I guess I'm a picky son of a............

Velitrius

Velitrius

Joined
Mar 3, 2000
Messages
4,798
.........Or am I?

Anyway here's the scenario. I'm standing at the knife counter at a local -mart examining a Gerber Chameleon. Play around a bit, check out how it feels, then go to close it. I notice the bolt action release lever is made of plastic, and turn to my little brother who's with me.

Me: "Check it out. I got a Gerber Bolt Action a couple years ago and the release was made of metal. This one's plastic."

Lil Bro: "So, maybe because plastic is lighter."

Me: "You could make a piece that small out of depleted uranium and not notice the weight difference."

Lil Bro: "Plastic won't corrode."

Me: "If you aren't worried about the corrosion resistance of the blade material, why not make the mechanism out of the same steel?"

Lil Bro: "Maybe because plastic is cheaper."

Me: "Bingo. Too cheap for me."

And I walked.

Now I ask you fellow forumites, Am I justified in my judgement of such a fine company's work, or do I resemble the description in the title of this post?
 
Gerber is awesome. I used their EZ Out knives for 2 years. I think it is your right to not buy something if you don't think its worth your money. It is after all, your money. What I would do is e-mail the company or contact one of their representatives and suggest they switch back to metal. If there is enough demand for metal, I'm sure they will listen. I handled some Gerber Chameleons at Wal-Mart. I too was disappointed with it. The action on the knife was gritty and it was not very smooth. The one I handled had a thumb stud... is this normal for Gerber Chameleons? All the pictures on their website and BLADE Magazine advertisements that I've seen shows no thumb stud. Perhaps this is a new addition added on due to the suggestions of customers who would not buy it until improvements were made? Gerber seems to make good progress in revising their knives to fit customer demand.

-Chang the Asian Janitorial Apparatus
 
Well, how much does this Gerber cost? $20? $30? For the price they are asking, what's a reasonable expectation?

Could be that it is, I don't know.

DaveH
 
DaveH, I agree with the Price/Expectation ratio usually, but Gerber offers the EZ Out for less money and it is a way better product, so I think in this case I can expect a bit more out of this piece.

Comrade Chang, that is a good idea. I think I will e-mail them right now. Keep an eye out at the -Marts, I may get this thing upgraded yet.
 
Theh EZ-Out isn't a bad knife...just watch out if you go to cut some thick cardboard...when you apply (not all that much) pressure to the blade, baisically forcing it open even further...the lock will give, and the blade opens beyond it's normal stopping point. In fact, I think it will open at least 45 degrees beyond it's fully opened posisition.

-AR

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- AKTI Member ID# A000322
 
I'm not sure if this is the case with Gerber, but I used to work for a belt company that made really first class leather belts.Everyone was excited when we got our first national account- K-Mart. That was until we found out K-Mart told us how much they would pay per belt and our management started buying cheaper leather etc. to meet their price. Same company name on product but definately inferior. FWIW DaveAZ
 
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