New ZT0550 Thread !!!

The standard 0550 will look something like this:

550forthomas-1.jpg
 
Well, I know some may start to complain that these posts all sound the same but it is what is.

I received my knife yesterday and in all honesty had sort of prepared myself to be underwhelmed. Very few things today live up the hype. I think this knife is one of the rare exceptions. It reeks of quality.

The first thing that struck me is the overall "beefy-ness"
(IS THAT EVEN A WORD?) of the knife. The titanium slab is massive. It has just the right heft in your hand. The size is about perfect for me. In my mind I was expecting it to be smaller than it is. In actuality it is about the perfect size. Not too big but not too small either.

The fit and finish on mine is immaculate. There are no tool marks and the G-10 scales match up perfectly to the contours of the liner. And while we are on that subject; another weird preconception I had formed for myself is that the G-10 scale would be smooth. I don't know why but it looked like that to me in the pictures. In actuality it is very rough, almost like sandpaper. I imagine it will smooth out somewhat with use.

I love the ergonomics of this knife. It is very well designed. I have large hands but it is very comfortable for me to grasp although it doesn't quite fill my hand entirely. If it did it probably wouldn't carry very well. Which is something I can't rate since I just got it.

I haven't taken it apart but I did take a look at the inside of the liners with a light and they look to be perfectly finished. They match the rest of the knife without a speck of rust.

There is a little break in period. When you first try it, it is a little stiff and hard to open. But the more you do it the better it gets until after a little while it feels like butter. But as a previous poster stated' your thumb will be sore by the time you get to that point.

Just a quick note while we are on opening and closing: I think others have said it but it is worth repeating. If you try to open it by sweeping your thumb out and up, away from the frame, it won't work and you'll just get frustrated. Instead just flick your thumb straight up, parallel to the grip- not away from it. And she'll shoot out like a rocket. It took me a little bit of time playing with it to figure that out but once I did it was smooth sailing.

Anyway, bottom line is that if you didn't get one of these, do yourself a favor and try to get your hands on one. I haven't even looked at my Strider SNG since I received this thing.

The value factor of the 0551 is through the roof. For the price I don't think you can get a better knife. Hell, even at twice the price it will still hold it's own with the competion.

Great job KAI, Thomas and Dave for getting me one and great job to you guys on this forum for getting the word out. I salute you all. . .
 
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Amen to that!

Well-said,BP Green.

Thomas: really,REALLY like that knife.

THAT is kickass.
~Gnarly
 
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@ BP Green - I also thought it would be smaller, especially after seeing the in hand shots that Rick posted up initially with the prototype. I've carried mine for the last 4 days and have put to some normal use, and it's an excellent piece. I know that some felt underwhelmed, but that knife is nothing short of solid, heavy use cutlery. :)
 
RevDevil said:
@ BP Green - I also thought it would be smaller, especially after seeing the in hand shots that Rick posted up initially with the prototype. I've carried mine for the last 4 days and have put to some normal use, and it's an excellent piece. I know that some felt underwhelmed, but that knife is nothing short of solid, heavy use cutlery. :)
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I'm with you there Rev. This thing is a brute! I think it has to do mostly with the thickness of the slab. It just can't be appreciated from looking at the pics. You have to feel it in hand to truely get a sense of the thing. . .
 
Wow Thomas! the 0550 is great looking knife! im a fan of the G10 pattern too...now that we know what the knife looks like, do we have an approximate price for the 0550.
 
If anyone has an accurate weight scale, could you confirm what you get for the 0551, including the clip?
 
Tony8179 said:
Let me set something straight for everyone. I've posted this about a half dozen times by now.

The Manhattan D/A's jurisdiction does not reach beyond Manhattan and it's surrounding boroughs. NY state's knife laws are quite different from the laws of NYC. You can carry one hand opening knives, flippers, and A/O knives in the state of NY. If you have a fishing or hunting permit you can even carry an automatic knife as long as you are actually hunting or fishing. Many online dealers are not aware of the separation between NYS and NYC for some reason so they just lump the two together and won't ship to NYS at all. To me this is bullshit and these dealers are not only losing potential customers, but customers that they already had as well. When you live outside of NYC your mail is not sorted within Manhattan or it's surrounding boroughs so shipping knives to anywhere outside of NYC should not be an issue.

I live in NYS, not NYC and I've written quite a few online dealers about their misconception without response from any of them. I won't even bother trying to order from these online dealers. Now I'm even noticing that some private sellers on the forums are starting to state in their posts that they won't ship to NYS. Those of us that live in NYS that are users/collectors need to set the record straight to these dealers as well as the individuals that won't ship to NYS for fear of prosecution. There is no chance of prosecution when shipping outside of Manhattan or it's surrounding boroughs. Because of all this nonsense I've mainly stuck to the forum exchanges to purchase the knives I am looking for. Not exactly the easiest thing to do when looking for something new and hot in the market.

Dave must be aware of this because he has never told me that he won't ship to me and I've ordered quite a few knives from him. Other online dealers must have done their homework as well because while they may not ship to NYC they will ship to NY state. When you are a dealer I would suggest that you do your homework because you may be risking losing multiple customers and a lot of money.
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Well spoken. If you really want to be irritated by knife enforcement in NYS read this and watch the video at the bottom. "Oh Heaven, save us from knifes! They are sharp! They Cut. We are all going to die!"
http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2010-06-17.shtml

FWIW, I found a Southern dealer that will sell/ship a ZT 0551 to me! He is quite familiar with NYC's oppressive enforcement of the gravity knife and switch blade law. Not only did he previously live in NYS, he lived in my home town! :thumbup:
 
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