Hi Afee. Interesting question. We've been working on this model for some 3 years now. My requirement for lock reliability and strength became a real problem to production. Many dollars lost, many headaches. Once we were finally able to produce the model to the required standard, we did. The model was build to the original design.
We know that there are always "glitches" with a new model, so changes are inevitable. Now that James is using the piece, even more refinements become apparent.
We didn't want to tool up for the "dedicated" clip (read expensive) until we knew exactly what we wanted.
We did put out a good knife. But we believe that all models can be improved. Even if the basic pattern is good, with time, as technology, materials and needs change, models refine or pass away.
If we wait to offer a pattern until we think it's perfectly and ultimately refined, it would never come out.
Hope that helps.
sal