QSP kings of the budget realm

[Londinium Armoury]

Eh. I believe in the concept of Wabi-Sabi: the scratch is part of it's story, and it helps me remember that no knife is perfect.

The pull is very easy, though not to the point of falling open by itself, because of the lock. I imagine I could tighten it up, but I don't feel the need.

The half-stop is very soft, almost not there. I've never really felt the need for a half-stop on a locking knife, so it's not a big deal, to me.

Any knife with liners is going to have good talk. The G10 is very rigid too, which makes for a crisp "snap" when the lock engages. So, good talk, not so good on the walk.

Thanks for the detailed break down, this little talk made me go and have a look at what else QSP offer in the more traditional sense, I like the look of the QSP Falcon, that looks very smart, now I'm thinking to grab one of those up. Not really in the budget realm but looks very pretty.

 

[r8shell]

Reasons why the QSP Copperhead is not the best value EDC for me (in fact, it wouldn't win its way into my rotation):

1. At 3.5" it comes in larger than I choose to carry. I prefer just under 3" for EDC tasks.
2. At 5 ounces for a 3.5" blade it flunks the "ounce per inch" size to weight ratio I prefer in an EDC knife.
3. A 3.5" blade with a nearly 5" handle is very inefficient.
4. 0.14" blade stock with a high flat grind leaves it fairly thick behind the edge. My EDC tasks are much more enjoyable with a thin, slicey blade.
5. The pocket clip leaves the knife with a fairly high and obvious carry in the pocket. The clip also screams "KNIFE!!!".
6. Black G10. I'm so sick of black G10.
7. I tend to prefer open back construction. The Copperhead has a fairly sizable, solid backspacer.

I guess that's why we're all free to like the knives we like. I'd pick up a CIVIVI Pintail over a Copperhead every day that ends in a "Y". There's 7 valid reasons why a knife that seems to work for the OP would never work for me.

In that case, you would probably love the CJRB Feldspar.

 

[shameless98]

Interesting knife, hadn’t heard of QSP before. I think comparing it to the Rat 1 is apples to oranges though, because the cheapest I can find a Copperhead is over double the (AUS-8) Rat 1. 25$ vs 55$. And then there’s country of origin to consider, which may or may not be important. I do on the odd occasion carry a Chinese knife (Elementum) though.

 

[Less Than Sharpest]

ZT 0804cf. It's big but I forget it's even in my pocket.

 

[Chronovore]

I've had four knives from QSP. They fall all over the map in terms of quality or quality control. From best to worst experiences:

QSP Penguin - This is one of the better sub-$30 knives on the market. The Micarta on mine is nice but unusual. It has the feel of a finished paper product. They seem to do okay with their Chinese D2.

QSP Neckmuck - This seems like a decent knife but the deep finger grooves seem spaced for a smaller hand. It made prolonged use uncomfortable. Sheath retention was a near miss too. I wasn't comfortable wearing it horizontally as a result. It's too bad because the blade is good. Depending on how it fits your hand and if the sheath works for you, this could still be decent.

QSP Parrot - I really wanted to like this knife. It looks nice and carries well. I love the blade shape. Unfortunately, mine came with a messed up washer. The lockbar has noticeably and annoyingly sharp corners. While factory edges tend not to be good indicators of long-term performance, the factory edge on mine was terrible. It started sharp but immediately started to crumble against regular Amazon-box cardboard. The edge quickly developed both chips and flat spots. It's a shame but with all that was wrong, it just wasn't worth the work to try fixing any of that.

QSP Stash - This thing was a real dumpster fire of a "survival knife". The factory edge was on par with the Parrot above. The handle was extremely uncomfortable. The sheath was garbage. The attached ferro rod was useless. The tiny attached flashlight was a bad joke. Seriously, the flashlight came with a bundled stack of watch batteries and the plastic wrap obscured the connection. So I had to unbundle them. Getting them to stack correctly in the tube without the plastic wrap was very frustrating. Once I succeeded and got the light on, it was maybe 1 Lumen with a sickly tint. It also started to flicker occasionally and had to be smacked like an old TV.

Given, my samples are between one and two years old. I don't know if quality has improved since then.

 

[craytab]

Is there a reason you're acting like my 4 year old son after I told him no snacks before dinner? Are you okay there buddy. I didn't know using my knives at work was a problem. Grow up you're acting like a little baby.

I'm the one acting like a baby? Ha!

You're the guy comparing a $25 knife to a $56 knife and not understanding why one seems better. "Well, well, compare the more expensive version of the RAT!" That takes it out of the realm of why the RAT 1 is considered one of the best budget knives out there. Goal post movers rarely work well here. The logic in your argument is flawed. Or, rather than admit you screwed up, just insult me, deflect, and move the goal posts.....

 

[AntDog]

In that case, you would probably love the CJRB Feldspar.

Great knives. My ol lady loves hers.

 

[chalby]

I've got the QSP Snipe. I'm really happy with it; the fit and finish are excellent, but without having any of the other better known chinese knives I can't really compare. Looking at my QSP, I would say it would be at least as good as anything else in that price range although I suspect that you could buy a Civivi, CRJB etc and be just as happy.

Overall I think they are slightly under-rated. They certainly don't get mentioned as often as some other like brands from China.

 

[NG VI]

To be “king of the budget knife realm”, QSP would have to do something better or different than the competition. One of those better or different things would be design innovative. As we both seem to agree that QSP is not innovative, there’s nothing left to separate them from the flood of value knives. The quality/value of QSP is not better than CIVIVI, Tangram, CJRB and others.

By what merit then does QSP wear the crown?

It's one thing to say they're not innovative because they haven't released a new steel or lock, but they legitimately did launch with a slate of unique if somewhat vanilla designs.

Their Hawk, Puffin, Penguin, and Leopard are all excellent, they do good grinds, and their actions are generally great.

I think the Puffin is an especially underrated sleeper, it's a featherweight and the index finger slot is a slick opening method

I forgot the Pelican, which is the one that won me over for them. I do think their strength as a company is in the 'upper budget' range with knives like the Pelican, Hawk, and Puffin. It's a price point where a lot of buyers would prefer to either save more and get a 'nicer' brand or spend less on a more consummate budget (replaceable) knife.