I'm going to buy my first Spyderco. Your advice?

If your just looking for the general Spyderco experience, anything with the compression lock. I guess PM2 or PM3..

Best jack-of-all trades imo,.. Manix 2.

My favorite at the moment has been the Stretch 2 in k390. Hell of a knife for $150 bucks lol..
 
Hashishiin said:
The Japanese ones are, the American ones seem to have an integrated lock stick, it is distinctively harder to try to get these to fall shut on you. Like, my Native Chief, an XHP satin blade, will not fall if the lock is depressed, the spine must be pushed. However, my Matriarch 2 or Police 4 simply drop-shut the second the lock is disengaged, and while it does make for easier manipulation, I have got to say it leaves one with more confidence in the strength of the USA ones, even though I carry the Police 4 more.

There are two grains of salt in this observation, one being that I have 12~ Japanese backlocks and just two USAs, and the fact that those models are both linerless, Native Chief and Native 5 LW. This may just be slight fit issues, and I think one could probably polish the locks to improve the action. I may try that.
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That hasn't been my experience.
Aside from the kapara and Caribbean the back locks have better action and more fidget fun than the compression locks.
 
I currently have 50 Spydercos here and many of the mentioned models. They are all superb but I’m going to suggest a bit something different to the OP. An Endura or Delica in full stainless steel. A bit heavier and overbuilt than the FRN or even the G10 models but it will give the OP a good feel for the quality and design of Spydercos and these all stainless models are legacy models . They’ve been around forever and produced in Japan. The quality is off the hook. And about $100.

The problem with starting out with an FRN model is that they feel cheap, light and chintzy. They certainly aren’t but a Spyderco virgin wouldn’t necessarily recognize that. Start with a full stainless model and go from there. Every non-knife person I hand my Endura full stainless to always goes “Wow”.
 
Corton93 said:
If your just looking for the general Spyderco experience, anything with the compression lock. I guess PM2 or PM3..

Best jack-of-all trades imo,.. Manix 2.

My favorite at the moment has been the Stretch 2 in k390. Hell of a knife for $150 bucks lol..
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I was just literally fondling my Stretch 2 in K390 blue, thinking how comfortable the handle is and how it is basically a backlock PM2, and I got it at a discount. Very worthwhile. Stretch > Endura, for me.
Skar said:
That hasn't been my experience.
Aside from the kapara and Caribbean the back locks have better action and more fidget fun than the compression locks.
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I was so busy thinking about Japan and USA, I forgot about other countries, the Chaparral, now there is a real quality fidgety backlock.
 
I have many but have been carrying my Endela the most lately (it is the newest however - mine is K390 But VG-10 is cheaper and just fine.)

Delica/Endela/endura would be my first rcomendation to try Spyderco. I am biased however as I have had delicas and enduras since the 90s. Also have Para3, multiple PM2s, and many others but still have a soft spot for the classic back lock frn. They just work.
 
Skar said:
That hasn't been my experience.
Aside from the kapara and Caribbean the back locks have better action and more fidget fun than the compression locks.
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Dude can you even spydie flick with every finger and your thumb? Cause the salt I played with had no flickability
 
stonemedusa6264 said:
Dude can you even spydie flick with every finger and your thumb? Cause the salt I played with had no flickability
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TBH ... Yes I can !
I suppose your not impressed ?
I usually slow roll or gravity open though.

Hope the salt knife gets better with some time.
 
not so dull said:
I want to buy my very first Spyderco to add to my collection. I don't want to buy something expensive as I'm not familiar with this brand, what if I don't like it? At the same time, the cheapest ones might be of lower quality (or not?), and I don't want to get disappointed.

So, what would be your advice? Thank you.
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My advice? Get a second job. :)
 
I have exactly one Spyderco. Para3LW. It came exceptionally sharp with a dangerous point. I never thought I'd like a Spyderco knife but decided to give it a whirl. I like the knife but not enough to buy more of them. It is very good for summer carry in light shorts - weighs very little and the wire clip just works. So does the compression lock. I'm sure the range is full of good to great knives. They're just not for me.
 
The delica is recommended a lot here and I would recommend as well. It was the one that got me into Spyderco. Very designed flagship model.
The native 5 is SPY27 is also very well done as well the para 3/PM2
 
I don’t often carry a spyderco. Back in the 90s I had a couple delicas (in frn and stainless). I have a tenacious that I carry when I feel like I might need a serrated knife and I like it a lot. I think I paid under $60 for it. Not a bad deal for an entry level spyderco. I tend not to spend more than that on knives, but that may be that the knives I like tend not to be more expensive than that.
 
It should be evident from this thread that Spyderco's quality control is not good. Here are all the folding Spydercos that I have owned, rated on action out of the box. Five stars means that the knife easily and reliably flicked open with thumb or finger, and easily and reliably closed with one hand. One star means that the knife was very difficult to close without metal tools.

Code: 
Compression Lock
***** CTS-BD1N     Spyderco Para 3                                             105.00
***** CPM-S110V    Spyderco Para 3                                             189.00
***** CPM-S45VN    Spyderco Para 3                                             147.00
***** CPM-SPY27    Spyderco Para 3                                             140.00
***** CPM-S90V     Spyderco Paramilitary 2                                     140.00
***** CPM-S30V     Spyderco Sliverax                                           177.80
***** CPM-S30V     Spyderco Sliverax                                           177.80
****_ LC200N       Spyderco Caribbean Salt Sheepfoot Serrated                  184.95
***__ CPM-S90V     Spyderco Lil Native                                         210.00

Back Lock
***** VG-10        Spyderco Endura                                              91.00
***** H1           Spyderco Pacific Salt                                       117.60
****_ 8Cr13MoV     Spyderco Byrd Meadowlark Hawkbill Serrated                   33.25
****_ VG-10        Spyderco Dragonfly 2 LW                                      70.00
***__ VG-10        Spyderco Endura Thin Red Line Combo                         102.90
**___ CPM-S110V    Spyderco Native 5                                           148.40
**___ LC200N       Spyderco Atlantic Salt Sheepsfoot Serrated                  123.90
*____ VG-10        Spyderco Rescue 79mm Folding Serrated                        84.00
_____ 8Cr13MoV     Spyderco Byrd Cara Cara Serrated                             33.25

Other
*____ CTS-BD1N     Spyderco Manix 2 LW                                         105.00
 
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