John Phillips
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2020
- Messages
- 1,888
Let me start by saying that I’ve been carrying pocket knives for 20 years and over the past 6 years I’ve bought, handled, flipped, and carried A LOT of knives in the $150-$300 range. I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of many of the usual suspects, benchmades, ZTs, Spydercos, CRK, cold steel, Three Rivers Manufacturing, CKF, Tuya knives( side note, I think this is the most underrated brand out there with the best action for their knives around $200-$250). I will admit that I haven’t owned a ton in the $500-$1200 range but I would say for fair comparisons, let’s judge this against all knives under $300 if that’s fair. I bought mine from another forum member for just under $200. 1 is for sale right now on the auction site for $300 OBO. So with all that being said, I’m COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY IN EVERY WAY!!!!!
1. Action - perfect detent with 3 deployment options with minimal effort/pressure, not really a drop shut action, just needs a little shake to get it to retract. Zero lockbar stick, zero blade play, solid lockup and perfectly centered. 9.5/10
2. Steel - CPM20CV, as sharp as any Spyderco out of the box with a stunning yet simple finish, not as sharp as TRM Atom but what is sharper from the maker, the Neutron, lol. But still one of my sharpest blades from the factory. 9.5/10 (side note, I think my CKF Evo 2.0 wins the scariest sharpest edge award of my entire collection, what a crazy hollow grind!!!)
3. Ergonomics- almost damn perfection. Extremely comfortable, just the right size overall for my hand, zero hotspots, my only complaint is that you can’t really choke up on the knife, I’m not asking for a full front finger choil, I’m just saying it doesn’t quite work to choke up on this knife. But I’d still give it a 9.5/10
4. Looks - the orange peel titanium is subtle but looks special and stands out in the right way. They continued the orange peel titanium throughout the entire knife, (backspacer and clip)which looks SO GOOD. I’m not a front flipper fanatic but this works so well overall with this knife and it adds a little bit of interest to the shape of the knife when closed. Just looks fantastic. 9.5/10
5. Size - it’s bigger than my small Sebenza but smaller than my Para 2, about the exact size as my Bugout but fills out my hand better overall. Blade shape, length and width are a 10/10 for me!!!! 10/10.
6. Overall - I can already say without any hesitation that this is going to take up a significant amount of pocket time which competes with some long time hall of famers. It usually comes down to about 5-10 knives I get to reach for each day. It seems my small Sebenza has been number 1 for about a year now followed by; benchmade 940S-1 or 940-2001, American Blade Works model1 V6 20CV, Para 3 cruwear, large Inkosi Tanto, ZT 630CF(this one gets way more time in the colder months when I wear jeans more often), lost my DPX Hest or that would probably still be in the normal rotation. 9.8/10
To sum up on a long winded review, I didn’t expect this to be anything that great and man was I was dead wrong. It’s as close to the perfect EDC that I’ve ever experienced!!!!!!! I love it so much im going to make sure I buy 1 more and put it away for safe keeping.
Would love to hear others opinions and/or experiences, good or bad.
1. Action - perfect detent with 3 deployment options with minimal effort/pressure, not really a drop shut action, just needs a little shake to get it to retract. Zero lockbar stick, zero blade play, solid lockup and perfectly centered. 9.5/10
2. Steel - CPM20CV, as sharp as any Spyderco out of the box with a stunning yet simple finish, not as sharp as TRM Atom but what is sharper from the maker, the Neutron, lol. But still one of my sharpest blades from the factory. 9.5/10 (side note, I think my CKF Evo 2.0 wins the scariest sharpest edge award of my entire collection, what a crazy hollow grind!!!)
3. Ergonomics- almost damn perfection. Extremely comfortable, just the right size overall for my hand, zero hotspots, my only complaint is that you can’t really choke up on the knife, I’m not asking for a full front finger choil, I’m just saying it doesn’t quite work to choke up on this knife. But I’d still give it a 9.5/10
4. Looks - the orange peel titanium is subtle but looks special and stands out in the right way. They continued the orange peel titanium throughout the entire knife, (backspacer and clip)which looks SO GOOD. I’m not a front flipper fanatic but this works so well overall with this knife and it adds a little bit of interest to the shape of the knife when closed. Just looks fantastic. 9.5/10
5. Size - it’s bigger than my small Sebenza but smaller than my Para 2, about the exact size as my Bugout but fills out my hand better overall. Blade shape, length and width are a 10/10 for me!!!! 10/10.
6. Overall - I can already say without any hesitation that this is going to take up a significant amount of pocket time which competes with some long time hall of famers. It usually comes down to about 5-10 knives I get to reach for each day. It seems my small Sebenza has been number 1 for about a year now followed by; benchmade 940S-1 or 940-2001, American Blade Works model1 V6 20CV, Para 3 cruwear, large Inkosi Tanto, ZT 630CF(this one gets way more time in the colder months when I wear jeans more often), lost my DPX Hest or that would probably still be in the normal rotation. 9.8/10
To sum up on a long winded review, I didn’t expect this to be anything that great and man was I was dead wrong. It’s as close to the perfect EDC that I’ve ever experienced!!!!!!! I love it so much im going to make sure I buy 1 more and put it away for safe keeping.
Would love to hear others opinions and/or experiences, good or bad.
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