tool. I do not actually know how useful this may be, but the fact that someone designed it into this tool means they gave some thought to survival situations. The knife’s serrated edge cuts well and the fishing line cutter does its job. As you can see, I am using a quarter to give some size reference. I will be doing this in several photos.

On the opposite end of the card from the knife is the blade sharpener. The sharpener is fairly rough so I imagine it could put an edge on a blade in an emergency, but I don’t think I would be running a knife across it other than in an emergency situation.

The SH Tactical Credit Card Tool has a magnifying glass and a compass on the surface of the card. The magnifying glass works well for looking at objects up close and could be used to start a fire (although I did not test that feature). I am happy to see that the folks at Survival Hax did not cheap out on the compass, it is a liquid filled model which is considered better quality. Both the compass and the magnifying glass seem sturdy and well protected in their mounted location.

There are two rulers on the back of the SH Tactical Credit Card Tool, one is Metric the other is Imperial. Although they can be hard to see in low light, they are usable.

The Bottle opener fits nicely into the card and can be used as a bottle opener and screw tool. The Survival Hax web page says that the bottle opener can also be used as a hook, I don’t know if I see that. The two different screwdriver blades are what really make the bottle opener for me.

The tweezers and toothpick are nice included features and work well. I do wish they would have made the tweezers out of metal instead of plastic just for versatility.

As I stated above one of the most important features for me is the ability to start a fire. The SH Tactical Credit Card Tool has a removable Magnesium fire rod that is used to create sparks to ignite tinder. The fire starter does work, but I wish it were just a little longer to make striking it a little easier, but in an emergency, you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

Although not actually part of the tool itself Survival Hax included a whistle and some Paracord. Both are nice to have, but if you are like me you have a lot of Paracord and Paracord items laying around or packed in your bug-out bag. Again, the whistle is nice and even small enough to fit on a keychain, but for me, I will do without.

Above you can see a size comparison between the Tool Logic Survival Card 2 and the Survival Hax Tactical Credit Card Tool. The Tool Logic is a little smaller and slimmer, but the SH Tactical Credit Card Tool has more tools. I don’t know if I could say one is better than the other, they have some similarities but overall I would carry them in different situations. The Tool Logic I would carry more every day, the SH Tactical Credit Card Tool I would carry more on a weekend hike our outing.

So, what’s my bottom line here? If I had to rate the Survival Hax Tactical Credit Card Tool I would give it an 8 out of 10. High points for me are the solid design and features, especially the knife. Low points for me are the tweezers material, short fire rod and the card size. That being said the Survival Hax Tactical Credit Card Tools price point of $14.99 from the Survival Hax web page will help make it more appealing to buyers. Overall, if I were going to start my everyday survival carry from scratch the Survival Hax Tactical Credit Card Tool would be one of the first things I would consider.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Survival Hax. Visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.