Photo: Christian Stoll

That full-size shovel in your toolshed is too big for a tactical backpack and too unwieldy for hand-to-hand combat: For those who spend time planting surveillance hardware, burying their secrets, or digging up someone else’s, a foldable entrenching tool is a must-have. Gerber’s new E-Tool With Pick boasts a powder-coated steel blade with serrated edge for cutting through roots or … um… limbs and a sharp spike for piercing ice, walls, and attackers’ skulls. A compact 9.3 x 6 inches when folded, it opens to nearly 2 feet long in seconds. And the fiberglass-filled nylon handle and aluminum shaft leave almost all of its 2-pound, 3-ounce heft at the business end, where it belongs.