Jaguar or Cheapie

L

llXTheOneXll

Joined
Jan 24, 2001
Messages
78
Ok, there is this flea market place I know of that sells a Jaguar and a cheapie imitation of the jaguar silver on black dotted model. The Jaguar is $20 and the cheapie is $15. Since you guys always say the same things about cheapies and Jaguars, that they fall apart and the pins break and the handles wobble and everything. I was wondering if I should pay that extra 5 bucks for a Jaguar. Or if I should just settle for the cheapie imitation for 5 bucks less since it would show the same performance right? I've never flipped a Jaguar before but my freind has the imitation and it wobbles like crazy and its loose and everything after a week.

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"I must not fear, fear is the mindkiller. I will let the fear pass through me. After it has passed, only I will remain..." - Mah di'
 
my first balisong was a "jaguar" cheapie.it was alright.it depends on how often and how hard you flip it.

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Mario Givens
www.angelfire.com/extreme/balisongknives
 
Either one will need a pin replacement soon. If you are fairly new, go for the cheapie and check out Clay's site, www.balisongxtreme.com , to see the re-pin "how-to" and wear that ole boy out! If it gets good to ya then go get a Benchmade.

The only difference IMO between a Jag and a POS is the blade edge quality. And of course...weight,thickness, etc...

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"Catch you on the flip side"!

[This message has been edited by Sabo (edited 01-27-2001).]
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Sabo:
Either one will need a pin replacement soon. If you are fairly new, go for the cheapie and check out Clay's site, www.balisongxtreme.com , to see the re-pin "how-to" and wear that ole boy out! If it gets good to ya then go get a Benchmade.

The only difference IMO between a Jag and a POS is the blade edge quality. And of course...weight,thickness, etc...

smile.gif


</font>
Click to expand...

If they both will need pin replacements soon after I buy them, then can you at least tell me which one will break first?? I guess I'm fairly new but I have checked out the site and I've almost completed the Intermediate section and am about to move on to Advanced. I already have 2 cheapies to beat up and there is no question that I will eventually buy a BM42. You keep saying the differences but won't tell me which one is which. You say blade edge quality, well which one is better the jag or the cheapie?? Which one weighs more? What's thicker?

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"I must not fear, fear is the mindkiller. I will let the fear pass through me. After it has passed, only I will remain..." - Mah di'
 
$20 for a Jag. i got my last two at a show for $12 each. But anyway I would go for the Jag. Mine has lasted a year of abuse and I still havent had to replace any pins. Besides that, they look better than the cheapies anyway.
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Things may never get better, but they can always get worse.
 
$12? I see retail at $27, so when I see $20 I think cheap. I wish I could find some $12 Jags. But you are right they do look better.

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"I must not fear, fear is the mindkiller. I will let the fear pass through me. After it has passed, only I will remain..." - Mah di'
 
Dammit. I wish I could find $12 Jags. Hell, I wish I could find $20 Jags. The only place I know of around here sells Jags for
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$50
eek.gif
. Not cool. I love my Benchmades, but I'm not a big fan of the 42, I like something a bit heavier. I'd like to find a couple Jags to have a beaters, as my current only bali I carry is an old PC 259B, the rest just look pretty on the shelf. Hopefully when I get some cash on hand, I can find another 45, that way I have a nice one to look at and one to carry.

[This message has been edited by tique (edited 01-27-2001).]
 
Definately go the extra $5 for the Jag; it's much better. The Jag copy (one with 'stainless' stamped on tang) is way thinner, and you can tell it is much lower in quality simply by comparing the two side-by-side.

As for which pins will break first? I would say the Jag, because the handles are much heavier, but don't let this persuade you to go for the 'stainless' Jag copy; which is a total POS.

I'm not trying to critisize you, but how the heck can you not be able to decide which one to get? There's only a five buck difference, and if you've ever seen both the balis in person, you'd know the Jag was a crapload better.

Just my thoughts - feel free to respond.
 
tique - $50 bucks?!?!! My, oh, my! You much live in a big city or something. Things like that would definately make you lean torwards a BM42. Hmm... will I get 2 Jags, or one 42? No brainer...

