Please dont hurt me... I need to ask...

D

Dishonor39

Joined
Jan 5, 2011
Messages
213
I was wondering how my fellow ESEE owners felt about TOPS. I only own one, the TTD-01, which personally I dislike. It was not what I expected and its more a novelty for me at this point in time, an expensive novelty. I had seen a few other TOPS designs that look like they would be more ideal for what I use my knives for and was wondering what the ESEE community thought about them as far as a quality comparison with ESEE. I know they tend to be overpriced, but I do feel that if you shop around you can find them for around what I pay for ESEE knives (some models of TOPS that is, I would still have to say that most of them are in fact overpriced regardless of where you shop) I just spent about 2 hours whittling a 1" diameter branch into a tent peg and the smoothest most evenly rounded dowel I have ever whittled and I cant get over how easily the Junglas was to use for such small work due to its superior edge and design, regardless of its size. No way in hell I could do that with my TOPS, due to both the edge and design. I sent the knife to Accu-sharp to get reprofiled and its better but still no where near as useful due to the thick blade and chisel grind. This question must have been asked before, please don't throw me in the lake to drown :(
 
Tops knives are really good with a huge selection and expensive for 1095 but most of their knives are 1/4" thick so not much more than ESEE for what you get. The warranty does not match up with the prices.
 
The TOPS knives are good knives, some of the designs are a bit over the top for my liking personally but good knives nonetheless. Are they as good as an ESEE? I don't feel they are. I sell far more ESEE knives than TOPS and I personally own the whole ESEE line myself but no TOPS knives. I sell ESEE knives to people that would never buy a TOPS knife and I have also sold TOPS knives to customers that told me they don't like ESEE. Like all other knives and gear in general, everyone has their own preference. To each their own I guess.
 
I own 2 and like them both. Fit and finish is great. I would agree that some of the designs and names are a bit much though. I have the pasayten in 154cm with an 1/8" blade thickness and a mohawk hunter in 1095 with 3/16 blade. The mohawk has a sentimental value as in it saved me from goin over a 40ft bluff by becoming a quick anchor. So many new models come out I may yet try another. Next on the list is a junglas tho, and when new laser strike comes out
 
Good stuff but not for me personally.

Sure there are some designs that I'd like but in reality ESEE has me covered for that style of knives.
 
No one can doubt the quality of their product, but they do tend to be expensive for what they are and they have a lot of mall ninja designs (as well as very practical ones) so you have to sort through them to find the good ones.
 
I sell'em but, sell 5 to 1 ESEE over TOPS. They make a good product, but, generally too thick a blade. Quality control is good, but I don't like the belt clip sheaths. Warranty is not as good as ESEE.

Lastly, I'm of the belief that if you have so may designs, you dilute your strength and make it harder for customers to pick a knife.

ESEE has it all together. Not a ton of models. Each knife a great knife, no duds. The best warranty in the business. Probably the best business model for a knife company I've ever seen.
 
They have some really cool designs, but they seem like they put out a lot of models just one after another instead of focusing on a core lineup of knives and doing them really well. They make some knife designs that I think look completely worthless then others that look pretty good. For 1095 blades they are kind of pricey and as mentioned at that price the warranty should be ESEE-like.
 
I was looking to get a TOPS Tracker Knife (Tom Brown Jr) but got a 5 instead - then really got a chance to use all of them at Tracker School - even the instructors were impressed with the ESEE knives (also brought my HEST and Izula).

After handling the Tracker knives 1, 2, & 3 I am glad I got the RC5 - I don't think I would have been happy with the Tracker long-term. Too busy of a design and the handle didn't feel right.

Oddly enough, the instructors use Moras, not Tracker knives at the school bearing the same name!
 
I've only got experience with one Tops knife, the Baghdad Box Cutter:

tpbbc01.jpg


Despite the cheesy name, it's a bomb-proof knife and I edc it when I want a fixed blade. The sheath and belt clip are pretty damn good, was reasonably priced for a Tops knife too.
 
I would agree with most of the opinions stated already. I have two TOPS, a Steel Eagle, and a MAK7. truth be told I bought them because I liked the look of them not because I thought they were useful. The quality of each is great, and I have several more of their knives I would like to get. But the decision is almost too much because of the number of knives to choose from. On the flip side I own an Izula, 3, 4,hest and a 6 and would not hesitate to buy another ESEE or use one of them. While I would like to pick up some of the TOPS line, they are hard to find in Canada and buying from TOPS is pricey. Overall TOPS makes a great product though.
 
I LOL'd at the 'mall ninja' phrase.

They 'look cool' but I think they are more fashion over function for the most part.
 
