New Strider failure

[kwackster]

Agreed. This is definitely the way it should be.

But I guess people do make mistakes. And I believe that even at $400 you're allowed to make a mistake (IF this is what happened - I don't know). Its been said by better people than me that the true value of a knife is measured against the character of the person who made it - not the knife itself. Think of this as an opportunity to test that.

I'm sure that in the end the dude just wants what he set out to buy - a good blade.

Greg

This was and is exactly my intention; paying a premium price and getting a premium quality blade in return.
I am a collecter/user of knives just as most here on this forum, but it's also my work, as i sell knives in a Dutch webshop.

Many knives from various brands pass my desk, and i have seen all sorts of different quality.
Strider has no representation in our country, but various customers kept asking for these knives, so after reading all the info about this brand i decided to buy one for myself, for evaluation purposes so to speak.

Until now,i consider my particular SNG to be something of a fluke, nothing more, nothing less.
It seems to be in good working order now, if i encounter some other problem with it i will share it on this forum.

If i was out to bash Strider i would not have ordered a new folder, this time an SMF, would i ?

 

[huugh]

You guys are so much more forgiving than me. I get angry when a 100 dollar knife has an off centered blade. And I get a different knife. If I *ever* buy a knife at any price with 0% lockup and a pin that falls out, I will never buy a knife from that company again. And I mean that for $20 Byrds. It's unacceptable from one of those keychain knives at a gas station.

Fortunately, it seems like 20 dollar knives have vastly superior quality control that Strider lately, and so despite the dozens of production knives I've bought under a hundred dollars, only a few of them had imperfections, and those were merely cosmetic--off centered blades and the like.

A good warranty and service department at best compensates for terrible QC. It might compensate enough to keep the one knife (and never buy another one from them again). But now it's just an excuse for creating dangerous (to the user) tools. Unacceptable. Strider owes you an apology.

AM, I'm with you completly. I think companies should make product responding to the price (hey, people wake up, even $100 is a LOT for a knife) not just make test labs/quality control of their customers.

BTW I will share my experience with different company:
I bought (new) Benchmade Opportunist that had some defects from factory like uneven grinds etc. (you can search the whole story in TGBU) Dealer told me it is thing they see on many production folders, period.

However I contacted Benchmade and they put it right - I sent it in, received new knife and they refunded me shipping costs (note that I'm from Europe). :thumbup:

So as you can see this is as good (or better) warranty service as Strider's (not to mention I saw how polite Mr. Strider is to his customers (was it Oilman's case?) - Benchmade gets only the highest mark for how they treated me), so I ask you - why do you want to pay $400 for Striders?

 

[OilMan]

Yeah, why would people want to hear about the condition of a newly purchased knife? People really should lower their expectations when spending a few hundred dollars on a knife.

+1, And ya the warranty is good, right after they tell you that the brand new knife you just bought looks like it was dragged behind a car and they think you are lying about it to get a new knife for an old one.

What's really bad is just think if you were in the sandbox and got a defective knife. Not everyone has the opportunity to send in their brand new knives to get fixed and they shouldn't have to at this pricepoint. I've always wondered how a $40 Kershaw can have better and more consistant F/F and QC than a $400-$650 knife.

oil

 

[Zombie Zeke]

Not to add fuel to an already torrent situation but I would never, ever trust or buy anything from Mick I have talked to him at shows and listened to what he said afterwards (at the bar). There is nothing that he could produce to make me stand up and say what a great knife. After trying to charge me a thousand dollars for a clever he himself said was made from scrap and calling out other peoples knives as garbage (TOPS and Emerson) whatever his company gets is simply the reaping. If Duane makes the kniife it seems to be a whole 'nother story nothing but the best comes from that mans hands.

 

[19-Delta]

This problem isn't equivalent to a leaky gas tank. This would be a hole in the brake line. And the transmission falls out. Mind you, this is before you drive the car. It doesn't even make it out of the parking lot.

At 400 dollars, they get it right the first try.

Great point, oh, and if that happened to you, would you break

out your tool kit and start fixing the tranny yourself; or maybe, contact the maker of that car.

So a $400 knife can never have any problems? How about a $70,000 car? Seems to me that is why there are warranties out there:jerkit:

KUCHI 36 out

 

[OilMan]

So a $400 knife can never have any problems? How about a $70,000 car? Seems to me that is why there are warranties out there:jerkit:

KUCHI 36 out

I can't speak for anyone's experience but mine but if it were say 1% - 5% that left the shop in subpar condition that would be a little more acceptable but "in my experience" it's been a lot higher. More than 50% of my production pieces had to go back for adjustment when new. How is that acceptable? And again, don't get me wrong, when you get a good one or get a bad one fixed they are great knives, it just shouldn't be a crap shoot to get one of those good ones at this price.

