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- Aug 27, 2004
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I stick this here also due to the folks asking about my thoughts on knives and locks and what I've had apart. Enjoy.
I recently bought both the Ultimate Hunter designed by Llyod Pendleton and sold by Cold Steel, and the 80mm Manix designed by Eric Glesser and sold by Spyderco. I thought it would be an interesting comparison of these two since I consider both to be two of the best premium heavy duty back lock designed folders currently on the market at this writing.
Recently I've had the opportunity to get intimate with both of these as you can read on my forum here in the threads for them that I started.
I purchased both knives from www.NewGraham.com.
Price
The 80mm Manix ran me $118.68 before shipping.
The Ultimate Hunter ran me $62.50 before shipping.
Now lets look at what you get from each company in detail shall we.
Blade comparison
The Mini Manix as I like to call it over the 80mm designation, sports a 3.25" S30V blade and is made here in the USA in Golden Colorado.
The Ultimate Hunter sports a 3 and 7/16" blade of VG1 steel and is made in Japan.
Both knives have a choil built into them for being able to choke up on the grip to get better control of the point for detail work with the Ultimate Hunter having some grooves for grip on it while the Mini Manix is left smooth in the finger choil area.
Both have non sharpened serrations as they are referred to by Sal, and these are on the spine of the blade for thumb placement and the Ultimate Hunter has a set of grooves similar for the index finger placement toward the tip about midway down the blade.
The Mini Manix is a flat grind with a blade thickness at the spine of .153-.154 at the thickest point and tapers nicely to a good needle point in what I call a leaf shape blade.
The Ultimate Hunter has the classic Pendleton Drop Point blade and measures .156-.157 thick and remains fairly the same in thickness all the way down the spine through both sets of finger grip grooves with a thin hollow grind considering its a 5/32 thick blade and it comes to a point but not the needle like the Mini Manix.
The Mini Manix is ground thin in a nice taper as I mentioned and it comes to .018 right above the bevel in the back, and .022 middle, .024 tip.
The Ultimate Hunter comes to .020 back, .022 middle and the same for the tip.
Liners and Body of the folder
The Mini Manix has stainless liners with holes for weight reduction and overscales of G10 from the factory which bring it to a nice thin handle just shy of 1/2" thick with all four modes of carry for the pocket clip as total coverage for the options of carry convenience. The Mini Manix weighs in at 5.5 ounces from the factory. You might note that my knife pictured is not sporting those scales and liners anymore because I replaced them. You can see all about that in my forum. The closed length for the Mini Manix is approximately 4.5" with an OAL of 7.75".
The Ultimate Hunter comes with .077 thick aluminum liners with weight reduction holes drilled in them and overscales of Thermorun for some extremely comfortable grippy handles. The thickest point on the Ultimate Hunter in two places brings its handle thickness out to 3/4" with one mode of carry for the pocket clip which is tip up right hand carry. It weighs in a 4.6 ounces from the factory. Closed length is 5" and OAL is 8.5".
The Mini Manix has a stainless spring holder/rear spacer in the rear and a very good sized heavy duty spring on the .155 thick lockbar.
The Ultimate Hunter has an Aluminum spring holder/rear spacer. Quite thick and beefy though and it has to be since the spring in this UH is both thicker and wider, and also longer than the spring in the Mini Manix and is sitting on a lockbar .154-.155 thick.
The Mini Manix lockbar measures 62.61mm in length.
The Ultimate Hunter lockbar 67.31 mm long. Contact on both knives is extremely deep and should stand up to extreme uses compared to most folders of this type.
Both folders are mid locking type that are fairly easy to operate. One thing stands out when you first open them though. The Mini Manix is so much easier to flip open that it is really night and day. This Ultimate Hunter model requires a fairly seasoned thumb and the rounded factory thumb stud was soon replaced by this owner because it was very hard to catch on the first try. No such issues with the Mini Manix here.
