So I took the plunge and got the Vantage Force Pro (My Thoughts)

Bolt said:
Just an update on the Vantage Force Pro Problem: I offered it to a few local knife nuts, and they were not happy with all of the play in the blade in all directions and were not willing to take on the task of sending it in even with a good discounted price. SOOOO, I went with what you all had originally said and sent the knife back to BUCK at the end of last year. I called them today wondering what was possibly taking so long, and was told that my knife was repaired a week ago and is awaiting shipping. It will "probably" be sent out next week. Wow, sits for 2 weeks in an out box. Now that is top level customer service. Even assuming the knife is fixed properly, this is exactly what I hate about sending in a knife for repair. The length of time that it has taken only can speak to two things, either they are very understaffed, or they have a lot of poorly built knives to warranty. I lean towards the second option. This will be the last of my Buck purchases. Please proceed with the bashing.
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Well this is starting to look like you are the one doing the bashing. Earlier I noted that the Vantage line did have an issue with being centered when closed. That said, the claim that the knife blade has significant play in all directions is not believable in my opinion unless the liner lock bar is not hitting the back of the blade. This is an obvious fault that was never mentioned. Now we have complaints about the length of service. Another hard to believe assertion!

I talked to Mr. Buck some years ago about the company's lean manufacturing and efforts to provide high quality materials in a knife at an exceptional price point. The Vantage Pro has always done this well. Name one other maker out there providing a USA made S30V Flipper with machined G10 scale, textured back spacer, blade jimping for anywhere close to the price you paid for the Vantage. I know that ZT, Benchmade, and Spyderco will cost significantly more than the $72 shipped I paid for mine.

I guess I'll just say it plainly. I believe you took your knife apart as Bear suggested and muffed it up and now you’re just having some fun on this forum stirring up the pot.
 
Believe what you want. I was and am saying that I am not pleased with the quality of the Vantage out of the box. If I had tampered with it and screwed it up, would Buck be fixing it??? Your point of value for price is well taken, but if I can get a Spyderco Tenacious perfectly centered with zero play, and a Kershaw Chill perfectly centered with zero play, and an Ontario Rat perfectly centered with zero play, all for around the price of the Vantage with loads of play and a return trip to the manufacture, I guess I would take the three users. I made the mistake of offering the knife to "Buck Lovers" for them to deal with, but instead received fabricated stories as to what I did to the knife, and troll comments. For the record: I did nothing to the knife to cause any damage, it came as mentioned, and it has been in the hands of Buck now for way longer than it should have. Thumbs down on "my" Vantage Force Pro, and thumbs down on Buck's customer service. Warning to those looking to buy one: As mentioned above, it is a great value for what you are getting, but be prepared to send it back and wait for it. Also as mentioned, the stop pin design makes for the use of way too small of washers, which open the knife up for blade wobble and centering issues. Also be prepared to receive the advice of sending it back Buck will make it right, make no attempt to unload the knife because you will be targeted as a liar and someone who knows nothing about knives.
 
I bought two Vantages with dates in the 12-2012 and one came with uncentered blade and both came with untightened spacer screws. The more expensive Pro model one came extremely dirty where it turned the white wash cloth brown that I wipped it down with. Now, does the dirt on the scales actually consist of G-10 shavings?, if so the box it came in didn't have the cancer warning message on it. Of all the Buck knives I have bought I have yet to get one that is placed in a plastic bag when boxed and I've seen where most other companies do this and if I remember right I actually seen a Vantage review where it came in a plastic bag. You're stuck between a rock and a hard place when dealing with Vantages...Do I fix the issue myself and risk nulling the warranty or send it in and have them do it which is more money for shipping and turnaround time... I'm just saying
 
dogstar said:
Plastic bags? It's getting nitpicky around here.
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I liked your post better before you edited it. :D

Like I said earlier, I have at least 20 Vantages right now and don't even recall how many I've given away. Not even one of them in any flavor came in plastic bag.
 
Bolt,

I don't know much about you. I have noticed your posts in other subforums and you do seem to like quality knives esp. Spyderco's. I do as well. I'm not calling you a liar as you suggested, I'm saying all your protesting and complaining is a tad much and your description of the problem is hard to accept since most of these guys here have lots of experiance with the Vantage series and noone has complained of blade bobble and play like you say you have.

Also, I don't think comparing a Tenacious to a Vantage Pro is a valid comparison. Now you could compare a Para II to a Vantage Pro. Both knifes are the company's entry level USA made S30V/G10 knife. You get a flipper with the Vantage but a compression lock with the Para. The Vantage can be a tad off center but then so is my Para. The biggest difference is the Para comes with a 40% higher price. Anyway, sorry you had a bad experiance with your Vantage Pro.

