True Utility Smart Knife Review: Clever Idea, Questionable Execution

Introduction

After smart watches and smart phones, a “smart knife” was an intriguing proposition. The True Utility Smart Knife packs a long list of features into a folding pocket knife that costs roughly 25 dollars, positioning itself in the same general tool space as a Leatherman at a fraction of the price. That price point alone raises the obvious question: how much tool can you actually get for 25 dollars?

This is the second version of the knife, following an earlier release. After spending real time with it, the honest answer is that the feature list looks better on paper than it works in the hand. There are a few genuinely good ideas here, but also several engineering decisions that get in the way of daily use.

What the Smart Knife Tries to Be

The Smart Knife is a folding utility knife with a limited lifetime warranty, aimed at people who want a compact multi-function tool for light everyday tasks. The blade has a fair working edge, but the grind is odd: the curve near the tip appears to be literally the curvature of the grinding wheel, apparently done for looks. Combined with a fairly sharp tip, it is not the most useful blade shape for general cutting.

The flipper action is underwhelming as well. It flips about as far as you can flip it and no further, and loosening the pivot is not really an option since there is already some visible play. A nylon washer sits inside the pivot, and introducing more looseness would only make things worse.

The bigger day-to-day annoyance is the liner lock. The blade can wedge over the lock so far that it cannot be pushed free with a finger, requiring a screwdriver to pry it back. Each time that happens, opening and closing the knife comes to a full stop until you work the lock loose.

The Magnetic Bit Driver

The standout feature on the spec sheet is a magnetic bit driver that drops a single included bit into place. In practice, getting the bit out often requires pliers. Once seated, the driver has one genuinely strong point: it is centered. Unlike a Leatherman’s bit driver, which sits off to the side when open or off-center when closed, this one runs straight, letting you spin it without much concern about lateral wobble.

But there is a serious design flaw. Because the driver sits right at the pivot, using it as intended creates a long lever arm that moves the knife blade back and forth. Applying torque while screwing puts prying force exactly where the tool is weakest, on a pivot that already has play in it. Add a little extra force and you can see the frame spread. It is hard to imagine the mechanism lasting long under regular use.

Wire Stripper, File, and Bottle Opener

The remaining features are a mixed bag. The bolt cutout grips small bolts, and it even grabbed metric hardware despite not being sized for it, but twisting on a bolt creates a lever that stresses the frame. The fit is also slightly loose, so precision work is out of the question.

The wire stripper only works one way as far as testing showed: seat the wire in the notch, close the blade down, and pull it across the blade edge. That is not ideal treatment for the blade, but it does get the job done. A file, ruler, belt clip, and bottle opener round out the list. There is also a notch near the bit driver that looks like it should work as a cord cutter, but it never gets anywhere near the blade, which seems like a missed opportunity. On that note, the included bit was nearly impossible to remove by hand when the knife was new.

The Small Pry Bar

The pry bar at the very end of the tool is one of the more concerning features. It is a very small piece of metal, necessarily slim to leave room for the folded blade inside the handle, and it is held in by two small screws.

Under pressure, the metal audibly flexes, and the worry is not just cracking but spreading the back of the frame entirely. It simply does not feel like there is enough metal there for real prying work. The more the knife gets used, the looser the whole thing feels, including the liner lock snapping over with surprising resistance.

Buying Advice

The Smart Knife is fun to examine and genuinely educational about where budget multi-tools can fail, but it is difficult to recommend as a working tool. The centered bit driver is a real plus, and the price is undeniably low, but the lever-arm problem at the pivot, the wedging liner lock, and the fragile pry bar all point in the same direction. For anyone relying on a multi-tool for actual tasks, a sturdier, better-engineered option is worth saving up for. Real jobs deserve real tools, and trying to make one inexpensive tool cover everything is how hands get hurt.

Conclusion

The True Utility Smart Knife offers an impressive feature list for around 25 dollars, but execution falls short in the places that matter most: the pivot, the lock, and the pry bar. As a curiosity or a light-duty backup it might find an audience, but buyers with genuine work in mind should look at more robust alternatives.