I liked the looks of the TOPS line when they came out, and the names associated with the forming of the company. Then I actually held a few at SHOT 03 and decided that the handles had too many grooves and notches for my tastes in a woods knife. I thought they would eat some skin during long whittling and cutting and chopping chores.

I RECENTLY warmed up to them again and started looking at them and decided I would buy one, and if it impressed me, I had two more I liked that would fit into my "knife battery".

Then I seen the video (mentioned on another thread) of the reviewer on YouTube that had the FireStrike totally warp during batonning.

Now let me say this-I personally don't see me "batonning", but I think it is an ACID test of knife strength. I do think that many folks (not all) on these forums that put so much emphasis on batonning might have more keyboard time than actual hiking time. :foot:

My favorite hiking areas are often in areas that forbid open fires and even if they are allowed, we often pass on them anyway, even in the winter. We cook on Jetboils and MSRs, and we are SO past the "it don't seem like camping without a fire" point.

And from first hand experience, a falling cinder on my $200 goretex jacket will ruin the happy atmosphere! ;) He said he understood but the guy I was hiking with (a youth pastor) heard some 7, 12, and 16 letter cusswords that night... :mad: Especially when I had told him and another guy with us I preferred not to have a fire and we could have been fined if a ranger would have caught us.

Anyway, if I end up NEEDING a survival fire NOW, I'll burn the whole piece, or the whole tree if need be! I wont risk time/caloric burn/injury/damage to knife trying to split wood into neat pieces like some guy I seen on a "knife review video"! But that is me-YMMV!

But...back to TOPS. I KNOW that was just one knife, but if that knife missed heat treating, or was not annealed properly, or was rushed through to make a deadline, I can't help but wonder if MORE did also...

Have a deposit on a Randall, am on lists for Ban Tang and Tom Halloran, and looking at Fehrmans and ESEEs!!!

BTW - I hike in Linville Gorge Wilderness Area, Wilson Creek Proposed Wilderness Area, Roan Mountain TN, and Shining Rock Wilderness Area, and only from October to March (otherwise too many bugs/snakes/people!)
 
Love my ESEE knives, but I've owned a few tops over the years. Most recently the ferret necker & stryker defender tool. I liked both blades, but would reach for my RC-3 mil first:
103eut2.jpg

2nbt7hc.jpg
 
TOPS has a huge variety of knives and some of the designs look like whoever drew it up just "went crazy" trying to make an assortment of designs and not concentrating on what actually WORKED for a wide variety of tasks.

some of their designs look just fine, like they'd do almost anything you needed done.

prices always seem high, especially when you compare them to some of the less expensive customs available from individual makers.

the ESEE knives all seem well suited for a wide variety of tasks... basically whatever you care to throw at it (not whatever you want to throw the knife at) prices are reasonable, the warranty is top notch, the people are great and things like the optional sheath pouch that they list for the 5 and 6, but that can be made to fit on the 3 and 4 are also great pluses. saves hunting for mag pouches to make work.

i'm not a huge fan of chisel grinds.

some of the TOPS designs seem decent, but it's hard to tell from a pic.
 
David From NC said:
Anyway, if I end up NEEDING a survival fire NOW, I'll burn the whole piece, or the whole tree if need be! I wont risk time/caloric burn/injury/damage to knife trying to split wood into neat pieces like some guy I seen on a "knife review video"! But that is me-YMMV!
Click to expand...

in SOME CONDITIONS you may need to split that wood down to get to DRY wood inside. sooo knowing how to baton can be a useful skil.

and if it's a true "fire or die" situation, well, mister ranger is gonna have to find you to fine you, and if he's handing out a ticket he can haul your butt back to someplace warm and dry. :D

now, in my area, i don't usually have any problem finding dry stuff. so
 
David From NC said:
And from first hand experience, a falling cinder on my $200 goretex jacket will ruin the happy atmosphere! ;) He said he understood but the guy I was hiking with (a youth pastor) heard some 7, 12, and 16 letter cusswords that night... :mad: Especially when I had told him and another guy with us I preferred not to have a fire and we could have been fined if a ranger would have caught us.
Click to expand...
Sorry about your jacket, but the rest of it is Priceless..... :D
I can only imagine, I'd be waaaay past pissed too. :thumbup:
 
David From NC said:
I liked the looks of the TOPS line when they came out, and the names associated with the forming of the company. Then I actually held a few at SHOT 03 and decided that the handles had too many grooves and notches for my tastes in a woods knife. I thought they would eat some skin during long whittling and cutting and chopping chores.

I RECENTLY warmed up to them again and started looking at them and decided I would buy one, and if it impressed me, I had two more I liked that would fit into my "knife battery".

Then I seen the video (mentioned on another thread) of the reviewer on YouTube that had the FireStrike totally warp during batonning.

