Nimrod,
Im glad that you have brought up this question as this subject is one that I too am interested in. Hopefully you will get a lot of responses.
I own a SERE 2000 and it has been my EDC for about 2 months now. At the time of purchase (from a B&M store) I wasnt even looking (or thinking) about another tactical folder. I was actually getting kind of tired of the whole black tactical knife thing and I was hoping to pick up something a little different. I wanted a nice looking knife that was also going to be tough, well built, smooth opening, ergonomically correct, and utilize a more high tech blade steel. That day I was actually looking to handle the new BM 690 but this store had just sold their only one that they had. So by accident, during conversation with the store owner, she mentioned the SERE 2000. I did remember the article by Jeff Randall and I had filed this info into my brain for later re-use. But remember, I didnt want another purely tactical knife. But let me tell you, when she put this knife in my hands and I snapped the blade open, I knew right away that I was taking this one home with me.
This knife has all the traits (except stag scales
.he-he) that I like in a knife. Its well balanced, the thumbstud placement is just about perfect (for me at least), the liner/frame is super thick, its very well balanced, feels good in the hand, is super sharp, and its heavy. Yes, I said heavy!!! Now, I now that heavy isnt an attribute that many others here find pleasing but for me I like a little meat with my potatoes. Weight (not too much of coarse) adds to the whole knife using experience (IMHO). I really dont like a super light knife. They always feel kind of cheapo. Hey, maybe its just me, or , maybe not. I dunno. But I will say that even with the extra weight of this knife, I can hardly tell that Im carrying it in my jeans pocket. However, Im sure that this would be different with a more light weight type of pants though.
Now having listed all the positives I want to tell you about a couple of small things that I didnt like. Hey nothings perfect.
First, the thumbstuds are very sharp. They feel like they could actually cut you. They didnt of coarse, but they do feel sharp. I remedied this by filing them (very carefully) with a jewelers file. Now they feel real good. You get just the right amount of bite/purchase on these studs because of their unusual shape. The sharpness was not needed. Hopefully Al Mar Knives will fix this in the future.
Second, the pocketclips tip was turned in. This gave me so many problems when I insert the knife into my front jeans pocket. I had to use two hands. I just had to fix that. I removed the clip and then used two pairs of soft jawed pliers to bend the tip outwards from the knife so the the tip was aligned with the straight portion of the clip. This works awesome. I couldnt have asked for any better results.
The only other thing that I want to comment on is the liner lock problems associated with this knife. I have been disturbed with some of the posts that I have read about the linerlocks on the SERE 2000 failing the spine whack test. Im disturbed not that someone made these posts as Im always happy to get any information on a potential safety problem, but that I didnt hear of these failures until after I had made my purchase.
This left me with no other choice than to perform my own spine whack test. My SERE 2000 past this test. No problems noted. I dont know that this means anything other than my knife past now. Maybe it wont in a year or two. Who knows. I will try this test now and again, if for no other reason, just to feel safe.
So, overall, I would have to say that Im more than pleased with the level of performance that this knife has provided me to this point. I know that I havent really had the chance to use/beat on it yet, but I have a feeling that the Al Mar SERE 2000 is definitely one knife that you can count on when you need it.
--The Raptor--
