Microtech Mini Socom vs REKAT CArnivour Cub?

J

J. MacDonald

Joined
Jun 8, 2000
Messages
3,140
I'm looking for opinions on these two knives which I'm considering to replace a Cold Steel Medium Voyager Tanto combo blade. Fit & Finish, edge holding, ergonimics.

Let me know what you all think.

jmx
 
Hi jmxcptr.

I've got both and I'll give you my opinions. My mini Socom is an auto, blade is 154-cm, plain edge. The Carnivour cub is ats-34, and has a slight recurve. I don't think there's much of an edge to either. Both will hold an edge well, but the Carnivour comes with what seemed to be a 40 deg. edge. The Mini Socom seems to be 30 deg. or less. I re-profiled the Cub to 30 deg. The fit and finish of the Microtech is much better. The ergonomics of the cub dust the Socom. The Carnivour is much more of a hard use user with it's g10 scales. The finger groove of the cub plays well to the ergonomics of the knife. Both have excellent locks, though I'd give the edge to Rekat on this one. My Rekats are my main edc's. The Microtech seems destined for more gentlemanly situations!:D

Hank:cool:
 
I have a Carnie Cub and it's great--now that I've put hours of work into making it right myself.

If you want it good out of the box, Microtech is always a good option. But it's true that the ergonomics of the Cub are great.
 
HankS- if you had to pick one, and dressed well for work (business casual to suits) but wanted to feel as well equipped as possible, which one?

Shmackey- what did you do to your Cub to "make it right"?

jmx
 
Business casual to suits - Microtech. Jeans or "dockers", definately the Rekat. Where I work, dress for me is very casual, so I carry Rekat. By the way, jailhack has a great price on a mini socom in the for sale forums here!

Hank:cool:
 
I posted about it a while ago, but the search isn't returning anything. Strange.

It was really gritty feeling, so I opened it up and found that it was full of G-10 dust. I cleaned it out, lubed it, and put it back together. Still gritty. After exhausting every possibility, I realized that the round end of the tang, where the rolling lock rides until it engages its notch, wasn't nearly polished enough. So I disassembled it (again...), managed to find the spring both times I lost it, polished everything in there *by hand* with 600-grit paper, and now it's pretty good.

It's still nowhere near Axis quality. There are really only minor similarities between the Rolling and Axis locks once you open the hood. Even so, the Carnie Cub is a tank.
 
Both knives are very different and therefore very hard to compare. Given a choice I would take the Cub.

I had a Mini Socom and the lock was not all that hot on it, sent it in to be fixed and when it came back it was just as bad.

The REKATS have some pretty bad QC problems and you occasionally need to do a little sanding and polishing to get them to operate smoothly. I had one that almost needed completely rebuilt right out of the box.

With all of that said I would take the REKAT, I have several in my collection and really like them all. The Carni will carry nicely in all dress conditions and is really a beefy knife for it's blade size.

The Mini SOCOM felt small in my hand and I'm not a huge fan of liner locks so I let it go.

Do you mind if I ask how you came to these two choices? They just are very different knives and I'm curious.. :D
 
I want a knife around a hundred bucks that is American made, around 4 inches closed without a frame lock. Benchmade 705 is also in contention but as it's a bit more costly I'm leaning towards these two models. I already have a William Henry Carbon Lancet but am afraid to use it as a EDC as I lost one already (and I'm very careful about my knives, but the WH has a clip that does not grab my pants particularly well). I'd like to find a shop nearby that has both the Carnie Cub and the Mini Socom as nothing is more telling than holding both. If I was a wealthier man I'd probably be lookung at a small Sebenza or a MOD piece (which I'll probably end up with later anyway, but the wife was recently caught in the tech wreck and is still out of work so my budget is more constrained than usual).

I'm looking to upgrade from a Cold Steel Medium Voyager.

If you have any other suggestions I'm all ears.

jm
 
Ahhhh, you've narrowed it down well then.

The made in America and no thumb hole part makes it a hard suggestion.

I would go with the REKAT then, I know I painted a gloomy picture but like I said, I have many REKATS and I really like them, just don't expect perfection.

You know, you could go with a Microtech Option II... it's a credit card knife (no clip) but rides nicely in a front pocket. I've got one and love it. I keep it in my wallet and after 1 day did not even realize it was in there.

I could also suggest looking at the Mini Buck Strider. It's a beefy little knife, great blade and great lockup, you may be able to find one for around $100.

Can't think of too many more made in the US other than some Spyderco's and they have the you know what ;)

Good luck.. tough choice.
 