 

[tirod3]

The Tritium Thumbstuds are not made to be put on SnG/SMF knives, as the "thumbstuds" on them are rather stop pins. They are press fit.
Only AR, GB, RC and RCC thumbstuds can be exchanged for Tritium studs, as they are what they are: Thumbstuds.

Pepole should talk yout things they have knowledge of.

Hey, I bought a brand new car for 30.000 USD and the fuel tank was leaking. Did I post it? Did I contact the press? Nope. I had them fix it. So what´s the point? Send it in and they will fix it. You know, that´s what the guarantee is made for.

Yep, didn't know what I was talking about. I'd just heard about thumbstuds and assumed they were for SnG's, even after seeing pictures of tritium installed everywhere else but there. I certainly hadn't tried to mess with mine.

Having serviced new cars in the day, I already had the concept that things right off the production line won't be perfect every time. Your car analogy was in my mind when I read it. I agree.

But if the tranny falls out it would have never made it on the transporter - so Esav's comment concerning prior handling and ownership (dealer or not) still bears weight. We really have not clue how it was handled prior to the current owner.

BTW, knives made from scrap are knives - or cleavers - made from the materials left over from production ( I'm in production right now.) So if a piece of S30V or other is around and Mick makes a cleaver out of it, it probably possesses the qualities he intended in its design.

It's not likely a made from a pickup spare tire hanger off the road.

As for opinions in a bar - where else you gonna get an unvarnished view of a person's thinking? The tactical market is pretty competitive - if a maker didn't have a strong sense of his vision in knife making, he'd stick to marriage counseling or something. So getting his views of other organizations, especially considering the crap that's been dumped on him, might lead me to believe he's formed opinions.

Making a useful item out of undedicated materials, asking what the market will bear, and not being a PC wuss sounds like Real American.

It's just too bad the circumstances are less than favorable he'll get to fix the problem.

 

[Artfully Martial]

If I bought a 70 thousand dollar car that had bad brakes and a transmission that fell out leaving the dealership, there'd be a lawsuit, not a warranty dept. call.

If this really did happen (and even though I'm not a big Strider fan, I'd still like to see photos) then it's totally unacceptable. I mean, Strider has the rep to be the toughest knife in the world and is supposed to be used by military folks (as if John. Q. Military could afford even a production Strider...) and even then they don't even do a visual check on the lock up of a 400 dollar knife? It's not careless, it's reckless.

Someone out there that doesn't know any better is going to buy one because of the reputation for being super tough and not check his own lockup. In Iraq, you can't just send your knife to the warranty department and just hold off on daily chores for a month or so.

We need to send a message that we will no longer accept this quality. Raise your standards or just quit making knives. Maybe if strider's prices were changed to the sub 20 dollar gas station category of knives. I suppose the materials alone make them at least a 60 dollar value, and we can just expect them to fail so we can use them as slip joints to be on the safe side.

Of course, you could just buy a 70 dollar Avalanche in G10 and S30V that doesn't have problems, not to mention the gravitator, ZT line, spec bump, offset, 710, Manix, Rukus, Chinook etc etc etc that for the most part all seem invincible--how many stories have you heard about bad 710s and how many have them sold? They probably sold more 710s than Strider has ever made knives. I've never heard a bad story about one.

All this said, I might still buy a Strider, but no way I'd buy one without seeing it myself. I do think they're overpriced, but if the warranty is as good as some people say (some), then it might still be worth it. I just can't reason on the side of the folks that say you should just count on the warranty to fix your *brand new* knife. I need Strider's warranty for when *I* break it, not when they break it.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

We really have not clue how it was handled prior to the current owner.

It is difficult to imagine that the previous owner for some reason took the knife apart and intentionally bent the lock bar the other way to prevent a lock up. Note this can't happen in use or abuse, overstressing a liner will just cause it to engage further. Thus someone had to specifically straight the lock to stop it from engaging. Considering Strider's reputation with QC, it seems far more likely that it was a defect from them rather than it is a conspiracy to defame them by some dark knight working in the shadows.

We need to send a message that we will no longer accept this quality.

