I’ve used my PE12 for about nine years now. Chopped frozen trees that had fallen in -5 degree winters. Chopped up dozens of other trees blown over by high winds. Countless firewood processing. And never had a problem. I remember the controversy over a particular blade that a fellow broke while batonning a very large, very hard piece of knotty wood. I’m pretty sure he was trying to break it. But TOPS replaced it, and then changed from a ffg to a sabre grind. Unnecessary imho, but they did it anyway.

I can tell that the weight distribution is quite different, but as soon as I saw that blade shape I immediately thought of the Matt Graham knives. Basically if seems to me like the heavy chopper version of that concept, if you will. Awesome review, man. You’re one of my heroes for what you’ve accomplished with this channel, both in terms of the channel quality and what it lets you do for your family life. Over the last couple of years I have often found myself wishing that I could develop a channel as well produced and well received as you have. Keep up the great work, Aaron!

It looks very much like a modernized take on the WWII Smatchet..

Aaron, thank you for your review. I have had the Tops Power Eagle for a couple of years now. I also have a Tops El Chete. Both are well made and "Top" quality. I like that all Tops Knives are made here in the USA. One or both of these are available when we camp with friends. I think that the El Chete is used more than the Power Eagle. I have routinely hacked through 4, 8, and 10-inch deadfall in both Aspen and Various conifer trees, mainly beatle kill deadfall. These knives work great. I think that I like the Power Eagle better than the El Chete personally. You cannot go wrong with either blade. The El Chete comes with a better Kydex sheath. Thank you and god bless you and your family.

That transition from the painting back to the video blew my mind. Well done friend. Truly inspiring, Whimpi, Indonesia..

The saber grind has and always will be the workhorse grind.

Powerhouse video for sure. I love your knife reviews. And look at you pronouncing junglas like a pro ❤️

It’s a Smatchet!

Thanks for the update, Aaron. The Power Eagle is a great blade - arguably one of the best choppers out there. For me though, the weight and weight distribution make it less useful, because I'm dealing with tropical rainforest vegetation, so I need a big blade to be more machete than chopper. I just got one of the updated SP5's with the 1075 steel for that exact reason - it's lighter in weight and more nimble than even some of its sibling blades from Ontario. Side note - they're still rocking that adjustable snap design on their sheaths.

Reminds me of a chainsaw blade without the chain, at first glance 🤔 Gotta be a one of the beast like wilderness choppers.

Looks like a great chopper. Thanks for the review!

Ok, I owe you a thank you ! Now this is a must have ~ looks great for a fighting Bolo withs realates to it many uses But thats just what I can see from here till I get mine

This VS Storm Vector!!!

Great review, but i don't like them either. I know......haters now adjust their sights......but i will defend again the choise of my Becker BK9.

Thanx for sharing brother.. one day I need to get my hands on one . 👌 Awesome ,and Love Saber Grinds

I've always liked this blade, it's a great chopper.

Looks like a revised Smatchet.

It reminds me of the Ka-Bar Reinhardt kukri blade shape

Great review. That’s awesome they put a saber grind on it. Definitely going to check this one out for my chopper collection.

Honestly the top's power eagle is a pretty good heavy duty machete knife hybrid like I got myself one it does pretty much things I wanted to do like cut wood take care of some heavy brush and a little bit of bamboo but it does it but also I love your videos bro 🤘🏻🤘🏻🔥🔥

One among many positive things I can say about Tops is their factory edges are outstanding.

Hey, I have that same PICO camp chair, got it for Christmas last year! Love it! ;)

I have the el chete and love it but end up using my old condor machete for machete tasks. The el chete is a powerhouse, but clearing undergrowth will wear me out quickly. Great video

Great Job , as Usual 👍 That is definitely an Awesome Choppa , but at $230 without a Kydex sheath is really steep , if it was CPM- 3V I'd jump on it though ...👍🖖

Looks like a good knife, nice review 👍.

Great review. I agree the sheath, and whatever that knife was, is a bust. As soon as they make it with a kydex sheath I will add it to my kit. Would love to see you review the TBS Grizzly Buschcraft Survival Knife - Military Model. Keep up the great work!

Looks similar to the 1917 bolo

definitely a large blade not to be messed with. I can't think of anything where I would use this tool, prob an axe for firewood, but who knows...

I'll gladly keep my Junglas. Good video though.

I do love Tops but I am always a bit concerned about the handles. No jokes about your large sized hands but sometimes this can be a deal breaker for me if I think it isn't going to fit properly. You were certainly making quick work of those branches. One to add to the watch list.

