Well, I received my Random Task II yesterday, and I have to say I'm rather impressed. Even after reading the specs on this knife, I didn't expect it to be so beefy. Between the thick liners and G-10 scales, I'm not able to get the handle to flex at all. It just feels so solid. The liner lock is nicely recessed, but still remains easy to disengage. Speaking of liner lock, over the years, I've grown to dislike them. I've never actually had one fail on me, but there was just something about the design that I didn't trust. After getting the Random Task II though, I see my prejudices have caused me to miss out on some good knives. The liner lock on this thing is thick, half the thickness of the blade actually. Lock up is nice and tight, with the tiniest hint of side to side play. It's not enough to notice in actual use though. The thumbstuds worried me at first. I had a Kershaw Barrage a couple years ago, and the thumbstuds on that thing were too sharp for me to use comfortably, so it ended up being given away. When I noticed the slanted studs on the Random Task II, I was worried they would be thumb shredders as well. I'm happy to report that my fears were unfounded, and I find they work rather well. There isn't as much room to access them as I would like, but I haven't had any issues deploying the blade. Lefties take note though, if you want to use this knife left handed, you will have to modify the scale on the locking liner side of the knife. Try as I might, I just cannot access the thumbstuds with my left hand. The Speedsafe works great, and really shoots the blade out there.
The only real disappointment I had was with the edge. It came out of the box with a couple of dings, and it had an odd grind on one side. A little work on the diamond stones however, and it was fixed. I will say, 14c28n likes to hold on to its burr. I think most of my time sharpening was trying to get rid of the burr. I do worry that the tip is a bit thin, though after owning a Para2, I'm kind of used to a fragile tip. I don't plan on doing any prying with it, but sometimes you never know what's going to come up.
So there you have it. It's a shame it was discontinued, because the Random Task II really is a fine knife. I like it so much, I'm tempted to pick up a spare. That's about the highest recommendation I can give a knife.
That being said I did modify the one I carry to make it a little more to my liking. My biggest issue was difficultly accessing the thumbstuds to open the knife. I recessed the handle under the thumbstud to make it more comfortable and easy to open. It's a solid knife with a utilitarian blade shape.
