In your opinion, who competes with ZT?

WE 702, integral at 295 and the gold ti , g10, 0452 at 240 compare very well. The WE is a bit heavier, slimmer through the handle, better grip on the ZT imo. Both lock up solid, flip quickly, centering perfect, no blade play, flawless fit and finish, top materials. For looks, I like the WE a bit more, for feel in hand , blade shape the ZT wins

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Spyderco. In my experience, ZT uses cheap material for their screws. Even with a good set of torx bits they strip damn easy.
 
I'm going to add Viper. The Viper Fortis is an 0562CF that went on a diet. Fit, finish and price all compare to ZT in my opinion.
 
ZT is great for Quality at the price level. they irk me with design tho, in the fact they dont use ceramic detents, they dont always use hardened steel washer races. and there lockbars go all the way to the frame on some models... and then we have the Cedric Ada tests that show less edge retention on s35vn than other s35vn knives (think they tested 2 or 3 different models). tho there elmax tested perfectly fine and where it should. i havent seen any tests for there m390/204p/20cv, s90v, etc.

with all that said i love the ZT's i own (and i have many). plenty to nit pick for some, but they are great knives and well worth getting.

now whats better? thats difficult to say because not everyone does what ZT does. full warranty, blade replacements for nominal fee, free sharpening. mostly ball bearing flippers with a unique ZT design from few different knife makers (and growing).
 
There is always at least one small detail that puts me off every ZT. Ugly, generic looking, black painted clips, poor execution/use of fasteners, ball bearing pivot, weight, ect.. The only ZT I've come close to pulling the trigger on is the 777... maybe the 0770. My advice is to find a Spyderco that you like! If you want one that is more or less comparable to a ZT, give the Knifeworks exclusive CF/Ti/S90V Military a look!
 
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Zt draws the ire of many, but my 2 favorite blades are ZT's I modded. For the money I don't think any other production company out does them. Spyderco just doesn't do it for me. Although I do kinda like the tuff, and would like one.
 
ZT definitely gives you some good bang for the buck and overall makes a great knife. But based on some knives I own, I think Lionsteel, Viper, Spyderco. Reate and even DPX all make knives that are comparable or better in quality. I don’t own an knives by WE but the couple I have handled compare favorably. I will say ZT has flippers down though.

My biggest problem with ZT, and this is just personal taste, is their looks. Most ZTs just don't do it for me. I do want to get a 0900 though.
 
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For me, it would have to be WE.
Both are some of the best flippers, both use similar materials and F&F is superb on both.
Joe
 
ZT do certain things right, but still they just don't do it for me. After owning and using so many of them in my early knife years i just grew out of them. Their latest style and build just do nothing for me. Im not trying to put them down, this is just my personal opinion. They do great maching work, good attention to detail etc. They just don't feel like functional tools any more to me, more like budget, flashy custom looking knives for guys new to the hobby. And there's nothing wrong with that, im just more drawn to funtional, long lasting well engineered cutting tools these days as opposed to bling.
 
For me, Spyderco does it for me most of the time. I think most ZT's are well made, but they have moved to mostly flippers now and I have no interest in them (for now). I don't really look at folders with metal "scales" (if you want to call them scales, more just the frame) and that takes a lot of knives out of my consideration.
 
I don't really see ZT as being a good "bang for your buck" company so the list of better companies would be extremely long. Unless we're not talking about cutting things.
 
spyderco higher end stuff, benchmade tries too, we knives does.........
 
I see a lot o WE I'm curious how their support after a sale is?
 
I might be in the minority here, but in the ti or ti/cf flipper world and taking everything into consideration (note: warranty included), I say nobody competes with ZT. Reate used to be but not now. Kizer f&f is generally inferior to ZT. WE I dont know much but looks to me more bling than usefulness. Spyderco is known for being good cutters but again not much about flippers. Benchmade has a few good products but you ve got to be more careful in selecting them. I still think Hindeter and CRK are better but so come the steeper prices.
 
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