For years, Gerber has been fine-tuning base camp with various tools and kits. The Stakeout has served as its camping-specific multitool since 2022, adding a handy tent stake-puller to the usual knife/saw/bottle opener party. Now Gerber grows the Stakeout into a small family with the all-new Stakeout Spark. True to its name, this base-camp-to-backcountry handheld brings fire-starting capabilities and adds a new form factor to the Stakeout lineup.
The Stakeout Spark doesn't merely carve out some space for a ferro rod; it takes on an entirely new form with an updated tool set. In place of the original Stakeout's fixed body, the Spark gets the butterfly-folding plier-based form made famous by Leatherman and certainly not foreign to Gerber itself.
The Stakeout Spark's pliers include both needle nose and standard teeth, plus a set of wire cutters to round out the feature set up top. The two plier legs, meanwhile, each house tools on their outside edge, designed for easy opening without having to deploy the pliers. The tools split between the two sides include a plain-edge blade, saw that doubles as the ferro striker, stake puller, awl, bottle opener and ruler. The ferro rod is stored inside the bottom of one leg, while the other leg is capped by a carabiner.
We've always been a bit partial to multitools with integrated fire-starting and are surprised a concealed ferro rod never became a standard feature across more styles and brands – certainly seems more important than a toothpick. Fire is its own multitool, good for heating one's body, cooking meals, purifying water, sending smoke signals and more. A multitool that can spawn another vital multitool wins in our book.
The Stakeout Spark has that going for it, and Gerber has also done a nice job adding extra utility beyond fire-starting. The Spark loses the scissors, tweezers and file from the standard Stakeout but more than makes up for it with the multipurpose pliers.
Our one complaint with the Spark is that we would have preferred to see the carabiner left behind on the original Stakeout. We didn't particularly find it necessary on that tool, either, but it really seems like unnecessary bulk on the two-handled plier design. It doesn't strike us as useful enough to warrant a permanent place, especially since the tool also includes a pocket clip. If anything, they could have made the carabiner removable or just added a loop for an optional carabiner or cord rather than integrating it into the body.
But, hey, that's just our opinion ... and you know what they say about opinions.
Gerber introduced the 5.4-oz (153-g) Stakeout Spark this month for a retail of US$69.95. The original Stakeout is still in its lineup, so it looks like the Spark will serve as a complement and not a replacement, at least for the time being.
Source: Gerber Gear via Gear Patrol