As has been noted before, their customer base actually takes a sort of perverse pride in having to have their knives fixed. Likely this is because it causes an interaction with Strider and there is a huge "I am friends with Rambo." issue there. If you want to see the reality of the situation then just go to Strider's forum, register, and make that exact same post and watch what happens.

-Cliff

 

[inspecto]

A knife is not rocket science. It is not even close to being as complicated as a car. It is a very simple tool. At that price it should be right!!

 

[proguide]

There you go inspecto, on the nose.

 

[inspecto]

I also have to wonder why you would buy a 2nd $400 knife when the first $400 knife didn't work?

 

[OilMan]

If you want to see the reality of the situation then just go to Strider's forum, register, and make that exact same post and watch what happens.

-Cliff

For some reason I would tend to agree with you BUT I would add this, there are also a lot of intelligent, helpful, and downright good people there too who won't immediately go on the defensive about an honest post/question.

oil

 

[hardheart]

Since warranty and repair are lumped together, I have had to have some experiences with it for a few knives (don't have any Striders, to be clear).

Given a choice, I would want a product from a company that has the worst warranty department in the world that never had to do anything.

 

[OilMan]

I also have to wonder why you would buy a 2nd $400 knife when the first $400 knife didn't work?

He didn't. The second one cost $475.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

BUT I would add this, there are also a lot of intelligent, helpful, and downright good people there too who won't immediately go on the defensive about an honest post/question.

Unfortunately it only takes a few goobers to really derail a discussion. It is hard to have a meaningful conversation when even a couple of people start with personal rants. The internet used to be a lot more polite before AOL when there was a minimum functional IQ requirement.

-Cliff

 

[samhain73]

The Tritium Thumbstuds are not made to be put on SnG/SMF knives, as the "thumbstuds" on them are rather stop pins. They are press fit.
Only AR, GB, RC and RCC thumbstuds can be exchanged for Tritium studs, as they are what they are: Thumbstuds.

Pepole should talk yout things they have knowledge of.

Hey, I bought a brand new car for 30.000 USD and the fuel tank was leaking. Did I post it? Did I contact the press? Nope. I had them fix it. So what´s the point? Send it in and they will fix it. You know, that´s what the guarantee is made for.

Except, for one thing. Strider and T.A.D. ARE working on tritium thumbstuds for the SnG's and SMF's and by accounts the CC's. But, maybe that has nothing to do with this subject, but maybe everyone should know what they're talking about.

 

[Macchina]

I am amazed at how many people believe that Strider leaves the stop pin loose to ease in installing the tritium pins can be installed easier! If Strider truely did this, then shame on them! Intentionally leaving a screw loose on a knife that is supposed to be used in the harshest conditions is completly irrisponsible! Has nobody unscrewed a screw before, it's not that hard when they are tight.

I think you are misunderstanding my point. I do not believe Strider would intentionally leave a screw loose. If they did, shame. If they didn't, I'm saying stop assuming.

 

[GibsonFan]

In my industry, a 5 or 10% return rate would cripple us. It would certainly put a halt to quarterly bonuses till the returns were fixed and the costs absorbed.

I'm flummoxed as to why people would accept anywhere near that kind of failure rate and still patronize the company. There are many other manu's, large and small, who sell gobs of knives for WAY less than $400, and enjoy a much better reputation. That kind of failure isn't a warranty issue, it's a blatant rip-off.

I'm reminded of the story about the samurai whose blade failed him in combat... lucky to survive, he brought the pieces back to the smith and inserted them into various orifices in the smith's body.

I corrected it by disassembling the knife, and bending the lockbar quite a bit further, so after reassembling the knife did lock up well.

Sadly, you probably screwed yourself out of any recourse as soon as you took it apart. Few if any manu's will honor a warranty on a modified or disassembled product, simply because, how do they know YOU didn't mess it up? EDIT: my bad, the Strider site says their warranty is lifetime and unconditional. My apologies.

As a side note, how in the heck is a production folder worth $400 in any case? Does it sharpen itself? Peel your potatoes for you? Assuming the knife was good, you paid about $100 for the knife and $300 for unmitigated BS.

 

[OilMan]

Sadly, you probably screwed yourself out of any recourse as soon as you took it apart. Few if any manu's will honor a warranty on a modified or disassembled product, simply because, how do they know YOU didn't mess it up?

Nope. They might blow you some smoke about it but they will fix it. That's the beauty of the Strider Warranty.:thumbup:

ps. It will cost you $15 for return shipping.