I grew up in PA, if you're able to, stop by Ohiopyle, it's beautiful up there & I'm sure you guys would enjoy it.

G'day Aaron, well, that's certainly a beast mate and looks like a shipload of fun to use. Since I always carry a saw, main thing for me is to have a proficient splitter.....tick. Due to the weight though, its more of a car camping tool rather than a trail tool IMO. There is value in having sheath pockets for a (proper, lol), small knife, stone, ferro rod etc; to make for a one stop shop; but of course it does add even more weight to the package and if lost, you've lost those extras too. Cheers Duke.

The way that sabre grind starts out very thin makes it look like it would snap close to the handle with enough force.

It's basically a modern version of the World of War 1 Bolo knife made by Springfield Armory around World War I I do own and love several tops knives but I think I will stick with my original World War I bolos I own 2

Great video keep them coming!!

I like this blade for wordprocessing. Nice review.

Thank you.

51/60 Damascus Steel & 1/4 " thick full tang blade ; it's in the Specs that's what sells ?

Wowwwww soo cool!!!

Probably added that little xl item because TOPS can't sell it lol

Thanks for the video. Looks great 👍👍

Aaron. Love the Tops knives. So, in your opinion, I am torn between the Power Eagle and the Storm Vector as a chopper. What are your thoughts?

Very nice great blade!!

Do you think they strengthened it up with the saber grind because of the switch from 5160 to 1095 ?

I wonder how this would compare to a Becker Reinhardt?

The little knife looks like it would make a good sticker scraper, but I cannot see anyone finding many stickers in the woods. I totally agree they should give us a small bushcraft knife instead, but the big boy is totally bad ass. Just love it, even though I have never handled one. I should have gotten that instead of my Condor Village Parang, although my parang is much better now that I have made a beefy micarta handle for it. The wooden handle broke while batoning. Great videos brother, keep it up! Your videos are so much better than the guys that simply sit at a table and tell you how good a knife is when you can tell it’s brand spanking new and has never been used!

AWESOME!!!

Great review

PowerEagle vs Yacare10.0?

I'd like to see the power eagle go up against the becker bk9

You need to send it to a professional sharpener like my self and let someone put a proper chopper edge. I would reprofile setting a flat v bevel and in the last higher grit stones ever so slightly covex the cutting bevel. Edges like that on big choppers in tough steels we can take them down to 15dps and have excellent edge stability.

that thing looks like GREEK monster

My kabar cutless machete will do everything I've seen here. The big difference is I paid $50.

I tend to prefer ESEE dsigns over TOPS most of the time, but TOPS still makes a great product. I literally cringe every time I'm looking at something and I see it comes with a nylon sheath though. That will almost always make me pass it up and move on to something else. If I'm spending $230 on something, I'm just not looking for spending more to have a sheath I actually like made. Especially in this case I'm literally baffled. That ALRTXL retails for like $50. TOPS doesn't seem to know what it's even for so I don't know if they're just trying to get rid of stock or what, but they easily could have put that into a better quality sheath so I think this was an especially big miss there.

I ALWAYS LUV Your Videos !!!

no longer use your gw-5510?

Does tops has a 12inch Bowie knife?

You served in the armed forces as well?

Filipino barong shape.

Nice metaphor Olympic swimmer

You definitely should start sing more often 😅

Why? My wallet! Why?

Also good morning

Look beautiful but it's too expensive for the price and task the condor Bushcraft parang do the same. Again thanks for share the information.

Leather, even Kydex, isn't my go to choice for an outdoors knife. Morakniv and Fallkniven sheaths, are the best I've ever had. You people, that don't agree, I bet in most cases, you either never use a knife wher it had to be used, or you just carry it on a camping trip, where you don't use it much, or have time to take care of it. What I mean, is that the main use of my filed knives, is wild edible gathering. You can't use a kydex, when you collect edible plants from the ground, be cause you have to completely clean the knife, before resheathing and that's when I collect a plant, ever 1 to 3 minutes. Imagine, if I had to stop, clean the knife to reasheath it, so that no mad, dirt or moisture got into the sheath. With Morakniv sheaths, you just resheath the knife as it is and you only have to clean it once, after you get home, or your camping spot etc. That's an advantage, the Nylon hseath provde too. However I'd rather have a simple sheath, like those the Fallkniven and Morakniv knives come with. PS, same goes for collecting mushrooms, or doing any other kind of job in the field, where you have to unsheath and resheath the knife, more than once, in a small ammount of time period.

Grip shape is horrible