SOG not very popular here.

Wolverine666

Wolverine666

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Dec 7, 2009
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I’m curious why SOG isn’t very popular here. I haven’t been interested in them for @ 20 years. But now there’s one I like. Does SOG make an inferior product? I’m out of the loop.
 
Wolverine666 said:
I’m curious why SOG isn’t very popular here. I haven’t been interested in them for @ 20 years. But now there’s one I like. Does SOG make an inferior product? I’m out of the loop.
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They were great a long time ago when Gerber and Al Mar were great too. I have tried newer SOG products a few times in the past 10 years and been disappointed. I hear they may have made some improvements but I am not betting on it.
 
I haven't tried one in a while as I find their prices inflated from what I can get elsewhere for, IMO, better designs and materials. I have similar sentiments about much or CRKT's offerings.

Some of their stuff looks nice, but not nice enough for me to spend the money.
 
I dunno, but we’ve had a few SOG threads pop up here the last day or two so something is causing people to start discussions about them.
 
I use to be a pretty big fan of SOG but as I became more educated in knife world, there were too many competitors that offered better knives at similar or better prices. Just another story of a company that did not adapt with the changes over time and got left behind. To make things substantially worse, they were acquired by GSM, which is the very last nail in the coffin. I still own several old-school fix blades and folders because they’re just that damn cool to me.
 
The Kiku XR is what caught my attention. It’s not at all my type of knife and I don’t like flippers. But this one (for whatever reason) keeps calling to me.
 
The GSM acquisition was a shame, as I think they really had things starting to go in the right direction before that. The Terminus XR is a very nice EDC and the SEAL XR is an absolute tank that I really enjoy using. Both have some of the best flipper action on crossbar locks that I've encountered. I also have a Trident XR that I bought on a lark and I enjoy, but it's bad pocket clip makes it a bit annoying.
 
I owned and used "hard" a SOG TAC Auto for several years. One day the internal spring broke and would no longer deploy the blade. Once I established contact with GSM, they told me that it could not be repaired. Instead, they graciously offered me any knife on their website up to $180.00. (way more than I paid) I would've preferred it repaired because it had become an extension of my hand over the years used, but since GSM acquired SOG, they don't offer repairs. It did take around 5 weeks, but I think that is good customer service. YMMV
 
Back in the day, they were built well in Seki, Japan. I got ahold of their Toolclip multitool and fell in love with it, so I got 2 more. Dropped one down a steep river canyon, gave one to my (then) best friend, lost one on a job (possibly stolen).

SOG stopped making them decades ago, now I buy them used whenever I find them. Don’t know what steel they used for the main blade, but it takes a screaming edge.

I’m not generally a fan of lanyards, but I use them on these MTs, tied on the bail in such a way that I can cinch a loop around a finger or two when working at height.

Parker
 
My brother and I were both given trident ATs a couple of years ago. While I haven't really used mine, I was surprised by the build quality given that past offerings I've had left a bit to be desired. My brother has beaten the snot out of his and it still comes up grinning.

I'd be a bit more inclined to carry mine, but the color scheme doesn't do much for me. If I could get some cool replacement scales it would be a solid contender for a work knife.
 
They went the route of Gerber decades ago and started trying to maximize profit by minimizing costs, destroying quality. They banked on selling by existing brand power instead of quality, like lots of companies across all industries have done.

Then a few years back they started actually trying again. They started using real steels (lots of XHP), switched to modern designs (axis style locks), etc.

Then they got bought out by GSM, which puts an end to any expectation of customer support.
 
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