Well I am all for some SOGs to pass around to Dylside for reviews and testing. It would do some good for SOG to clear up "quality issues" and other half-truths that have been going around.
Bear in mind of the new law guys - if a review involves any money between producer and reviewer it HAS to be stated in the review explicitly.
Also I hope there won't be money involved (from SOG). And if a SOG knife has defects or does not hold up to standard it should be written in the review too. I would never trust a one-sided review or one from a Dealer.
I do hate reviews crafted in such a way that the knife performs well at everything and some obvious parts are left out. It is geared towards sale of the product and not a truthful representation of the knife's performance. This is not what we should see.
Perhaps we can wait for Chris to discuss this with his department. But like I said, a fair review of the product and not a new marketing/sales strategy please.
Don't worry. It will certainly be an honest review.
It is important to bare in mind that I'm not going into this LOOKING for failure from these knives. I'm heading into this review from a purely objective standpoint. I want to find out if the quality matches the expectations laid out by SOG for what these knives are designed to be used for.
This endeavor is meant to educate myself and other potential customers and to give us piece of mind (if that's the case) concerning purchasing these knives from SOG. That's all. This whole thing is stemming from my personal curiosity.
I've already told Chris that I don't want any money to change hands. There will be nothing about this to sway me in favor OR out of favor. I have no personal gripes about SOG, and at the same time, have no ties to them that gain them special favor from me.
I have a reputation with people that know me of being honest an objective. Someone who knows this well is Jeff Randall of RAT Cutlery. Jeff is a personal friend of mine and values my opinions for their honesty. He knows that being my friend doesn't mean that I'm going to agree with every design that RAT Cutlery produces and that I won't hesitate to encourage people in a different direction if I don't think that the product they want is the right product for their application. I'm not the type of person that goes out and buys every knife made by a company that I like just because it has their name on it and it's supposed to be their latest and greatest.
With all that said, rest assured that I'm not going to be giving a biased review. I tell it like it is. Now that doesn't mean that I will be a dick about flaws that I might encounter in a product and make a big deal about them, but I certainly won't leave anything out in an effort to make a product look better than it is.
dang!
sorry, but wouldn't each new prototype be thoroughly evaluated firsthand on it's design aspects and undergone material testing well BEFORE being put into the full swing of production??
a standard set of test at least??
a military standard for example...
www.lbainternational.com/eickhorn/mk_producttesting.htm
Absolutely. I'm sure that SOG does no shortage of testing on all of their products and does a great job of evaluating everything they plan to release for purchase. However, SOG is also a business. While I'm not making any accusations or assumptions concerning their being forthcoming, at the same time, they are a business. That being the case, it's not easy for the average customer to be confident in a company being brutally honest about their products and the quality of manufacturing. I'm not saying that SOG's manufacturing isn't wonderful, that they are dishonest about the level of quality, etc. I'm simply saying that a customer who reads reviews trusts the reviews, not the manufacturer. So, until their is a standard military style testing that is carried out by some third party on every single knife that is produced and sold, we have nothing to go on but reviews from outside people who have handled the products and tested them themselves and the companies who produced the product.
So yes, the products are evaluated and tested before they go into mass production and sales, but it's done by the company who's product quality is in question. That's where an outside party doing their own testing becomes valuable.
I'll keep you guys updated on the goings on.
