Paramilitary dilemma

J

Jet B

Joined
Jun 27, 2010
Messages
290
I had previously ordered a Paramilitary 1 because the website I purchase from had them on almost half off.

I thought I would give it a try since so many people seem to like the knife.

The next day, the store received a big shipment from Spyderco and they had the Paramilitary 2 in digi-camo and black DLC blade coating... I just had to order it too.

Now here is my problem. I check out my new first generation Paramilitary and I really like it. Then I start using the Para 2 and I really, really like that one too... These are both incredible EDC blades, easily my favorite now.

Now I can't decide which one to use. I end up carrying them both around with me... The Para 1 is an awesome knife, but somehow they managed to improve on awesome with the Para 2. I'm blown away.

The one thing I can think of that might be useful with the first generation Para is that you can tighten the blade pivot so the blade has friction and won't swing open easily. I imagine this could be handy if you travel back and forth across the US/Canada border and run into zealous customs officials who have a creative interpretation of what is a gravity knife. As far as I can tell, there is no way to tighten out the smooth opening nature of the Para 2 because of the new bushing pivot system. It sure does open nicely though. :)

For anyone else who owns both models of the Paramilitary, do you find that the Para 1 sits on the shelf now that you have your Para 2? Or do you still find each model useful for certain things? They sure do have their similarities, but they also feel so different in the hand. Both in good ways in my opinion, just different.

Remind me to never again buy two incredible knives at the same time. :eek:
 
As much as I loved the original para (was always my favorite knife) I finally sold my last original and now carry only para 2's. to me, they're just that good.

......and I can tighten down any of my para 2's to where they're difficult to open and certainly won't swing open. Have you tried?
 
Yeah... :) I was unimpressed by the improvements in the P2 on paper, but in real life the degree of improvement as a whole is much greater than the sum of the parts. I was surprised; life doesn't always work out that way. :eek: :D
 
Before, Id use to carry the Para 1 camo g10 black blade in my toolbelt as a back up knife at work (the knife id beat on and give to people to use if they needed a knife) until I gave it to one of my co-workers who really liked it. Not saying you should give it away, but it did make a nice knife for the toolbelt.
 
Spyderdog said:
As much as I loved the original para (was always my favorite knife) I finally sold my last original and now carry only para 2's. to me, they're just that good.

......and I can tighten down any of my para 2's to where they're difficult to open and certainly won't swing open. Have you tried?
Click to expand...

When I first got mine, it had a very slight side to side blade play. I snugged up the stop pin and pivot pin screws as much as I felt comfortable doing. (I really don't want to strip a screw). At first I couldn't adjust the play out of the blade, but once I removed the pocket clip and tightened the pivot screw under there it fixed it. There is absolutely zero play now. It's definitely different than my Para 1 or any of my other knives where I can just adjust the pivot by tiny increments to get the desired friction. Maybe I will try it again after breaking it in for a few days and see what happens.

@Rudeco, I bought both knives from Warriors&wonders website in Vancouver, Canada. The price was just 46% off the MSRP. $114 to be exact. The Para2 was only $10 more. Maybe not slamming deals, but pretty good prices for up here in Canada. Sorry if I got you excited for a crazy cheap price. I assume you can find better deals south of the border, but I have no idea really.

As to the knives, so far my initial impression is that I like both of them still. If I had to pick one, it would definitely be the Para 2 though. The Para 1 feels a bit nicer in a choked up grip and the Para 2 feels better in an unchoked grip but just has more refining improvements. Spyderco does such a nice job on the digi-camo G-10 and I'm really liking their DLC coating. I usually shy away from coated blades because they wear off so fast, but from everything I read the DLC really lasts well.
 
I have both the Para1 (D2) and the Para2 (S30V) and both have their place in the rotation. I like both of them, for different reasons.
 
I had a P2 for 9 days before selling to fund the purchase of a digicam original. I also have a CPMD2 Para that has been the best $100 I have spent on a knife. There was nothing wrong with the P2 but I do prefer the original clip, smaller lanyard hole & sub 3" blade. I have always & prefer to carry Millies and Paras tip down so that option didn't matter much (except for selling point).

With that being said, it might be hard for me to ignore that carpenter...:)
 
I had the original, but since I bought a p2 back in January it's all I've carried. I sold my P1. The P2 just fits my hand better.
 
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