Is Condor trying to compete with Tops?

BePrepared

BePrepared

Joined
Aug 26, 2010
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Normally, this question would NEVER come up. These two companies both produce beautiful, high quality tools but generally have no overlap in offerings, but a new offering by Condor makes me think they've stepped up and offered competition for Tops

Their new Discord Machete is in the same price point, and has a somewhat similar design to the Tops .230 machete with similar steel and construction... thoughts? Pics below

Condor Discord Machete
CN42118HCa.jpg



Tops .230 Machete

mac230.jpg
 
Condor or Tops both are a Hit or Miss on my experience.


Tops, have an history to leave the knives a bit too soft, which minimize breakage and maximize bending,,,,,,,,,,,,plus poor Edge Retention.


Condor, on the other hand, over heat the steel too much, and you get a Good Edge Retention and more prone to breakage.


I own several knives of both makers,,,,the only thing I can tell you for sure, I will buy more Condor but No more Tops.



Made in USA 1095 steel for $300? For this price point probably I will buy another Busse!
 
Not sure. Condor has definitely been making machetes longer than Tops, and the Discord is certainly not a carbon copy of the .230 so I'd guess no. I would guess some similarities are unavoidable, particularly since the .230 was designed by Joe Flowers who has also collaborated extensively with Condor.
 
ishiyumisan said:
Condor or Tops both are a Hit or Miss on my experience.

Tops, have an history to leave the knives a bit too soft, which minimize breakage and maximize bending,,,,,,,,,,,,plus poor Edge Retention.

Condor, on the other hand, over heat the steel too much, and you get a Good Edge Retention and more prone to breakage.

I own several knives of both makers,,,,the only thing I can tell you for sure, I will buy more Condor but No more Tops.

Made in USA 1095 steel for $300? For this price point probably I will buy another Busse!
Click to expand...


All i can say for sure is that edge retention is AMAZING on the tops machete
 
I see zero similarity between the Discord and the .230, other than them both being machetes. Any minimal stylistic similarity between the two stems from them both being designed by Joe Flowers.

Fun fact: the flare on the back of the Discord's tip actually has an edge on it, contrary to the stock images.
 
Sorry to sidetrack, but shouldn't a company be thrilled that you are linking to images of products they are trying to market? I realize it costs them a little bandwidth, I think their marketing guy needs to be fired...
 
You used the word beautiful in the same sentence with TOPS. That's pretty freakin' hilarious. :barf::D
 
jdm61 said:
You used the word beautiful in the same sentence with TOPS. That's pretty freakin' hilarious. :barf::D
Click to expand...
I'm kinda glad it didn't show up. Having both of those pics in the same post might open up some kind of mall ninja wormhole and transport us to a parallel universe where ALL of Blade Forums was Prac Tac. :eek:
 
jdm61 said:
I'm kinda glad it didn't show up. Having both of those pics in the same post might open up some kind of mall ninja wormhole and transport us to a parallel universe where ALL of Blade Forums was Prac Tac. :eek:
Click to expand...

Not the same post, but here ya go:

 
Radiant said:
Condor are somewhat more tactical than Tops in terms of blade design
Click to expand...

Umm, how you figure? Condor focuses primarily on bushcrafting knives, camp knives, and machetes...typically ethnic patterned machetes that have been around for ages. Pangas, bolos, parangs, goloks...not "tactical", but time proven patterns. Sure, they have a couple of "tactical based" designs like their Toloza, but those are by far the minority.

Compared to Tops who give us stuff like this, the "Survival Tactical 7"
tops-knives-fixed-survival-tactical-7-+rmt--stac-7-+rmt.jpg


Or this, the "#203 Covert Anti-Terrorism Knife"
tops-knives-c-a-t-series-203-tanto-black.jpg


or the "Devil's Claw"
tops-knives-devil's-claw-devcl-01-serrated-black.jpg
 
Yeah aside from the Flowers angle I don't see similarities between the two. The TOPS is almost a tactical looking machete kinda compact and traditional machete looking whereas the Discord is another one of Condor's attention grabbing slightly odd choppers with the rather long handle. And are they even the same steel like the OP mentioned?? I thought TOPS was 1095 and Condor is always 1075? I own a few Condors and actually have a Varan on the way but I have yet to pull the trigger on a TOPS mainly for the price reason. With just 1095 and micarta I can get a custom here on BF for less $$. I will say that TOPS has some great design on my eyes like the pasayten lite traveler by Steven Dick in 154cm, the anaconda by Ron Hood, the Dawn Warrior and Moccasin Ranger seem very practical and useful, the new-ish B.O.B knife is nice and I do like the Steel Eagle series. Now when both companies are using similar steel and micarta(mostly) it a lot easier to pick tops since you can buy a half dozen for the price of a Surv Tac 7(thats a pretty fugly one IMO). I paid between $30-40 for my Bushcraft 5, Hudson Bay, and Varan, and I could have added a Boomslang too for the price of one TOPS blade.
 
Brewcitymike--you're correct about the steels. Condor uses 1075 carbon and 420HC stainless, while TOPS uses mostly 1095 and 440C.
 
Silly Rabbit said:
Sorry to sidetrack, but shouldn't a company be thrilled that you are linking to images of products they are trying to market? I realize it costs them a little bandwidth, I think their marketing guy needs to be fired...
Click to expand...

Yeah. Free advertising doesn't seem to be something they're into. Or they have a really crappy ISP.
 
IMHO, i would say, almost any knife co. is in business to stay in business & therefore, by default, is competing with everyone else in that business. They may have totally different business ideas though. Having your own niche/bringing something different to market vs mass # of products & volume sales. Every business would love to have the problem of volume sales though ! :D
 
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