REVIEW – I bought the Gerber Camp Kit with a Father’s Day cookout in mind, mostly because I wanted an excuse to stop digging through a junk drawer for a spatula every time I fired up the camp stove. It bundles three separate Gerber tools, a mini cleaver, a cork-and-bottle multi-tool, and a set of cooking utensils, into one $100 package built around actually being used outdoors instead of sitting in a display case.
Note: I bought this Gerber Camp Kit with my own money. It was not provided by the manufacturer or any affiliated company or brand.
The Basics
The Camp Kit is really three Gerber products sold as one bundle: the Tri-Tip, a small fixed-blade cleaver that ships in its own sheath, the Armbar Cork, a folding multi-tool built around a corkscrew and bottle opener, and the ComplEAT set, a nesting group of camp cooking utensils. None of these are gimmicks bundled together to pad out a box. Each one is a real, standalone Gerber tool that happens to make more sense together than apart.
What You Get
- Gerber Tri-Tip fixed-blade mini cleaver with multi-mount sheath
- Gerber Armbar Cork folding multi-tool
- Gerber ComplEAT camp utensil set (spoon, fork, spatula, and opener tool)
By the Numbers
- Price: $100 for the full three-piece kit
- Tri-Tip blade steel: 7Cr17MoV stainless, plain edge, corrosion resistant
- Tri-Tip sheath: multi-mount, belt or pack compatible
- Armbar Cork: 9 tools, frame lock construction, textured grip
- ComplEAT utensil set: anodized aluminum tools, high-temp nylon spatula with a silicone overmold
Design and Build
Every piece in this kit feels like it was designed to survive being tossed in a truck bed rather than admired on a shelf. The Tri-Tip’s handle has enough texture to stay put in a wet or greasy hand, and the sheath clips solidly to a belt or a pack strap without rattling loose. The ComplEAT utensils use the same anodized aluminum across the board, so the spoon, fork, and spatula all feel like one matched set instead of mismatched camping-aisle leftovers.
The Tri-Tip Cleaver
The Tri-Tip is a genuinely useful little cleaver, small enough to pack flat but heavy enough at the edge to break down firewood kindling or actually butcher something at camp instead of just spreading peanut butter. The multi-mount sheath is the detail that sold me. It rides on a belt or a bag just as easily as it stores flat in a kit bag, so it never feels like the one oddly shaped piece you have to plan the rest of your packing around.
The Armbar Cork and ComplEAT Utensils
The Armbar Cork handles the job most tools in this space forget about: opening the bottle of wine that inevitably comes out after the food is done. Nine tools live in one compact frame-lock body, and the corkscrew pulls a cork cleanly without the wrestling match some cheaper multi-tools turn it into. The ComplEAT set covers the actual cooking and eating side, and the dual-sided spatula is the standout piece, sturdy enough to flip a burger and flexible enough at the nylon edge to scrape a pan clean afterward.
Cleanup and Everyday Use
Everything here wipes clean with a splash of water and a rag, and the anodized finish on the ComplEAT tools has shrugged off a summer of grill grease without staining. The whole kit locks together compactly enough that it lives in one corner of my camp box instead of three separate drawers, which was really the entire point of buying it as a set instead of piecing it together myself.
What Could Be Better
Buying all three tools as a bundle costs more up front than picking just the one or two pieces you would actually use, so this makes the most sense for someone who wants the whole set rather than just a cleaver or just a multi-tool. The ComplEAT utensils, while well built, are also a bit longer than they need to be for anything other than cooking directly over a fire, which makes them slightly awkward for eating straight out of a bowl.
Quick Questions
Q: What three tools come in the Gerber Camp Kit?
A: The Tri-Tip fixed-blade mini cleaver, the Armbar Cork folding multi-tool, and the ComplEAT camp utensil set.
Q: Is it cheaper to buy the tools as this bundle or separately?
A: Buying the bundle actually costs more up front than picking just the one or two pieces you’d use, so it makes the most sense for someone who wants all three.
Q: What material are the ComplEAT utensils made from?
A: Anodized aluminum, with a high-temp nylon spatula that has a silicone overmold.
Q: Does the Tri-Tip cleaver come with a sheath?
A: Yes, a multi-mount sheath that rides on a belt or pack strap, or stores flat in a kit bag.
Final Thoughts
The Gerber Camp Kit set out to bundle a cleaver, a bottle-opening multi-tool, and a set of cooking utensils into one gift-worthy package, and it succeeds by making sure every piece is a genuinely solid tool on its own rather than filler. It is not the cheapest way to get any one of these three items, but as a single gift or a one-time purchase to round out a camp kitchen, it earns its spot in my gear box. My dad would have liked this, and honestly, so does the guy who bought it for himself and only sort of pretended it was for camping season.
Price: $100
Where to buy: Gerber or Amazon
What I like: Three genuinely useful, well-built tools in one kit, sturdy anodized aluminum utensils, the Tri-Tip’s sheath mounts anywhere
What I don’t: Costs more than buying just the one piece you actually need, the ComplEAT utensils are a bit long for anything but cooking over a fire