When you get it back, how about posting some pictures when you come back here to discuss what Buck's Service did or didn't do to your satisfaction. Personally, I would like to see how the lock bar is striking the back of the blade.
 
Just the ones with G10 handles, all the others had either dymondwood, nylon or paperstone dust on them. ;)
 
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Sorry to hear your experience with the Vantage and with Buck hasn't been so good so far Bolt. It does seem like buying a Vantage is a bit of a gamble. I'm a fan of the design and my personal specimen in particular, but the quality control in the line does seem to vary.

As far as other complaints are concerned, like the Vantages not coming in a plastic bag (...really?...I consider myself a picky consumer when it comes to knives but I don't think that's a big deal...even Chris Reeves don't come in plastic bags...), or the dust on the Vantages, I would say take a look at the price you're paying for what you're getting. If I had paid more for my Vantage, or if the Vantage was, say, made in China or made with lesser materials for the price I paid, I guess I might complain about the packaging conditions. But as stated before, the Vantage Pro is a USA made knife (which automatically translates to more expensive labor than China) with an S30V blade (which is more expensive than 420hc or the 8cr13mov of the aforementioned Tenacious) and CNC 3d contoured G10 scales (which is more expensive than FRN or the 2d CNC G10 of the Tenacious) all with an incredibly low cost to the consumer. Cost has to be cut somewhere, and a bit of dust from machining and the lack of a plastic bag is not a bad sacrifice considering the price point for the materials and features offered (again, the Vantage Pro is cheap for contoured G10 and S30V).

I have a Spyderco Tenacious, by the way. In my honest opinion, my Tenacious does have better F&F than my Vantage did out of the box, and I do wish my Vantage had come with level of F&F my Tenacious has. But again, one should consider the price, materials, and location of manufacture. Sometimes I wish that Buck would just increase the price of the Pro Vantages so they could afford to tighten their quality control...consumers do tend to expect the highest tier of a product line (in this case, the Pros) to be top notch and virtually flawless, and that's just not realistically possible for the Vantage Pros for the price they're offered at.
 
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Well folks, the Buck Vantage Force Pro is home! Opened the box and the play has been fixed for the most part. What I mean by that is there is no more vertical play at all, and about 85% side to side play is gone. I guess I will just have to be ok with that. What I am NOT ok with is that the blade is now slammed against the liner when closed. It is so bad that the black coating is rubbed off from them testing it at that factory. If I was gold I would post pics. You can save the remarks, as I will not be hanging around this board, and the moderators can close this thread if they see fit. I will be focusing my collecting attentions to manufactures that have better QC. This knife will become my work beater, along side my Ontario Rat 1. You can give it great points for heat treat, great points for blade steel, great points for sculpted G-10 (even though one slab sticks above the liner and the other side is lower than the liner, but if the fit and finish is off, you can not call this a top competitor. My advice to anyone looking at this knife, is look elsewhere! Save another 40 or 50 bucks and get a knife that will not disappoint. PM me and I will recommend a bunch. As for the Buck......thumbs down on fit and finish, and thumbs down on customer service. Goes to prove my initial point of why I did not want to deal with sending it back!!!! Wait well over a month to just be disappointed again. Thanks Buck!
 
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This guys not worth responding to so I reconsidered and deleted the responce.
 
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I took a few pics of the issues with the knife after it came back from Buck. I will be sharing them with Buck in hopes that those still buying this knife will not run into the same issues I did. Plumberdv, thank you for not responding, as I am sure it was not worth reading. MODS shut her down!!!
 
Bolt,
If you want you can send me the pics and issues with your returned knife. If you have sent to Joe, I'll get it from him.
jhubbard@buckknives.com

As far as the small washer, it is a large as we can make it due to the rotation of the hidden pivot pin. We are experimenting with ways around that constraint.

Customer service is always backed up after hunting season as every one wants a spa treatment or knife repair. I have seen the turnaround times start to shorten over the last couple weeks.


Jeff Hubbard
QA Manager
 
"If I was gold I would post pics."

FYI, any registered user can post pictures, you just have to know how and it's very simple. Even you could do it.

"You can save the remarks, as I will not be hanging around this board"

Hmmm, what happened to this part of your rant?
 
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Plumber, my life does not revolve around this forum. Check join date to posts vs yours. Jeff took care of the issue, and he is a fantastic example of customer service. Thank you Jeff. My opinion of Buck has changed, my opinion of you Plumber, however, remains the same. Enjoy your day sir. "This guys not worth responding to" I can cut and paste too!
 
Hey fellas, the Buck forum to me is a friendly place where we can share our interest in products from a company that we like and respect. Nobody's perfect, not Buck or any one of us. We may have our disagreements, but let's not forget why we are here.
 
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