Pivot details
Both knives sport washers with the Mini Manix washers being PB. slightly thicker and the Ultimate hunter a reddish clear plastic or teflon type material that is ultra thin. I have seen similar washers to these in the UH used by other Japanese contract knives and even some Spydercos.
The pivot barrel of the Mini Manix is the same as that used in the lockbar. Both are 5/32" diameter.
The UH has a metric size pivot that is closer to 3/16" in diameter but actually slightly larger. The lockbar on it is nearly a 5/32 but slightly larger also and I'm sure also metric.
Both knives offer a lot to the user.
With both you get good grippy scales. Strong locks, one hand opening and closing if need be, as well as the ability to carry with a pocket clip.
Conclusions
For the money difference you get easier opening, a slightly smaller length in the pocket, stainless liners, stainless spring holder, G10 scales, S30V blade steel, four way clip mount option, and a thinner profile in the pocket as well as one convenient T8 torx size needed for the entire knife but you do get a wider handle by going with the Mini Manix, to the point that depending on my selection of pants for the day, can cause me to have to extract the knife to dig deep for my keys. Also if its anything of value to you, the Mini Manix is made in the USA as I said above.
For the $ savings to go with the Ultimate Hunter you get a more difficult but negotiable one hand opening blade and, one mode of carry for the pocket clip only. You also have to step down to aluminum liners and and an aluminum spring holder, but a beefier spring, lockbar, and pivot barrel with a little bit lighter weight in the pocket but more thickess in the handle. Also the ThermoRun handles on the Ultimate Hunter are extremely comfortable to use and due the thickness it is comfortable folks, but they tend to really grip the pocket excessively making both sliding the knife on the pocket to seat the clip down all the way and extracting it very difficult to the point that its nearly ridiculous really. I had to spring my clip on this one out to where it stands off the body by about 1/4" and the knife still snags getting it on and off. I guess on the plus side there, you would have to work very hard to lose this knife but thats probably true with both since big knives do tend to be noticed.
Well, thats it. I thought it was an interesting chance to get some details out there for folks. Hope you enjoy it and that it comes in handy for someone in weighing their decision.
STR
I recently bought both the Ultimate Hunter designed by Llyod Pendleton and sold by Cold Steel, and the 80mm Manix designed by Eric Glesser and sold by Spyderco. I thought it would be an interesting comparison of these two since I consider both to be two of the best premium heavy duty back lock designed folders currently on the market at this writing.
Recently I've had the opportunity to get intimate with both of these as you can read on my forum here in the threads for them that I started.
I purchased both knives from www.NewGraham.com.
Price
The 80mm Manix ran me $118.68 before shipping.
The Ultimate Hunter ran me $62.50 before shipping.
Now lets look at what you get from each company in detail shall we.
Blade comparison
The Mini Manix as I like to call it over the 80mm designation, sports a 3.25" S30V blade and is made here in the USA in Golden Colorado.
The Ultimate Hunter sports a 3 and 7/16" blade of VG1 steel and is made in Japan.
Both knives have a choil built into them for being able to choke up on the grip to get better control of the point for detail work with the Ultimate Hunter having some grooves for grip on it while the Mini Manix is left smooth in the finger choil area.
Both have non sharpened serrations as they are referred to by Sal, and these are on the spine of the blade for thumb placement and the Ultimate Hunter has a set of grooves similar for the index finger placement toward the tip about midway down the blade.
The Mini Manix is a flat grind with a blade thickness at the spine of .153-.154 at the thickest point and tapers nicely to a good needle point in what I call a leaf shape blade.
The Ultimate Hunter has the classic Pendleton Drop Point blade and measures .156-.157 thick and remains fairly the same in thickness all the way down the spine through both sets of finger grip grooves with a thin hollow grind considering its a 5/32 thick blade and it comes to a point but not the needle like the Mini Manix.
The Mini Manix is ground thin in a nice taper as I mentioned and it comes to .018 right above the bevel in the back, and .022 middle, .024 tip.
The Ultimate Hunter comes to .020 back, .022 middle and the same for the tip.
