A new chef's knife with sophisticated vibration tech built in promises to cut the effort you put into chopping ingredients in half.
Seattle Ultrasonics claims its C-200 8-inch chef's knife uses ultrasonic energy to vibrate the blade more than 40,000 times a second to reduce friction as you cut through foods smoothly. You won't feel or hear a thing, and the blade won't get hot while in use.
The company explains that, rather than a vibrating motor, the C-200 uses uses PZT-8 piezoelectric ceramic crystals to generate ultrasonic vibration. When an electric current is applied to this material, it expands slightly in one direction, which makes the blade resonate at a high frequency.
As someone who's awfully slow in the kitchen and bad at chopping stuff, I can get behind that. I'm not sold on the company's claim about this being the first such knife of its kind though, as we covered 369Sonic's knife that introduced similar functionality back in 2023, and is currently shipping out its the first batch of crowdfunded orders.
Beyond the high-frequency vibration situation, this looks like a pretty nice knife. The blade is made from Japanese AUS-10 stainless steel, and looks absolutely beautiful with a distinctive orange power button on the handle. It's been in the works for nearly six years, and will be manufactured in Malaysia.
The knife can be charged via USB-C, and comes with a removable battery pack; it weighs a total of 11.6 oz (330 g) with the battery, and you should get 20 minutes of continuous use out of a full charge.
If you're a mixology enthusiast, you might get a kick out of using the ultrasonic blade on citrus fruits to get a mist of juice to finish cocktails, as shown in the demo video at the 5:30 mark. You can, of course, use the C-200 just like a regular knife, and the design is suitable for left- and right-handed use.
The knife can optionally be paired with an elegant wooden wireless charging tile that can be wall mounted to hold the blade in place. This tile has its own battery, which means it doesn't have to always stay plugged in to juice up the knife.
That's all pretty nifty, but it'll cost ya: the C-200 knife itself is listed at US$399, and is expected to begin shipping next January. The charging tile costs a whopping $149. If you're keen on both, you can save a bit on a bundle that goes for $499. So yeah, it's not cheap – but the C-200 actually comes a fair bit below the 369Sonic knife's $565 asking price, and features a more familiar design.
Find the C-200 on Seattle Ultrasonics' site.
Source: Seattle Ultrasonics
