$240 and a 10 month wait for an unusable knife? Barf. I'd send it back. My 0350 has a poorly ground blade, poorly ground uneven "jimping", but it at least opens and closes like it should. I won't ever send in a brand new knife for warranty work. I won't send in anything brand new for warranty work. If I buy something and it's defective out of the box, back it goes to the retailer for a full refund, or if I feel like rolling the dice after getting bitten once I'd go for an exchange. Anyone defending ZT is doing everyone including KAI a disservice. They need to get their act together. ANY company putting out knives like that should fix their QC immediately. People need to know about these issues and the company needs to stop putting out knives that are defective. This is hardly the first time that this has happened. And yes, a knife with a detent so strong it takes two hands to open it is defective. The design should allow for 1 finger opening. If it doesn't do that out of the box it's defective. The Strider nonsense about "break in period" is manufacturer cost cutting to squeeze out more profit. Seems like there are CF/RIL knives from most major manufacturers. ZT seems to stick with that pretty much exclusively, though.
Folks this is all the result of ZT building product as fast as they can so they can make more money as fast as they can. ZTs pretty much sell themselves now and just about any decent online retailer will buy as many as ZT will sell them just so a retailer can show they have ZT in stock and have nice splashy ZT ads on their homepages etc. When it comes to anything newer or just a bit more special than the last model they are all sold before they are even made on understanding that they will be built and sent to whatever retailer by X date. So yes the assembly line has GOT to look like a bunch of OCD meth addicts are putting everything together. The new for 2015 knives for the most part were all done being made a month ago. Only exclusive runs for the rest of the year. Ive got 12 ZTs. Nothing special just the usual stuff. I do have 2 0801's where the plain standard titanium one has to light a detent and the blade came noticeably off center and the other is the BW version. The BW version has perfect blade centering but came so freaking stiff a detent I took a look and the detent ball was stuck not moving at all. I dont know what breaking the detent wall is but I have some Hoppes Elite Gun Oil and a couple of hours to made sure the ball stayed drenched in gun oil while I continuously and kinda slowly opened and closed the knife for almost 2 hours. It actually worked! The ball was freely moving for the first time since I got it and now that its fixed it is an incredible flipper. Just dont know what to do about the other one. Regardless my BW should have never left the factory like that and I did not want to wait for god knows how long to get it back. I agree I have heard their repair dpt is very good
Strider should not be brought into this conversation.:yawn: Nor... is there any correlation whatsoever
While on the subject. I have to say. I feel the price of zt is comparable to reate. I've used both very hard. I'm not a flipper fan but I sure know what a great flipper with great lock up should feel like. But even with occasional fit issues, Zt has gorgeous finished products and is far from crap. The blade on the 0452 is just stunning! But most importantly zt has amazing customer service and they produce many high end gorgeous knives. Flipping action is also great. I have requested a new m390 horizon d later this hear with thumb studs and no flipper with carbon fiber handle. That would be awesome but I doubt that it will happen. I can also say that ZT is a time proven company unlike its predecessor. Just to note, I carry a crk exclusively ,a 25. I have room in my life to own a second knife later in the year. What I do love are my wife's Kai kitchen cutlery. Those are nice knives.
People consistently say that Strider knives have to be "broken in" because they're so stiff out of the box. People make excuses for poor craftsmanship. Yes, there is a correlation. No feelings need to be hurt over it. These are knives not my little pony dolls. If a company puts out their product like that then they should have no problem when consumers describe the products accurately.
Don't understand why ZT keeps getting bashed so much Don't like it? => Refund/Exchange Give it another shot? => Warranty Simple as that! Fact of the matter is..... with the 0562CF being as popular as it is, these issues are just a drop in the ocean. It's unfortunate you got one with a stiff detent, just send it in if it worries you so much or you will truly miss out on an awesome knife
^I agree. These things happen with all brands. If you do like the knife - send it in and grin and bear the wait. I'm sure you'll be happy with the knife once the detent issue is remedied. It is hard to swallow on a brand new knife. ZT is pumping out a lot of models at once and may have more than they can handle smoothly.
