Dpx Gear Hest

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PenguinsRcool2

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Work with a guy who is a fellow knife lover, has one and swears by it. Is it worth buying one today as a work knife?
 
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It’s 100% worth it as a hard use folder/edc. Had 1 for about 2 years and loved it. Made the 1 time life error of going to the airport late and had it in my pocket, gave it to a work colleague to mail it to me and poof, she’s gone. Love the Emerson “auto” open feature. Extremely tight tolerances, no blade play. Great grip texture on the G10. My only very small complaint is also oddly a feature of the knife. They have the “screw” design on the over travel lockbar stop that you can turn and this makes the knife essentially a fixed blade because you cannot depress the lockbar to close the knife. However, there were many times when I was using the knife and went to close it and I couldn’t because I accidentally twisted the “screw” stop and then had to stop what I was doing, look at the knife, twist it back and then disengage the lockbar. Overall though, I’d give it a 9/10 as a hard use folder.
 
I've never owned one. Don't even want one. It's just my opinion, but I might like them if they didn't have the goofy looking bottle opener cut out thing in every one of them. I never could stand that. Hate the way it looks and don't want steel missing from my knife. Especially from the blade.
If you get one, I hope you enjoy it, but they're not for me.
 
I have a HEST that I like well enough, but a hard use folder isn’t my typical daily carry. It’s not the most ergonomic, but it’s solidly made. There would probably be some serious hot spots with extended “hard use”.

It woukd serve fine, at the right price. It’s basically 10 year old knife making art, and we’ve moved leaps and bounds regarding build quality in that timeframe. There’s some really good competition in the same price range.

Also, possibly relevant, people who I trust and respect think RYP is an asshat clown. I don’t know firsthand , but something to consider.
 
I have a HEST 2.0 made by Lionsteel in Italy. It was one of the first "nice" knives I bought for myself, and the first time I spent over $100 on anything besides Benchmade. I bought into the marketing hook, line, and sinker, and it definitely taught me a valuable lesson. The blade itself is super thick and has the cutting geometry of a brick, and the lock face deformed from regular use. The lock face now has a "step" on it, where it has been compressed down by the blade tang itself. It has Lionsteel's proprietary rotoblock, a Hinderer LBS-like overtravel stop that can lock the lockbar in the open position. The rotoblock ispointless and so loose that it allmost automatically engages itself at will, and there's no easy way to close it one handed. Also, the bottle opener/wave feature is bad at both its jobs.

I don't know if the USA-made ones are any better, but Robert Young Pelton made an ass of himself on this forum, so I won't be sending him any money to find out.
 
Silent H said:
I have a HEST 2.0 made by Lionsteel in Italy. It was one of the first "nice" knives I bought for myself, and the first time I spent over $100 on anything besides Benchmade. I bought into the marketing hook, line, and sinker, and it definitely taught me a valuable lesson. The blade itself is super thick and has the cutting geometry of a brick, and the lock face deformed from regular use. The lock face now has a "step" on it, where it has been compressed down by the blade tang itself. It has Lionsteel's proprietary rotoblock, a Hinderer LBS-like overtravel stop that can lock the lockbar in the open position. The rotoblock ispointless and so loose that it allmost automatically engages itself at will, and there's no easy way to close it one handed. Also, the bottle opener/wave feature is bad at both its jobs.

I don't know if the USA-made ones are any better, but Robert Young Pelton made an ass of himself on this forum, so I won't be sending him any money to find out.
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Is this thread still around so I can read up?
 
Hackenslash said:
I have a HEST that I like well enough, but a hard use folder isn’t my typical daily carry. It’s not the most ergonomic, but it’s solidly made. There would probably be some serious hot spots with extended “hard use”.

It woukd serve fine, at the right price. It’s basically 10 year old knife making art, and we’ve moved leaps and bounds regarding build quality in that timeframe. There’s some really good competition in the same price range.

Also, possibly relevant, people who I trust and respect think RYP is an asshat clown. I don’t know firsthand , but something to consider.
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Havent even looked up the last price, not as much competition as you would think
kreole said:
Happened in here https://www.bladeforums.com/forums/dpx-hostile-environment-survival-tools.858/
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jeez
 
I have three. One very early version, an all black version, and the anniversary version. The 2011 version was pretty rough, but has had no issues. the anniversary edition is a badass knife.
 
I bought the original one when it first came out, not the newer American made one. It was, I believe, made from Lionsteel as said above. I was never too impressed with it. The clip wasn't very cool because it would flex side to side in the hand when your using it, it wasn't very smooth and just kind of clunky. I never felt too good about it being a super hard use folder like it's marketed as. The blade grind was very thick too. However I was very impressed with it's packaging. It came in a real nice wooden box with I think two pocket clips and I think it came with a glass breaker that you could install if you wanted, and a proprietary tool. I ended up selling it.
I've never seen an American made one so I have no opinion on that. I've seen people that really like them though.
 
Hest is a fixed blade, Heft is the folder!!! I have both n love em!!!! Both solid knives in a good steel...Made by LionSteel..
Hostile environment survival tool
Hostile environment folding tool
 

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I have just recently purchased 2 Dpx knives. The HEST & the HEAT Leggaro models. The Leggaro models are milled to be light weight, with a IKBS pivot, a steel lock bar insert and are made by Lionsteel.
There is no doubt these are heavy duty survival knives.
These are not gentleman’s knives.
These are not slicer’s.
I love mine
Detent is wonderfully tuned and more importantly for me wonderfully placed .
There is no mid-stop when closing.
Once you push the bar out of the way, you’re already past the detent with no pause in closing.
The blade thickness is expected and appreciated. Both of mine came razor sharp. The handle milling is elegant.
What more can I say?

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I have had a couple of DPX knives, a fixed and a folder. I was not impressed and sold them.
 
Knives are very personal. Ones I favor may be hated by others. I've owned over 500 folders in my 74 years on earth. The HEST folder is an excellent small all around knife that is strong enough to be a pry bar and sharp enough for most tasks. With its thick blade stock it is not a slicer. It is one of my 35 knives that are keepers.
 
jfk1110 said:
Hest is a fixed blade, Heft is the folder!!! I have both n love em!!!! Both solid knives in a good steel...Made by LionSteel..
Hostile environment survival tool
Hostile environment folding tool
Click to expand...
That’s incorrect. Hest fixed blade and hest folder are the same size. Heft is designated for the larger fixed blades.
 
I'd say it depends on your intended uses. I almost bought a HEST a couple times, but passed on them because they are just too overbuilt for most uses IMO. I have really come to dislike the marketing trend that blade thickness correlates to hard use. Unless you regularly use your blade as a pry bar, an overly thick blade is more of a nuisance than it is helpful in the overwhelming majority of cases. I have learned there are knives better suited for my preferences, but if you really like, or think you would need the features, they seem well made at least
 
I had this Lionsteel-made one for years now. It's been a work knife, a beater, and I've used it to make a few walking sticks. It's held up great, even down to the coating. Like the others said, it's thick behind the edge. Won't slice but does its job. I just like the idea behind it. Everything has a dual purpose. Bottle opener/wave, lanyard hole/hex, deep carry clip/glass breaker, lockbar stablizer/Rotolock, jimping/wire stripper. Some work better than others like the bottle opener, wave, and Rotolock. Others never get in the way. Even used that lanyard hole once to get more leverage on a torx bit. Only complaint is the jimping. I'll never use it as a wire stripper and it's too aggressive to use hard without gloves on. Not sure how it might have been changed in later versions but overall, I'd say I'm pretty happy with mine. Still gets some carry and use.

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