I carried the knife this week.
As a functional tool, the deployment is quick. It really does make the “shwing” sound every time it’s deployed. The blade geometry is very slicey. The sharpening is excellent. It’s M390, so I’d assume edge retention is great. I haven’t used it enough yet to come close to testing that though. This knife cuts very well, and there is plenty of cutting surface to get the job done, no matter the task.
As a daily carry, the clip is fine, but not perfect. It’s not shreddy, and the retention is good, but it’s not the smoothest thing out of pocket. The knife itself is very slim, and it is not very noticiable in the pocket. I have better, and I have worse…this one leans toward the better side overall.
I have been worried about getting dirt or debris in the knife, as I don’t really want it service it often. I’ve watched the disassembly videos, and while it doesn’t look difficult, I see that it could be a bit of a fumble to get the pivot washer back into alignment. Also, there are magnets involved, so I’d have to be mindful of not getting them stuck to my tools when working on it.
The fidget factor is excellent, although, I managed to nick my palm while closing it. I mean, it’s razor sharp, so when the tip barely came in contact with my hand, it left a mark. Once you get used to it, this should t happen, but you do need to learn how to hold it when opening and closing.
I was expecting some weird ergos because of the large notch on top, but that hasn’t been the case. But, there is a potential hot spot for me where the end of the handle arcs down under my ring and pinky fingers. If you choke up and use the choil, this is not an issue, but with a full grip and decent pressure, I do feel slight discomfort in that area, along with the pocket clip on the other side.
The balance is a bit back heavy…it’s not a problem in use, but the balance point is right about where the big top notch starts.
There are three functional issues that I’m having with the knife. First, the blade edge of the choil is sharp all the way to your finger, and it almost feels like the point curves back toward your finger. It doesn’t, but you could potentially cut your finger by pushing against the choil. You will not slip forward onto the blade because the choil is deep enough, but that choil “tip” could stand to be filed down a hair. I’m not sure if this is the case with every knife, or it’s just my example.
Secondly, the carbon fiber bar that you push down on to open the knife can be pulled fully open, exposing the very sharp blade in the notch area. It is held magnetically in place, and I don’t really see a scenario where it would come open by accident, but it’s a thing nonetheless. I wouldn’t hand this to someone without knowledge of folding knifes, as it almost seems like the more intuitive thing to do is pull up to open the bar rather than push in. They’d still have to stick their finger into the notch after that, but it’s just a bit unsettling that the blade can be this exposed this easily.
Lastly, yes, you can put 3x22.5mm tritium vials in the bar slot. But you can’t just stick them in there without filing away the carbon fiber. I have multiple tritium vials in this size, and I immediately broke one thinking that I could just push it in. That’s not only a costly mistake, it’s going to piss some people off. I really don’t want to have to file my new expensive knife to add a feature to it that it’s supposed to accommodate. I understand why the company cannot sell the knife with the vial already installed, but I really think they need to come up with a better solution.
It’s not a perfect knife, but it’s a very cool knife…and it is a great cutter as well. The main thing is that this a totally unique design, and like nothing else out there….and it’s done well. It doesn’t feel like some cheap gimmick using magnets.
Overall, I think this will be an occasional carry for me…something to take when I’m not going to be doing any hard work, and when I will be in a clean environment. It’s probably strong and beefy enough to handle heavy tasks, but I really don’t think that I want to have to disassemble and clean this knife often. I also have the Winterblade Mirage preordered, and I think that might employ a better use of the magnets overall, but I have to get it in hand first.
If you’re on the fence about one of these, my advice is to wait until Winterblade has them in stock rather than to get on the next preorder. Also, they have other models ready or being developed, and this probably won’t be the apex of their designs. If you just have to have one like I did, I get it, but I think that there is room for improvement with this technology. It’s not far off though, so if you can wait for another year or two, I think there will be better options.
