When I picked up this camp axe about 18 months ago, I debat­ed between it and a hatch­et.  I opt­ed for the Ger­ber Camp Axe, and I am glad I did.  The 18 inch han­dle allows me to get a pret­ty good full swing to cut down fire wood that we have pre­vi­ous­ly cut up with the chain­saw.  The head is heavy enough to go through the logs in one good swing most times.  The 18″ length, to me, is the per­fect halfway point between a hatch­et and a full length axe.  The han­dle which is a fiber­glass poly­mer mix has lit­tle to no vibra­tion and feels like it is inde­struc­tible.  I have used the back side of the head as a ham­mer and to ham­mer in my tent stakes.  It has tak­en care of most of the small to medi­um camp jobs I have need­ed it for.  I would not hes­i­tate to use it to take 3″ ‑4″ logs/trees if I had to in order to build a shel­ter.  The only thing I can say that might be an improve­ment is to tex­ture the han­dle.  While it has not slipped out of my hand I can see that if you start sweat­ing while chop­ping or the han­dle gets wet, I can see it slip­ping out of my hand, poten­tial­ly. Maybe not, how­ev­er.