I tend to feel that ZT should have QC'd these knives better, especially after changing the steel recipe and holding up shipping for 10 months. And I'm not so sure about their customer service---they want me to pay for shipping cost on a brand new defective knife. I'm starting to think that maybe I should just return the 0562CF (likely at my expense) and be happy with the awesome standard 0562 that flips flawlessly that I already own.
But the 0566 needed to have M390 too Personally, I'd return it, run away and never look back. I used to like ZT, but as I tried other knives like Reate, Kizer, Carson (All Chinese brands), and some customs that are in the LEZT price range like Olamic cutlery and customs from André Thorburn, I realize how much ZT is lacking in quality, fit and finish. My 0562 flips no better than my 0454, and for a $500 Sinkevich design, I expcted it to be an awesome flipper...it's not. My $200 Carson has a much better designed lock face, much better detent, and is 1000x smoother. I can say the same for Reate and Kizer. Looking at some LE ZT's, for around $500 you can buy an André Thorburn that will blow ZT out of the water in terms of lock geometry, fit&finish, blade grinds, flipping action, the list goes on... It's puzzling how a $500 ZT feels exactly the same (action-wise) as a $240 one, it only looks $260 better. Heck, I can go buy a custom slipjoint from Jim Dunlap for $240 that is far beyond ZT's quality, fit & finish. But it doesn't flip, have bearings or M390, so I guess the overall quality doesn't matter to most people
My perspective and experiences have been the opposite, but I'm not mad at you It would be a boring world if we all had the same opinions.
Waiting on preorder for indefinite period of time, horrible communication with dealers, Elmax steel chips so easy it could make you cry, now changing to different steel because of it, price puts it at the top of production knives, many frame lock issues, detent issues, torsion bars failing, .......... so ZT deserves to be called out on the garbage they continue to put out. There just is not excuse, and if I had to go through refund/exchange/warrany, I'm just going with a different blade.
Uhhh, all of the heavy detent stuff is meant to be lightswitched. Push-button methods were developed as a technique to handle weaker detents.
Uhhh, what are you talking about? My wayfarer has nearly no detent, and it flips with lightswitch or push-button methods just fine. My Thorburn's have medium detents and they can be opened with my thumb, push-button, or lightwitch methods. Where in the world did you come to the conclusion that heavy detents are meant to be lightswitched? Heavy detents should not be incorporated into a flipper style knife period.
This and building the "perfect detent" for each and everyone is impossible. It is all about the horsepower. Either you have it or you don't. I for one love the strong/heavy detent that ZT has been using on their newer knives. Get your technique down and with a little use they will just keep getting better and better. Your it's tooooooooo hard = my perfect! The heavy detent makes for a nice strong opening. The 0560 started out with a nice heavy detent and then got watered down because of a few complainers. I have a early 0560, made in the first few months of production and a 0561 made last year. The 0560 is strong smooth flipper and the 0561 is lazy and slow. We are all different, buy what you like. Not sure about the hate here......I'm not a fan of most Benchmades, but you don't see me dogging on them in every thread that is posted. 1. Use the knife, it will smooth out. Or if needed chamfer the edge of your detent hole/ take some of the tension off of you lock bar. 2. Send it in, they will make it nice and easy for you. 3. Sell it to someone with some "horsepower".
He specifically said heavy detent . All other detents will flip push or switch . I find that heavy detent on a thump stud don't work for me hurts my thump and I have to find what's the best way to open the knife . My 0550 took me like a week to find the comfort zone . That thing has a strong detent .
Horsepower? Lol... Some people work with their hands for a living, and a strong detent is very slippery with wet/muddy/greasy/etc. hands. Maybe a strong detent is fine if you push papers or something, maybe cut boxes all day, but for down right work, a strong detent sucks in many ways... Pair that with a lock that needs 2 hands to close, and it an unusable knife... That's exactly why mine sit in a drawer and are just "fun to play with"...
Ahhh... That 100% lockup on a brand new 0452 is so refreshing, right? I mean, come on... This thing is totally legit, it's a ZT man!
I used to be concerned about tight detents. But over the years I've decided that a slightly strong detent seems to be easier to correct than the opposite. Every knife I've had seems to break-in differently. Some quickly with just a little work (yeah, that means "play with it" [emoji1]). Others take a little more time. Still waiting for my 562cf, hoping it lands soon.
