dogboye
Gold Member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 1999
- Messages
- 7,208
Hopefully short... I guess we'll see. Haven't done one in a while, and am a little rusty. Almost exactly a month ago, I met up with Ron out at SOG's headquarters in Washington. After finding out that I would be in the Seattle area, he had invited me up to experience some of their knives 'hands-on'. Well, it turned out I got to experience ALL of SOG's knives hands-on. Anyone who lives in the area and HASN'T been to the headquarters is really missing out. Anyway, I said Night Vision impressions, so I guess I better get on with it. I got to see and handle the original Vision (titanium scales), Ron's personal Night Vision (G-10 scales), and the X-Ray Vision (zytel scales), all three sporting the radical geometric tanto point, and SOG's Arc Lock. I was EXTREMELY impressed with the level of fit and finish of these knives, as well as their design itself. The handles were MUCH more comfortable than I would have guessed by pictures. That is not to say that I would have expected uncomfortable, just that I was surprised at how comfortable they were in the hand.
As you all may or may not know, the Vision series is produced with the partially serrated blade only, which is one of the things that had prevented me from really being interested in them. However, after handling them at the HQ, I was intrigued. They were so nice that I was tempted to buy one right there in spite of the serrations. Then Ron dropped a bomb: they had produced a dozen each of the Vision series with plain blades, and they had some of the Night Vision in plain edge left. Well, to make a short story long, I waited until I got back here in MD, then decided to take the plunge and order one of the PE Night Visions. The knife is awesome. The tanto blade is rather deeply hollow ground, of ATS-34. Both the primary and secondary edges were razor sharp, and the thumb serrations are just right: not to rounded, not too sharp. The blade is pretty broad for a tactical folder, but it works wonderfully. The Arc lock is smooth and works great, even if feeling a little different than the Axis lock that I'm so used to. Examing the knife closely, I could not find ANY fault on the knife: excellent QC! The edges were even (both primary and secondary); scales line up just right with the twin steel liners; skeletonized clip looks thin and flimsy, but is FAR from it. The clip seems EASILY as strong as the clips on my BM's and Spydercos.
Well, it didn't take me long at all to start using it pretty hard. First real test was when I decided to build a fire in the fireplace a couple of weeks ago. I used it to cut shavings off dried/seasoned (in our wonderful MD summer drought, the worst in the century) cherry branches to use as starter. No problem at all, and the knife would still shave easily after I finished. The next test was cutting up a rather large corrugated cardboard box. Now I'll admit that in the past I have not been impressed with how well ATS-34 holds its edge when cutting cardboard. Well, for that matter, I'm not impressed with S60V, 154CM, or really even BG42 for edgeholding after cardboard. Well, the Night Vision's ATS-34 didn't really surprise me there I'd have to say. After the box, the blade would just barely scrape hair. The thing is, though, the Night Vision zipped through the cardboard better than any knife I have use in the past, that I can remember. That includes a Nimravus Cub in M2, a Talonite Talon, Spyderco Military, and several others. While ATS-34 itself is nothing to RAVE about, the design of the blade was excellent. I have yet to need to sharpen the knife. While it just scrapes hair, it is fine for 99% of what a knife is used for, and is riding nicely on my belt right now in a cordura sheath. Which... brings me to the only thing I would even suggest changing on the knife: the ambidextrous thumb studs. They seem to be too large, although if you compare them with a BM's, they are the same height, and about the same diameter. But they are very cylindrical (no step down at the ends). They work GREAT, but I have gotten them hung up on me pocket when I wasn't expecting it. That has only been a problem once or twice, when the outer stud caught on the top of my pocket when I was re-pocketing the knife. A VERY minor thing, but the test engineer in me just has to point it out. And there is a simple fix, too, really. I took the studs off, and substituted a small phillips-head screw for one side (the clip side). Now it is just RIGHT for me.
Again, the studs are a just a really nit-noid thing for me, no big deal at all. And to be honest, half my BM knives have had the tumb studs removed as well. I just don't like studs.
In summary, I HIGHLY recommend any of the Vision series from SOG. Even in the partially serrated version. At the time I called to order the plain edge, if they were out, I would have turned around and ordered the partially serrated version, no problems.
As you all may or may not know, the Vision series is produced with the partially serrated blade only, which is one of the things that had prevented me from really being interested in them. However, after handling them at the HQ, I was intrigued. They were so nice that I was tempted to buy one right there in spite of the serrations. Then Ron dropped a bomb: they had produced a dozen each of the Vision series with plain blades, and they had some of the Night Vision in plain edge left. Well, to make a short story long, I waited until I got back here in MD, then decided to take the plunge and order one of the PE Night Visions. The knife is awesome. The tanto blade is rather deeply hollow ground, of ATS-34. Both the primary and secondary edges were razor sharp, and the thumb serrations are just right: not to rounded, not too sharp. The blade is pretty broad for a tactical folder, but it works wonderfully. The Arc lock is smooth and works great, even if feeling a little different than the Axis lock that I'm so used to. Examing the knife closely, I could not find ANY fault on the knife: excellent QC! The edges were even (both primary and secondary); scales line up just right with the twin steel liners; skeletonized clip looks thin and flimsy, but is FAR from it. The clip seems EASILY as strong as the clips on my BM's and Spydercos.
Well, it didn't take me long at all to start using it pretty hard. First real test was when I decided to build a fire in the fireplace a couple of weeks ago. I used it to cut shavings off dried/seasoned (in our wonderful MD summer drought, the worst in the century) cherry branches to use as starter. No problem at all, and the knife would still shave easily after I finished. The next test was cutting up a rather large corrugated cardboard box. Now I'll admit that in the past I have not been impressed with how well ATS-34 holds its edge when cutting cardboard. Well, for that matter, I'm not impressed with S60V, 154CM, or really even BG42 for edgeholding after cardboard. Well, the Night Vision's ATS-34 didn't really surprise me there I'd have to say. After the box, the blade would just barely scrape hair. The thing is, though, the Night Vision zipped through the cardboard better than any knife I have use in the past, that I can remember. That includes a Nimravus Cub in M2, a Talonite Talon, Spyderco Military, and several others. While ATS-34 itself is nothing to RAVE about, the design of the blade was excellent. I have yet to need to sharpen the knife. While it just scrapes hair, it is fine for 99% of what a knife is used for, and is riding nicely on my belt right now in a cordura sheath. Which... brings me to the only thing I would even suggest changing on the knife: the ambidextrous thumb studs. They seem to be too large, although if you compare them with a BM's, they are the same height, and about the same diameter. But they are very cylindrical (no step down at the ends). They work GREAT, but I have gotten them hung up on me pocket when I wasn't expecting it. That has only been a problem once or twice, when the outer stud caught on the top of my pocket when I was re-pocketing the knife. A VERY minor thing, but the test engineer in me just has to point it out. And there is a simple fix, too, really. I took the studs off, and substituted a small phillips-head screw for one side (the clip side). Now it is just RIGHT for me.
Again, the studs are a just a really nit-noid thing for me, no big deal at all. And to be honest, half my BM knives have had the tumb studs removed as well. I just don't like studs. In summary, I HIGHLY recommend any of the Vision series from SOG. Even in the partially serrated version. At the time I called to order the plain edge, if they were out, I would have turned around and ordered the partially serrated version, no problems.
