As someone who carries a pocketknife at all times, I’m always on the lookout for new candidates to be my every day carry knife. So when my previous favorite (the SOG Bladelight) started to really show its age, I turned to the new updated version, the SOG Baton Q2.
To know if this smaller variant is worthy of being an everyday carry pocket knife, we put it to the test for you.
SOG Baton Q2 Urban Multi-Tool Review
Functionality
The SOG Baton Q2 Multi-Tool packs only a few tools in its toolkit compared to a more traditional swiss army knife, but the tools it does carry are pretty useful, so let’s go through them one by one.
The main tool in this pocketknife is, of course, the knife itself, which we’ll get into more detail later, but the main highlights here are a fairly small straight-edge blade, protected by a simple slide lock mechanism inside the handle.
Apart from the blade, the SOG Q2 also features a combination bottle opener and flat edge screwdriver as well as an LED flashlight.
The flashlight is powered by one AAA battery and is rated at 75 lumens. For our use we found it to be plenty bright for seeing around a campground, or just around the house when you need it. One thing we’ll point out here is that turning the light on and off is done by twisting the lens cap, something we’re not really a fan of. The previous Bladelight used a weather-resistant button. But to be fair, we also found ourselves hitting that button at times and would run batteries down by leaving the light on when we didn’t want it. So perhaps the change to a twist style on/off mechanism here is smarter than we are realizing.
The ‘Baton’ name of this little multi-tool comes from its shape when closed, which is roughly the size of a permanent marker, maybe a little taller, but still a good enough size to slide right into your pocket. Its size isn’t really as prohibitive as it may seem once you actually get it in your hands and pocket, but it does make the one-handed action a little odd.
In infield use, we found that the practice of one-handed removal and opening of the pocket knife is a little clunky. It became a bit more fluid after having practiced with it for a bit but even still, the feeling of opening the blade by sliding the lock over and folding down half the frame still doesn’t feel very natural.
The Blade
There’s pretty much no point in carrying a pocket knife if the blade isn’t going to be sharp and durable, so naturally, it’s a pretty big part of the review here.
Over the course of the past couple weeks of field-testing this knife, it’s held up extremely well for the various tests we put it through. Everything from cutting open cardboard boxes to cutting through thick rope was not much of an issue for the SOG Baton Q2’s blade. However, it is only a straight blade with no serrated section on it. So you’re not going to be able to use it for things like cutting through denser objects like sticks and twigs unless you really have some time to kill sawing away at it.
Price
The Sog Baton Q2 is currently selling on Amazon.com for a fair price and compared to similar knives that offer the same type of multi-function ability built-in, this is a solid price. You can get yourself a pretty nice pocket knife like the Smith & Wesson Extreme Ops for just $12.95 but of course, it wouldn’t have the flashlight built into it, so it’s hard to really compare apples to apples there. Update: The Sog Baton Q2 is not available anymore.
The Final Verdict
After having the SOG Baton Q2 as my everyday carry for a couple of weeks there are definitely some things about it I loved, and some things I really missed about my old SOG knife. The blade itself is excellent – it’s sharp, durable, and big enough to get most cutting jobs done, and the bottle opener is a nice addition to have handy. The flashlight portion of this Baton Q2 is one of my favorites, although I have to admit I find myself wishing the light was activated by a button instead of by twisting the cap.
All said and done, the SOG Baton Q2 is a worthy performer and certainly a pocket knife we’d recommend picking up or at a minimum looking further into. Having a knife, bottle opening, screwdriver, and flashlight at your reach at all times is something we really appreciate.
SOG Baton Q2 Alternative
Because the Sog Baton Q2 is not available anymore, we have an alternative for you, we recommend.
This pen combines the most needed EDC tools in one sturdy, well designed, well crafted compact tactical pen. Made of Aircraft Aluminum, light weight and durable, effect tactical action, improve safety coefficient.
Thanks for the review. Nice work!