Liners and Body of the folder
The Mini Manix has stainless liners with holes for weight reduction and overscales of G10 from the factory which bring it to a nice thin handle just shy of 1/2" thick with all four modes of carry for the pocket clip as total coverage for the options of carry convenience. The Mini Manix weighs in at 5.5 ounces from the factory. You might note that my knife pictured is not sporting those scales and liners anymore because I replaced them. You can see all about that in my forum. The closed length for the Mini Manix is approximately 4.5" with an OAL of 7.75".
The Ultimate Hunter comes with .077 thick aluminum liners with weight reduction holes drilled in them and overscales of Thermorun for some extremely comfortable grippy handles. The thickest point on the Ultimate Hunter in two places brings its handle thickness out to 3/4" with one mode of carry for the pocket clip which is tip up right hand carry. It weighs in a 4.6 ounces from the factory. Closed length is 5" and OAL is 8.5".
The Mini Manix has a stainless spring holder/rear spacer in the rear and a very good sized heavy duty spring on the .155 thick lockbar.
The Ultimate Hunter has an Aluminum spring holder/rear spacer. Quite thick and beefy though and it has to be since the spring in this UH is both thicker and wider, and also longer than the spring in the Mini Manix and is sitting on a lockbar .154-.155 thick.
The Mini Manix lockbar measures 62.61mm in length.
The Ultimate Hunter lockbar 67.31 mm long. Contact on both knives is extremely deep and should stand up to extreme uses compared to most folders of this type.
Both folders are mid locking type that are fairly easy to operate. One thing stands out when you first open them though. The Mini Manix is so much easier to flip open that it is really night and day. This Ultimate Hunter model requires a fairly seasoned thumb and the rounded factory thumb stud was soon replaced by this owner because it was very hard to catch on the first try. No such issues with the Mini Manix here.
Pivot details
Both knives sport washers with the Mini Manix washers being PB. slightly thicker and the Ultimate hunter a reddish clear plastic or teflon type material that is ultra thin. I have seen similar washers to these in the UH used by other Japanese contract knives and even some Spydercos.
The pivot barrel of the Mini Manix is the same as that used in the lockbar. Both are 5/32" diameter.
The UH has a metric size pivot that is closer to 3/16" in diameter but actually slightly larger. The lockbar on it is nearly a 5/32 but slightly larger also and I'm sure also metric.
Both knives offer a lot to the user.
With both you get good grippy scales. Strong locks, one hand opening and closing if need be, as well as the ability to carry with a pocket clip.
Conclusions
For the money difference you get easier opening, a slightly smaller length in the pocket, stainless liners, stainless spring holder, G10 scales, S30V blade steel, four way clip mount option, and a thinner profile in the pocket as well as one convenient T8 torx size needed for the entire knife but you do get a wider handle by going with the Mini Manix, to the point that depending on my selection of pants for the day, can cause me to have to extract the knife to dig deep for my keys. Also if its anything of value to you, the Mini Manix is made in the USA as I said above.
For the $ savings to go with the Ultimate Hunter you get a more difficult but negotiable one hand opening blade and, one mode of carry for the pocket clip only. You also have to step down to aluminum liners and and an aluminum spring holder, but a beefier spring, lockbar, and pivot barrel with a little bit lighter weight in the pocket but more thickess in the handle. Also the ThermoRun handles on the Ultimate Hunter are extremely comfortable to use and due the thickness it is comfortable folks, but they tend to really grip the pocket excessively making both sliding the knife on the pocket to seat the clip down all the way and extracting it very difficult to the point that its nearly ridiculous really. I had to spring my clip on this one out to where it stands off the body by about 1/4" and the knife still snags getting it on and off. I guess on the plus side there, you would have to work very hard to lose this knife but thats probably true with both since big knives do tend to be noticed.
Well, thats it. I thought it was an interesting chance to get some details out there for folks. Hope you enjoy it and that it comes in handy for someone in weighing their decision.
STR