Also, I think 'Rostfrei' balis make really nice "beat-tha-sh!t-out-of-me balis."
 
Get the Jag! The blade is way better! Mine just got the second pin replaced less than a month ago. Ive had it for over four years, but the fist pin went within a month of getting it. $50 for a Jag! Ouch! That hurts more than getting wacked on the knuckle with the handle doing release and catch tricks. Try www.asinknifeexpress.com, $20. Or www.protectiondepo.com, $20, or wwww.balisongworld.com, $20. Just don't go to www.premiersystems.com to buy,go there to stare at stuff funny! $50 for a jag! All there prices are double or triple retale, and somtimes more! Again, $5 difference, got the jag. even if you have to replace the pins in both, at least with the jag you will have a much better blade and handles. Mine is over four years old, and still going!
 
I know, the $50 tag really pissed me off.

I don't know if it's cause it's in the mall and we don't have any knife shops in the area or what, but it sucks bad. I live in Huntsville, not a really big city by most people's standards, but originally living in a small town in Indiana, it's seems pretty big to me. There are a few hard to find places that sell knives, but I think there is only one other that sells balisongs. And I think he deals mainly with 42's. Needless to say, I don't own any Jags, I have only bought BM/PC for play/collection purposes.
 
On the Jaguar vs Cheapie deal:

I've owned 6 Jaguars now. Here are some details on the Jaguars. They seem to be unpredictable. You could buy one and have it fall apart in three days (usually from a pin breaking off at the cuff). You could then buy another and it could last you up to a year of punishment. Another thing that I've noticed about Jaguars is that it is really easy to snap a pin. It seems as though the pins they use have a very weak cuff (the female end of the pin, in which the male end of the pin is inserted). Where the cuff meets the solid part of the pin is very thin and cannot handle too much stress. This means that if you catch the handles unevenly too much, you stand a good chance of snapping a pin. What I mean by catching them unevenly is when the pins and handles loosen up a bit and the blade lock finds itself resting to the side of the opposite handle (the handles don't line up evenly). SniperBoy's site has a good picture example of what this may look like when your handle alignment is off:

http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~soo/balisong/article3.html

To add to this, Jaguar balisongs have very heavy handles, which greatly add to the stress on the pins.

This is the way I see it. Yeah, the Jaguar Balisongs are okay for the new user, but you really don't know if you're going to get a good one or a bad one unless you can try it out a head of time, prior to purchase. If you don't want to risk it and you don't want to be replacing the pins soon, I recommend for the beginner to get one of the cheaper balisongs that have lighter weight handles. Usually their quality is halfway decent and the lighter handles tend to allow them to last longer than the Jaguars.

I have a few cheapie balisongs of different types and all of them are still in good working order. However, I only have two working Jaguars out of six now (one of which I don't use anymore because I know it's on its last legs). I plan to buy a Benchmade after I track down a black & purple cheapie-moderate quality balisong.
 
Hey 5 dollars is a lot for me. Now you know why I don't own a 42. And I still don't know what to think about Jags. Some people say they last 4 years, some say 3 days. I've seen how to replace a pin on Clay's site and I don't really have all that stuff. How long before the pins break on a Jag anyway? I've had a cheapie that my freind bought me from Louisiana thats lasted for 2 months and still going with a couple taps on the pins to stabilize the handles a bit. I would get more of these if I could. And BTW how think are the handles on a 42? Like a Jag or like a cheapie?

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"I must not fear, fear is the mindkiller. I will let the fear pass through me. After it has passed, only I will remain..." - Mah di'
 
nephandi,

I can't get a Jag down here and not wanting ordering through the net as the custom might confiscate it.

Don't mind sending your non working Jag (if it comes in bad shape I guess they won't confiscate it
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) .. I will try to see what fixing I can do here ..

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Chris
"To use or not to use your Balisong - that is the question"
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Indonesian Balisonger
 
Oh well I don't think I'm really gonna worry about a Jag or cheapie now. I'm getting a 42, yes finally. I will probably receive it next week and all I have to worry about now is paying my freind back...

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"I must not fear, fear is the mindkiller. I will let the fear pass through me. After it has passed, only I will remain..." - Mah di'
 
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