Let’s take a look at a knife named in it’s true form – The Scuba Max 3″. This knife offers a well balanced package with decent blade performance and gives the look and feel of a knife with a lot of endurance to offer over it’s lifetime.

Pros: Versatile Mountability, Strong Lock, Large Line Cutter Cons: No Serrations This relatively simple knife comes at us from the fine people at scuba max and offers divers with a simple and small carry option. Made from 420 Stainless Steel and marketed as “Corrosion Resistant” this 3″ knife takes the stage as a well-placed BCD mounted option for scuba divers.
At first glance the knife is smaller than it seems to be in all of the images seen online. I would place it firmly in the medium-sized knife category sheath and all. The sheath is really appealing to the eye in that it has 6 SS grommets along with 2 sturdy slots for BCD or strap mounting the knife. Two tabs hold the knife into the sheath and they are a little bit strange-looking in their placement, but more on that in a bit.


I can’t seem to get “Butter Knife” out of my head when i lay it on its side but I’m not using the term to devalue the knife in any way. What we can appreciate about this knife instantly is the fact that it is both full tang (formed with safety in mind) and also can be taken apart for easy cleaning.
Looking at the photos below I can’t really find a good reason that the top of the blade is swedged like it is but it looks nice and almost offers a second cutting edge.

As we get more into the blade dynamics it’s important to consider the tang design and how it relates to the grip for a minute. Above you can also see that the tang has a rest for your index finger which seems to also act as a second-though blade guard from the line cutter. Now, I know that divers don’t use knives like others do but this part of the knife is the only part that feels and looks a bit off.
On the comfort end of it all, the finger rest and grip is pretty comfortable and easy to grip. For a while (before we got this knife sent to us) I thought that the grip was rubberized or had a soft rubber texture of some sort and I tried to capture the hardness of it in these photos but it is actually simply hard plastic. I’m sure that it’s more durable but I was a little let down personally.



Finally we get to the locking mechanism. On a lot of other knives that we’ve seen the locking mechanism is firm, yet it can be easily actuated by anything other than the diver. This can lead to the dreaded sacrificial knife drop on the first dive.
The two tabs on this knife are refreshingly easy to release with the unique (go figure) ability to stay put when things other than a hand come into contact with them. They knife locks are integral to the front of the grip and in my opinion add some great longevity to the whole system.



Our Thoughts It’s a good little knife. If you are a scuba diver this is a great knife to have on your BC as a backup or just as a nice Rec knife. The fact that the knife is shaped the way it is makes it safe as well as low profile enough to keep out of mind.The wear-ability of this knife is quite comfortable with the plush straps that are provided and the sheath is pretty comfortable when it’s mounted to your leg or arm.
Checking in at roughly $30 you can find this knife to be a great choice if you don’t like to spend too much on a dive knife. If you find that this knife is just perfect for you, Scuba Max offers a Titanium version that will last pretty much forever.
We liked this knife overall. It is a nice package with its low profile sheath and stout 3″ blade. The lack of serrations on the blade turned us off a bit since they are a nice feature to have for sawing line.
A Few Tech Specs:
Blade Length – 3.11″
Knife Length – 8.6″
Blade Material – 420 Stainless
Weight – 8 oz
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Gear Review: 3 Inch By Scuba Max is a post from: The Spearfishing Academy