I am about to go out on my first winter camping trip and I have been researching light weight snow saws.

The lightest that I have found is the SMC Summit Snow Saw, which is 3.4 oz.

http://www.smcgear.net/products.asp?cat=4&pid=59

Most of the other ones that I have seen are about twice the weight.

Seems that SMC saves weight by having a metal handle that has been machined out.

Has anyone used this before and what do you think of it?

What snow saws have others used and liked?

Thanks for your input.

Tony,

See snowsaw.com for their Yang Fang snow saw.

Eric

Both saws look like they will do the job. From my experience, after cutting all types of snow and hard pack, I prefer a saw with nice handle for the comfort factor. Here in the Sierra's we can have snow that has been rained on and refrozen even at 8000 ft. You can always pad the SMC handle if needed.

The snow saw that came with my voile show/saw combo
weighs
2.9 oz saw only
plus
3.1 oz for the handle

The voile saw works fine.
A machete works really well, but is a lot heavier.

What are you going to be using it for? Just cutting blocks and stuff or will it be for snow safety analysis? That's a consideration. For snow tests, saws that can be used for roustchblock tests and cutting out backs of collumns are the way to go. The extra weight of the G3 saw is worth it:
http://www.amazon.com/BoneSaw-G3-Genuine-Guide-Gear/dp/B000V58XXA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1196830686&sr=8-1

Jack,

I am enrolled in a snow camping class thru the Sierra Club and it sounds like we will be digging snow trenches or snow caves.

I thought that having a snow saw would be useful to have for cutting blocks to build a roof over the snow trench or to build a wall for wind protection.

I am going to be breaking in my Laurel Mountain Designs Soul Side Zip Bivy w/eVent top, which I am going to use to suppliment my 15 degree Marmot Helium EQ bag and keep it dry.

-Tony