Now let me say this-I personally don't see me "batonning", but I think it is an ACID test of knife strength. I do think that many folks (not all) on these forums that put so much emphasis on batonning might have more keyboard time than actual hiking time. :foot:

My favorite hiking areas are often in areas that forbid open fires and even if they are allowed, we often pass on them anyway, even in the winter. We cook on Jetboils and MSRs, and we are SO past the "it don't seem like camping without a fire" point.

And from first hand experience, a falling cinder on my $200 goretex jacket will ruin the happy atmosphere! ;) He said he understood but the guy I was hiking with (a youth pastor) heard some 7, 12, and 16 letter cusswords that night... :mad: Especially when I had told him and another guy with us I preferred not to have a fire and we could have been fined if a ranger would have caught us.

Anyway, if I end up NEEDING a survival fire NOW, I'll burn the whole piece, or the whole tree if need be! I wont risk time/caloric burn/injury/damage to knife trying to split wood into neat pieces like some guy I seen on a "knife review video"! But that is me-YMMV!

But...back to TOPS. I KNOW that was just one knife, but if that knife missed heat treating, or was not annealed properly, or was rushed through to make a deadline, I can't help but wonder if MORE did also...

Have a deposit on a Randall, am on lists for Ban Tang and Tom Halloran, and looking at Fehrmans and ESEEs!!!

BTW - I hike in Linville Gorge Wilderness Area, Wilson Creek Proposed Wilderness Area, Roan Mountain TN, and Shining Rock Wilderness Area, and only from October to March (otherwise too many bugs/snakes/people!)
Click to expand...
Hey I played golf with a Lutheran Father who said things like what you said.
That was a weird situation.
 
fixer said:
in SOME CONDITIONS you may need to split that wood down to get to DRY wood inside. sooo knowing how to baton can be a useful skil.

and if it's a true "fire or die" situation, well, mister ranger is gonna have to find you to fine you, and if he's handing out a ticket he can haul your butt back to someplace warm and dry. :D

now, in my area, i don't usually have any problem finding dry stuff. so
Click to expand...

Yes I agree. I should have added that to my post but I overlooked it. THAT is a situation where I can see splitting some wood-at least the first few pieces...after that I find that the fire will sufficiently dry the next larger "fuel" pieces...

There is a FASTER way though... :D Several of us have a "fail-safe" last ditch emergency firestarter in our packs after a bad experience in our early hiking years.

I hike with one of my closest friends who is ex-82nd Airborne...he showed me "they way" in the early 90s.

We were in a campsite by the Linville River in January of 1990 or 1991 (?) and NONE of the THREE of us could get a fire going. They were not forbidden in that area, and it had rained for days (why we even still went is beyond me-but I was outvoted :rolleyes: ).

This was a NASTY camping trip but we had planned it for so long and all three of us "needed it". Rain started and stopped. The river was up higher and faster than it had been in a while. Fog and overcast sat in and blanketed the gorge...

Search and Rescue had closed off part of the area looking for a guy from California who had gotten lost looking for a local plant (galax) so this wasn't our planned route or agenda anyway, and while throwing firewood across a narrow part of the river, I had RE-dislocated my right shoulder that I had first dislocated in 1988. I got it back in place but had some pain issues. Many of us still wore a lot of cotton back then then so we were cold and wet.

After making a HUGE pile of wood to burn we played with tinder and kindling for about an hour. All three of us tried for at least a part of that time.

Finally my friend said "Screw this! You guys make a big pile with the big pieces and stuff all the small stuff in the all the air spaces. I'M TIRED OF PLAYING!" We did this and he went to his ALICE pack (he was still active duty the anyway, so he carried his "work" pack.) He came back with an M49 trip flare and took the "grenade" portion out and with nothing but a quick warning "Don't look directly at the flame!" he tossed it in the top of the pile.

UH...YEAH! 5400 DEGREES FOR SIXTY SECONDS WILL START WATERLOGGED WOOD BURNING! :thumbup:

We had a NICE fire the rest of the weekend!

And since Shomer-Tec sold m49 trip flares at that time, and you could buy them at gun shows, and it has been alleged that always I have one somewhere in my pack (as Foghorn Leghorn says) "For just such an emuuuurgency!" :D

I should say that I am a LOT more "low impact" now however, and DO NOT hike expecting a big fire ring and roaring fire. I recall showing an album of hiking pics to a friend once (ex-miltary special ops and then a NOLS or similar guide) and he almost choked looking at some of my pics. I asked what he was looking at and he pointed to my fire rings with firewood beside them. He told me he hadn't used that much firewood (from my ONE campsite) in 5 years of "civillian" hiking! I began to make smaller fires from then on, and we began "ween" ourselves from the "fire" expectation after that.

And I don't wear cotton in the backcountry much either anymore. :o
 
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