Originally posted by jmxcpter
I'm looking for opinions on these two knives which I'm considering to replace a Cold Steel Medium Voyager Tanto combo blade. Fit & Finish, edge holding, ergonimics.

jmx
Click to expand...

Fit & Finish: Very few companies match up to Microtech, and REKAT certainly doesn't. Microtech way ahead.

Edge holding: Both companies do a fine job

Ergonomics: Ergonomics are a very subjective area. What's secure and comfortable for one person, is slippery and uncomfortable for another. I give a big edge to the REKAT on this one, but someone with different hands may not agree.

Now, here's something you didn't ask about: lock reliability. My opinion of Microtech's liner lock reliability isn't that high, and of the Microtechs, the mini's lock impresses me the least. The REKAT Carnivore cub's rolling lock will likely be extremely reliable.

For me, the REKAT Carnivore Cub is what I would buy.

Although you didn't ask about it, let me suggest you look briefly at a knife that shoots the gap. The Benchmade axis 705 will fall between the REKAT and Microtech in fit and finish, great edge holding, good ergonomics, axis lock may be the best production lock in the world right now. And, it's a little dressier in appearance than the REKAT.
 
First off I want to thank you guys for sharing tour time to answer my questions.

Shmackey- about the opening holes, I just don't feel that in slippery circumstances, they're as reliable as studs, personal preference (but an EDC is a very personal thing!).

cpirtle- if we get past the no hole thing, do you have other foreign made modeels to suggest that might be of interest? Bedides CRKT (I had to have extensor tendon surgery when a CRKT KISS bit me from what I believe to be a less than steller implementation of the frame lock design) I like to buy American when I can but I do own a Glock...:-)
As regards your reccomendations about the Option II, I already own an old (but useful) Tekna Security Card (quite cool, but not an only knife, if you know what I mean) so I don't really need another in that form factor although the Option II is probably a better knife.

Is Microtech not Made in USA?

By The Way (-BTW-) I forgot to mention in my initial post but I consider lock integrity to be of the highest importance, I should have put it at the top of my list.

Lastly, to all: Is the Benchmade 705 worth more money than the Carnivour Cub? Sounds like the BM has a smoother lock, but the Rekat might be stronger and the Microtech is the weakest in that department (I'm between 250 and 295 lbs, so strong is always important to me).

Looking forward to your replies.

jmx
 
Originally posted by jmxcpter
Shmackey- about the opening holes, I just don't feel that in slippery circumstances, they're as reliable as studs, personal preference (but an EDC is a very personal thing!).
Click to expand...

I think this is a very reasonable argument, but I can say its never caused me a problem with my Spyderco's. Since your finger actually goes part way into the hole you do get a pretty good grip on it.

Originally posted by jmxcpter
cpirtle- if we get past the no hole thing, do you have other foreign made modeels to suggest that might be of interest?
Click to expand...

I would suggest one of many Spyderco's, many being made in Colorado. I really like the Centofani designed ones (made in USA). They are a liner lock (which I'm not really fond of) but they have an additional lock for hard use situations that acts as a backup, very well designed and implemented feature.

Here is a short list of Spyderco's I would look at: (These are all lock backs except where noted)
Rookie
Native
Standard
JD Smith (really classy knife)
Vesuvius (compression lock)
Viele (liner lock but this knife is excellent)
Police
If you want big I would look at the Chinook also

Originally posted by jmxcpter
Bedides CRKT...
Click to expand...

I don't like them either..

Originally posted by jmxcpter
As regards your reccomendations about the Option II, I already own an old (but useful) Tekna Security Card (quite cool, but not an only knife, if you know what I mean) so I don't really need another in that form factor although the Option II is probably a better knife.

Is Microtech not Made in USA?
Click to expand...

I agree, it is not the greatest EDC, they make a nice backup piece.

Yes MT is made in the US, hope I didn't make a statement that confused that...

Originally posted by jmxcpter
I consider lock integrity to be of the highest importance, I should have put it at the top of my list.
Click to expand...

I consider lock strength to be paramount in a folder which is why I have a hard time reccomending the M-SOCOM. It's also why I was suprised that you were not interested in integral locks, they're some of the strongest (Sebenza!). Don't confuse the integral lock with a liner, the integral is much stronger..

Originally posted by jmxcpter
Lastly, to all: Is the Benchmade 705 worth more money than the Carnivour Cub? Sounds like the BM has a smoother lock, but the Rekat might be stronger and the Microtech is the weakest in that department (I'm between 250 and 295 lbs, so strong is always important to me).
Click to expand...

