I haven't had any problems with lock-up or play with the SOG Trident so far, and ive had it for about 3-4? months now. Ive only used it for cutting open boxes and such tho, because its just too nice for me to want to bang it up. lol. My suggestion is that if you have the money, go ahead and try either the SOG Trident or Flash-2. You will be surprised at how nice they are for as much bashing as they get.