Do You Think the Blue Manix 2 is Cheap?

anthony cheeseboro

anthony cheeseboro

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Aug 8, 1999
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I am asking because there certainly seems to be a fair amount of people who percieve the knife as cheap among the Youtube reviewers. Personally, I like it alot! Quality wise, it seems at the equal of the Native (although the Native comes with S30V,) and both knives cost within a few dollars of each other. The only criticism that seems fair is the rivet or pin construction. I think the Blue Manix 2 would benefit from a at least a Torx at the pivot.
 
I actually like the Blue Manix2 a lot. More than my Native too. Although I must agree that a Torx would have been nice but I still love it anyway. And it adds more color to the collection rather than an all black drawer of knives. Also I prefer the Ergos on the Manix over the Native even though the Native is good but to me, the Manix2 feels better and more comfortable in my hand. Oh and it is a FFG too, just a personal preference.
 
I have all size variants of the Manix. The blue one feels "cheap" in a way due to the plastic handles, compared to its metal & G10 brethren. Still is a well-made knife, in my opinion.

Ultimately, it comes down to what you care about most. The regular Manix certainly feels tough enough to do some prying if needed. The blue one doesn't, but I don't think it was its purpose in life.

Ultimately, I think Spyderco did great by offering the excellent Manix ergonomics in a variety of formats. I like all of mine.
 
Am sure it's well made and that all the materials used in it are more than adequately strong to do their jobs. On the other hand, I do think the transparent blue handle makes it look toy like or, at the very least, like something aimed at the teen market.
 
Personally, I see the Manix 2 as a sort of sister knife to the Native although they do not share the same design. IMO, the Native is a nice hard use folder with limited tactical potential. I see the Manix 2 as a slightly larger knife with same possibilities.
 
Youtube reviewers probably have a pile of > $100 knives that they've tried out, so of course this one is going to stick out as a "cheap" one comparatively.

I think it really wise for Spyderco to put knives out there to hit different price points. You get people interested in them at the lower prices and if they are still interested, they can explore better steels and better materials. I had a lightweight Manix and it was really excellent and I loved the light weight. But I'm used to the higher end steels so I didn't keep it. I'm hoping they can creep up a little bit with the black lightweight Manix 2 and put something better than CTS-BD1 into it.

Blackmanix.png
 
Oh, terrific! I believe the TM2 just needs different colored handle to be the perfect folder for service members.

I also love the Native, but the TM2 is considerably stronger.

John
 
I think the see-through handles make it look cheap. If they looked like the ones shakya posted it would look better IMO.
 
I don't think cheap is a good word to use to describe the Manix 2 TBlue. I like the knife. I think the ergos are good and it's very light. It opens very smooth. Smoother than most Manix 2 I have handled. I am not 100% sold on BD-1 steel yet. But that means nothing since I don't get to use my blades all that hard all that often. So for me BD-1 should be fine. But with all the rave out there on some of the newer steels, I guess I turn into a bit of a snob. Sign me up for a sprint Lightweight manix 2 in XHP or M4. M390 also.
 
00ChevyScott said:
I think the see-through handles make it look cheap. If they looked like the ones shakya posted it would look better IMO.
Click to expand...

I can see where the translucent handles can be perceived as cheap, but I have always seen them as cool. What surprised me was the use of non-premium blade steel. Given the cheaper handle materials, I thought that blade steel like S30V
Would have been used like it was on the Native. That said, CTS BD1 is supposed to be between GIN-1 and ATS-34, which is not bad at all.
 
I actually like it more due to the fact it adds another rivet closer to the lanyard tube. I kind of wish they would add another screw in there on the regular models as well. I'm not sure if folks have been having issues with it or not, but I'd feel more comfortable having something other than the lanyard tube keeping the back of the knife together. If they release it in opaque colored handles, I might have to jump on it.
 
anthony cheeseboro said:
Personally, I see the Manix 2 as a sort of sister knife to the Native although they do not share the same design. IMO, the Native is a nice hard use folder with limited tactical potential. I see the Manix 2 as a slightly larger knife with same possibilities.
Click to expand...

when you say limited Tactical potential,...is that really important? is anyone really using their knives for tactical purposes?

I usually slice apples, open cardboard boxes, and cut zip ties, maybe gut a trout or skin a buck. To me, "Tactical" mean useless as I dont ever plan on plunging a knife into anyone's body.
 
ericvar101 said:
when you say limited Tactical potential,...is that really important? is anyone really using their knives for tactical purposes?

I usually slice apples, open cardboard boxes, and cut zip ties, maybe gut a trout or skin a buck. To me, "Tactical" mean useless as I dont ever plan on plunging a knife into anyone's body.
Click to expand...

Did you see the word important in my post? To be honest, I have never cut anyone but myself (accidentally) in all of the years I have carried pocket knives. I am more worried about dog attacks than anything else.
 
I don't think it looks cheap ,but another $60-70 gets you an m4 w/tan g10 scales,but thats just me.
 
I used mine shucking sweet corn this evening. The blade geometry works fine. One of the things that I love about so many Spydercos is that they really work well in food preparation, something would be much more important in a survival situation than it's capacity as a weapon by far. All of the larger full flat grind knives make neat folding kitchen knives.
 
If by "tactical", you mean small/direct military action as opposed to strategic, then, yes...I used my Native hard on my last deployment. It was of great "tactical utility". The TBM is probably 50% stronger than the Native 2 lightweight, being barely outside Spyderco's heaviest use category.

John
 
IMO I think the blue handles make the knife look cheap, but I certainly dont think the knife IS cheap. Im sure its just as badass as the G10 version.
 
For the prices I've seen on it, I would expect better steel, beyond that, I don't care for pinned construction.

I think compared to several other Spyderco knives it appears to be low value.

I really like the colored translucent scales, IMO it reminds me a bit of some of the older slipjoints that incorporated color.
 
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