I'm 285, don't let the Avatar fool you, it's GI Joe...

I carried a BM 705 as an EDC for 2 years. It's a really nice knife but I swore off Benchmade folders when I tried to buy a 710 and had to send 3 in a row back because of liner rub. There's no arguing that the lock is strong though, in a knife of it's size I doubt seriously if it was put together properly if you could make it fail under normal use.

I personally don't think the 705 is worth more than a properly QC'd Carni Cub. One thing REKAT has done well is their ATS 34, it really takes and holds an edge great.

Have you looked at the REKAT Savant? it's the redesigned Pioneer II basically. Has some annodized liners, variety of scale material. I'm hoping that as REKAT has slowed down on releasing models maybe they're focusing more on QC.

FWIW, based on your concern for lock strength I would highly discourage you from the M-SOCOM though, and given your size I think you may not be happy with how small it really is.

Good luck and please let us know what you decide on. (and sorry for using all of the quotes):D
 
While I have only had one frame lock knife (CRKT KISS) and had a bad experience, perhaps I am judging frame locks too harshly. The only knife I ever had colapse on my fingers was a frame lock (and I wasn't misusing the knife). It seems that lateral torque could play into questionable safety situations for most frame lock designs. Of course most locks have some shortcoming, perhaps I'm more sensitive to liner locks. That damn Small Sebenza sure does look good, but is out of my price range (right now).

Sorry for all the quotes!!! (from me)

jmx
 
i had a mini socom tanto signature series, i traded off a while back - thought it was awfully small, though well made, etc - i wasnt crazy about it, get the socom, the mini is just toooo small imho


sifu
 
Trust me, the frame lock on a CRKT does not even compare to the frame lock's on high end stuff. I have 4 Sebenza's and they are really unbelievable.

I personally avoid all of CRKT's stuff, sorry to hear you got bit by one.

Benchmade has a Sebenza knock-off that is supposed to be pretty well implemented although I've never held one.
 
Originally posted by jmxcpter
By The Way (-BTW-) I forgot to mention in my initial post but I consider lock integrity to be of the highest importance, I should have put it at the top of my list.

Lastly, to all: Is the Benchmade 705 worth more money than the Carnivour Cub? Sounds like the BM has a smoother lock, but the Rekat might be stronger and the Microtech is the weakest in that department (I'm between 250 and 295 lbs, so strong is always important to me).

jmx
Click to expand...

Lock-wise, don't confuse strength with reliability. Strength-wise, it's hard for me to believe that any of these folders will not meet your needs. A liner lock (that is, the mini-SOCOM) will probably be a little weaker than the CC's and 705's locks (both of which are enormously strong, and there is absolutely no reason to think one is stronger than the other), but all will be very strong.

Reliability-wise, I feel the mini's liner lock in particular is not even in the same league as the CC's and 705's. The CC's rolling lock, in theory, should be as reliable as the 705's axis lock. However, just from watching reports of the rare failures that happen, I think Benchmade is executing just a bit better, so I give the edge to the 705. The 705's other advantage over the CC is Benchmade's superior fit and finish over REKAT's, and it's superior carryability. The CC's advantage over the 705 is, if it fits your hand well, the handle is very secure (though to my hand, not very comfortable).

You should go out of your way to handle both a CC and a 705, to see if either fits your hand particularly well. They're both excellent knives, so go with whichever one feels more secure and carryable.

And, BTW, the 705 is worth every dime, IMO.
 
Joe,

Your point about lock strength vs reliability was most well spoken. You're right, it's RELIABILITY in a lock that is the most important to me, although strenght is certainly an issue.

Reliability in general is why I try to buy "the good stuff" stuff in almost every catagory of product that I purchase in life (Steaks, Scotch, Hifi, knives, etc...). This brings up another topic: is the extra complexity of an Axis lock or rolling lock worth it as compared to a back lock, frame lock or liner lock which seem to be mechanically less complex systems (fewer small parts to lose/break)?

Keep it coming boys, I want opinions!

Thanks to all who have repsponded.

jmx
 
insofar as the extra complexity of the locks are concerned, i would absolutely say the axis lock is worth it. liner locks may be simpler, but they sure don't work as well. I love my bm 940... :D

- Pete
 
I own a CC and a 710 (the 705's big brother). The quality is, I'm afraid, like night and day. Benchmade wins here. The Axis lock is pretty much perfect.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top