Olight U1 Ultra Utility Knife Review
The Olight U1 Ultra utility knife features a ceramic blade and a useful pocket clip. It’s available in many designs, a few handle materials, and many looks.
Official Specs
Here’s a referral link to the Olight U1 Ultra utility knife.
Versions
Many versions of the Olight U1 Ultra utility knife are available. I even have three versions to show in this post! These three are aluminum and titanium, but carbon fiber and micarta are available too. Some of the aluminum versions have designs printed, too!
Price
The Olight U1 Ultra utility knife ranges in price from around $20 to just over $50 (for titanium). You can check them out and buy your favorites through my referral link!
Package
What’s Included
- Olight U1 Ultra utility knife
- Mini pry bar
- Manual etc
Look
The Olight U1 Ultra utility knife really looks like a utility knife. There’s no escaping that (and no apparent intention to escape that!). It uses a standard razor blade, but ships with a ceramic blade.
The Olight U1 Ultra utility knife does offer some features I don’t remember on a utility blade, though. More on that later. But for now, check out the look!
I’ve focused this review mostly on this OAL (Olight Aluminum or o-aluminum) version, but you can see the titanium here, too. I like this OAL the best becuase it matches Olight’s OAL olive green flashlights.
Here’s the titanium version. It commands a premium in price but is functionally identical to the other options.
Open / Close / Lock
There are a number of ways to open the Olight U1 Ultra utility knife. Probably the main way is the dual thumbstud opening option.
Next is the flipper tab on the back.
The flipper option is great, but the action on this utility knife isn’t as smooth as many (more dedicated) flipper-style pocket knives.
Another way to open the Olight U1 Ultra utility knife is the same way you’d close it – with this button lock on the top of the handle.
This is a great button!
It’s suitable for unlocking the knife from an open position, but also for flinging the knife open.
Build and Feel
Parts on the Olight U1 Ultra utility knife are individually good – the OAL, for example, and more so the titanium – feels very nice in hand.
One side has pivot adjustment access.
There are parts of the Olight U1 Ultra utility knife that feel much more “utility” than premium knife, though (again, as it really should be – this should be considered a workhorse!
For example, the blade isn’t very centered, even aside from the design considerations (which is to say, the blade is mounted on one side of the spine, so you’d expect it to be centered on that side of the spine.)
The scales are not skeletonized, but weight isn’t really a concern on this knife anyway.
Size
Item Length 5.6 Inches
Blade Length 60 Millimeters
Above, you can see the Kansept Apollo knife with the Civivi Elementum in orange G10. I use that knife so much!
Here’s the knife in hand:
Those darker spots on the green version are just oil and wiped off fairly easily.
Below you can see the Olight U1 Ultra utility knife with the venerable Convoy S2+. The version below is a custom laser-engraved Convoy S2+ host by GadgetConnections.com. I did a full post on an engraved orange host right here! Or go straight to GadgetConnections.com to buy your Convoy S2+ now!
Also in the photo above, my Standard Reference Material (SRM) flashlight is the Hanko Machine Works Trident, an 18350 light. While I have not reviewed or tested the Gunner Grip version seen here, I have tested a Hanko Machine Works Trident Total Tesseract in brass. I love the Trident, and it’s a striking contrast to the inexpensive Convoy S2+, another great SRM.
Steel / Cut / Oats
This isn’t steel! The blade included with the Olight U1 Ultra utility knife is a “zirconium oxide ceramic blade with 1200HV hardness.”
I don’t have any complaints about this blade, but it does seem that I’ve managed to chip the tip somewhere along the way! Fortunately, the blade can be reversed, and so essentially every blade offers two tips.
You can replace this blade with a standard stainless steel blade, of course.
I found that little screw to be hard to start, and had to use pliers to get it going. It’s designed not to require tools, though, I think.
Retention
A screw-in pocket clip is included.
The clip attaches only to the side seen below, which is tip-up carry.
Summary and Conclusion
The Olight U1 Ultra utility knife is an interesting utility knife from Oknife/Olight. There are many options (including aluminum, titanium, carbon fiber, and micarta), and I love that. I really don’t care about the ceramic blade – it’s fine, but I would never buy more when this one dulls (I would go with stainless steel). The flipping action could be smoother. For $20 on the lower end, they are a fun option for this category!
Notes
- This knife was provided by Olight for review. I was not paid to write this review.
- This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
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