Taking a break from my usual hard-hitting, informed and in-depth review of serious, professional hardware, I thought I’d turn my attention to a gift that I’d love to receive. The Victorinox SwissCard. A lovely idea, it is best described as a Swiss Army Knife in business card form.

What it comes with

The box is a book-style, recycled cardboard sleeve, with a depression that contains, unsurprisingly, the SwissCard. Contents are printed on the back of the cardboard sleeve.

Features

The SwissCard has two distinct rulers (7.5cm and 3 inches), “letter opener” (it’s a knife, but that sounds far more PC), scissors, nail file “with screwdriver”, ballpoint pen, tweezers, toothpick, stainless steel pin and a protractor.

Inconsistencies

While packed with just about everything you’d need to come off as cool, I wouldn’t want to rely on this in a survival situation. The Card itself is around 82mm x 54mm x 4mm thick, a LOT thicker than a business card. However, to cram as much as they have in to the Card, all of the tools are quite small. Also sorely missing is a hole for looping onto a belt, keyring or a backpack – a glaring oversight in my mind.

As to the tools, the scissors are not to be used for anything more than a few centimeters of paper, and I wouldn’t rely on them cutting anything thicker. The protractor is plastic-y and cannot be locked to accurately measure anything. The toothpick is standard issue Swiss yellow plastic, suitable for your cousins-from-the-country gaps in teeth, while the tweezers have little to no holding power without major pressure. The nail file is quite abrasive thankfully, although the integrated “screwdriver” is a simple straight edge, and at 3mm long, a little to big for delicate screws like in a computer.

The “letter opener” – a single edged blade of 35mm long, is probably the most useful thing in there.

The pen works brilliantly though, although it IS a little short and I question how long the ink will last.

Pricing

Starting from AUD$39, it is an extremely affordable gift. Better yet, con your credit card company in to giving you one (like me!) and hand it out to your favourite hard-to-buy-for relative. Both sexes will appreciate it.

Expandability

Being a custom manufactured casing, there is little expandability.

Overall

Despite the inconsistencies, I love my new toy, even though I may be buying more to give as gifts to those difficult to shop for persons in my life.

Victorinox Swisscard Overall Score

Good: Everyone needs a Swiss Army Knife - now you can have one in your shirt pocket without people starting to scream! Not too expensive - great stocking filler Swiss manufactured - precision

Bad: Tools a little too small, potentially difficult to handle No belt/keyring loop, sadly

Verdict: Overall the Swisscard is a good present, but if someone already has a Swiss Army Knife, might be a little ho-hum Kevin's Score : 6 / 10

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