Rapala Rechargeable Cordless Electric Fillet Knife

The power switch on the handle is VERY awkward to use. Should be a lot wider and easier to press.The cordless feature is obviously the attraction of this knife, but I could be made easier to use. Comes with 2 batteries, but tells you not to leave the battery plugged into the knife. Case only has room for 1 battery, so you end up with one loose battery you need to put somewhere!Resolved the switch issue. Put a small piece of round metal in front of the part on the trigger that you need to push forward. Now I just need to pull the trigger to use the knife. After using for a whole fishing season I will have to say I'm disappointed. Only buy this knife if you can't get buy with a corded unit. It is lacking in power and the handle is very large due to the battery. My cheap $12 electric knife (plug in variety) does a lot better job!

DO NOT BUY...in a word, JUNK! Used mine on a fishing trip and needed it but failed after a single use. Blades will not come out no matter how the release button is pressed. also tried powering a few times to remove blades in different positions to no avail. Blades were very dull and would not cut through simple rib bones very well. 1500 miles from home and will do me no good to return the unit because i needed it to work for 1 week. Going to try a Piranha brand from a local tackle shop instead!

Update 11/25/2020: this is still working great. It gets light use but we use it every month or so on larger meats like turkey and standing rib roast.Update 6/13/13 (2+ years): I still love this thing but have not been able to break the "normal" knife habit. I just don't use it even though it works fine and is easy to keep charged.Original: I've only had this a few hours but couldn't wait to post that this *is* a replacement for a general corded electric knife. All I have to compare it to is our old crusty (but trusty) kitchen gourmet model but I just compared them side by side on last night's leftover chicken breast. The cuts are the same, even though I haven't conditioned or re-charged the battery I used out of the box. I did not preceive a significant difference in power but there may be. Also, the long-blade (only 7.5" unfortunately) is exactly the same size as our old corded model. In fact, they look identical except for the end shape (dull vs. pointed). The pointed end is more convenient around and along bones anyway, so there's no advantage to the old dull end shape. Although you can get a descent corded knife for about 1/4-1/3 the price, I'm very tired of the inconvenience and how dirty (greasy) that old cord gets. I bought this for myself for father's day! I might even take up fishing. I wish it had a 10-inch blade, but not enough to ding the rating 1 point (maybe 1/2 point).

I have been through 3 of these, two of which broke before the 30 Amazon days were up, so I returned them for a replacement. The third one lasted longer, but it too finally failed. The knife itself is great, and the Lithium battery is great, and lasts a long time between charges, but the problem was the same for each faulty knife. The two buttons that release the blades jammed on every one of these 3 knives. When the buttons jam, you can't release the blades, period. It just recently happened on the third knife, and it's still under warranty, so I am sending it back to Rapala for another exchange. Hopefully they have this fixed by now, on their new knives, so it won't be a further problem.

;My previous one like it;the batteries would not charge ;so I ordered a complete new set as the batteries are at least half the price of a new set. The rest of my old set works fine. If i have to now I can run 2 knives at once if someone else wants to with one battery for each. You need to get the price of batteries cheaper. The reason I have gone to battery type is because there is not electricty many places . If there is it is in front of you and you are hindered by the cord being in you way while filleting. Would be nice if it came also with a cigarette plugto charge from a genaratoror from in your boatwith an adaptor. We many times are cleaning fish on a bank on shore. My old set had a small cleaning board on back of set but this one does not. RLD

I bought this filet knife to take with me during walk-in spring white bass fishing. I walk in about a mile to fish and carrying out a stringer of uncleaned white bass is a bit much. Therefore, I used this knife to filet fish bankside and it has performed very well. I cleaned about 20 fish on just one battery and I am sure there was a lot of power left. The unit didn't get as hot as one of the reviews said. I could easily hold the unit and the buttons were not a problem as one review also said. It balanced well in my hand. The knife blades were very sharp and cut through tough white bass bones quite easily. I would highly recommend this portable knife.

The first knife I received, the batteries would not take a charge. I don't know if it was the batteries or the charger. I called Amazon and as always, they graciously let me return this one and sent me another unit. The second unit was not much better. Only one of the batteries would take a charge. I e-mailed rapala, there was no way to get e phone number to talk to a live person in customer service. There response to me was " return it and we'll send you another one. Sorry for your inconvenience."I have had very good luck with Rapala products in the past and it is hard for me to understand why they would put there name on such a piece of junk.

The first knife Ide purchased, would not extract the blades and were stuck the very first time inserting them. So I ordered a new one and return the broken one.The new one arrived and worked fine for a couple weeks. Then again, the blades stuck and accidentally got cracked at the base of where the charger is inserted. Not very sturdy as it was only dropped about 5 inches from the counter.Unfortuanetly didn't get a chance to return again as it has passed my allotted time. My phone was also stolen within days of the knife arriving. No phone, no internet access. Which is not their fault, but sucks to loose $119!