The S571 is a great looking knife but has some flaws. I actually owned two of them and ended up selling both.
The problem with the S571 is that instead of putting so much effort on throwing more features on the knife, they should have focused on building a quality product.
I hate to say it, but the S571 has a distinctly "Chinese" feel. I really hate to put it that way since I'm a big fan of Chinese companies such as Reate, Kizer, and WE Knife Co., but the two Real Steel S571s that I owned were really lacking when it came to fit and finish, consistency, and thoughtful design. Both knives had some weird paint drip-like blemishes in the finish, as well as some sloppy blade grinds. As far as consistency, one had a hard detent with fast-flipping action, while the other had a disappointingly weak detent.
The S571 also features a blue anodized, locking LBS; sort of similar to LionSteel's Roto-Lock but instead of rotating the LBS, you push it forward. The operation of this mechanism requires a horrendous looking milled section on the lock-side. This is pure personal preference but I find any locking-type LBS to be extremely pointless and especially off putting in the case of the S571. Next, there is a weird little rotating lanyard post with a hole that is too small to effectively route 550 paracord through. Lastly, the ELMAX blade has a terrible heat treat. Granted, it took a nice polished edge very, very easily, but had the worst edge retention that I've seen on any knife I've owned.
The final straw for me was when I attempted to disassemble one of my S571s. The fasteners had such shallow recesses that I was almost unable to loosen them. Upon disassembly I was really interested in the needle bearings, as the only other knives I'd heard of with needle/roller bearings were Shirogorovs. Sadly, the ones on the S571 are low-quality, caged needle bearings. When I attempted to reassemble the S571, the shallow recesses really became a problem since my torx bit could barely get enough purchase to adequately tighten the fasteners. This is definitely cause for concern for those of us that prefer to maintain our own knives. The longevity of the fasteners is very questionable. I should also mention that I attempted to contact Real Steel for replacement fasteners to no avail.
All that being said, if Real Steel did away with the odd lanyard post, used a standard non-locking LBS, put some quality fasteners on, and put a little more effort on heat treat they'd have a real winner. Sadly, they skimped on quality and no milled clip, LBS, or needle bearings are going to make up for that.
