Spectre products TAC PIG

T

Tayous

Joined
Oct 22, 2001
Messages
47
I'd like to know what you all have heard about these knives? I'v not heard anything about them but I'm really thinking about picking up one for when I go to Iraq. I'v only read one guy talking about all this stuff that he has put his TAC PIG throught and most everyone else does not even know what it is so I ask for your help in this. Thanks
 
Hi. I read about those knives. I forget where - the internet? Anyway based on what I read I bought one on ebay for about $45. Not the Tac Pig but the Timber Pig. It wasn't sharp out of the box and I haven't gotten around to sharpening it. Needless to say I haven't used it yet so cannot give a review and have no opinion as to handling etc. If I were headed off to Iraq I wouldn't screw around I'd get me a Busse or a CRK. Just my $0.02.
 
The maritialist (an online magazine, by Phil Elmore) has an article.
Or just find him here, and go to his homepage, you'll probably find it.
I'll check back later to see if anyone needs more help tracking this article down. In short, it says good things about that knife.
 
metallicat said:
If I were headed off to Iraq I wouldn't screw around I'd get me a Busse or a CRK. Just my $0.02.
Click to expand...
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ... just try buying a Busse or a CRK for $0.02 :D
 
Walking Man said:
The maritialist (an online magazine, by Phil Elmore) has an article.
Or just find him here, and go to his homepage, you'll probably find it.
I'll check back later to see if anyone needs more help tracking this article down. In short, it says good things about that knife.
Click to expand...

I read that a few nights ago. I'm just looking for some people who have used it now.
 
Not bashing Mr. Elmore, but does he ever give products bad reviews? Other than that Egyptian boxing thing, of course.
 
Why would Phil spend his time on the many less-than-useful products when he could point you instead towards the few he has found work well?
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Why would Phil spend his time on the many less-than-useful products when he could point you instead towards the few he has found work well?
Click to expand...

LOL...
His most useful review yet is of the Watchband garotte...
 
well, for $50 you can pick up a BK7 or a John Greco Mark 5, both of which have gotten very solid reviews. I've owned the Greco & played with the BK7 and can vouch for both. They are each a safe bet.
 
Not bashing Mr. Elmore, but does he ever give products bad reviews?
Click to expand...

Mr. Elmore always gives honest reviews. (You may have noticed that my review of the Timber Pig I pointed out the unsuitability of the sheath with which it shipped to me. I described the sheath in substantive terms, rather than saying simply that it "sucked," for example. I also pointed out that the blade rusted after I deliberately neglected it.) Whenever I point out negatives, I try to balance them with productive positives. With each review I ask myself, "If this is what I had, how could I best apply it and in what ways could I mitigate its drawbacks?

A lot of people just can't seem to accept a review as objective if it doesn't mercilessly rip something apart and tell you how much it sucks. (Somehow, such negativity is always seen as honest, when in fact it could be just as agenda-driven as a glowing and positive review.) I always state what I think, both the positive and the negative. To date, no one has ever managed to identify anything I've said that wasn't honest.

Also to date, at least one and possibly two producer entities (I will not say if they were individuals, manufacturers, or retailers) have made it clear to me that they will not deal with me further because I didn't write ad copy for them, instead producing an objective evaluation of the product(s) they sent. I don't take any pride or shame in that fact; it's simply a fact.

As policy, if a manufacturer or retailer submits a product to me, I review it with the same honesty I would if I bought the product myself. People send me all kinds of things; as I'm writing this, I'm staring at a stack of DVDs two feet high that have been submitted to The Martialist. I've got a toolbox full of knives to review, too, all that were sent by the producres of the blades. In each case, if I'm not completely frank about what the knife does and does not have going for it, someone's going to point it out; I can't afford to soft-pedal anything.

I do, however, write to entertain. I also write to what I consider a professional standard, which means I state a product's defects constructively rather than destructively. (The exception would be the "Egyptian" stuff previously mentioned -- some things have no redeeming qualities.) If I get a product from a manufacturer that has problems, I contact them with my concerns so they may address the concerns in print.

For example, let's say I get a knife and the sheath really stinks. I call the manufacturer and I say, "I have concerns about this sheath. It's flimsy and won't hold up as daily carry." The manufacturer may then say to me, "We're issuing that sheath as a cost-cutting measure and plan to move to kydex by the end of the year." I then include that in the review. It's much more constructive than simply writing, "The sheath with my Brand X really sucks eggs. Somebody should find Brand X's president's mother and slap her for this Nylon abomination." Yet somehow the latter is always seen as more objective.

I try not to walk into a review with preconceived notions. I avoid reading other reviews of the same product before I do mine. Sometimes my impression isn't favorable, either, when I start -- and the product wins me over. Mr. Mutt is not exactly a fan of mine; the "garotte" he mentions is a vascular choking aid called the DefenseBand. I actually thought the product seemed silly before I saw it and I said so at my forum. Someone contacted the manufacturer and informed them that I said I would review it if they submitted one; they did, knowing I'd already made jokes about calling the office on my shoe phone and hurling my bowler hat at my enemies.

When I got the product, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't quite as silly as all that -- but its use is limited to those situations in which A) vascular chokes are appropriate and feasible; B) you have the time and the dexterity to apply such a choke; C) you believe the basic premise that it's easier to apply a vascular choke with artificial leverage than with your limbs alone; D) you believe grappling has a place in self-defense (and believe me, the irony of me defending that idea as true is not lost on me, since I am not by preference a groundfighting person). My review of the product relates all this, positive and negative, preconceptions included, concuding with my overall positive opinion. There's nothing unreasonable about the review; I stand behind what I wrote. Yet I got a lot of grief for daring to look at such a product (a product in whose success I have no vested interest -- I don't sell them, the producer doesn't advertise with me, and I don't care one way or another what happens on their end) honestly even when my honest opinion was favorable.

Another consideration is that even a brief review is a lot of work. I am busier now in my life than I've ever been; I work by day as a writer, I work doing freelance writing and editing, I'm writing more than one book, I was recently published by Paladin as part of a very popular collection of essays, and I try to keep on top of publishing The Martialist on top of everything else, with the aforementioned giant pile of product reviews. Recently I expanded into online retail to offer things I like (and that I have evaluated) to others; I'm also becoming something of a flashlight gearhead, which adds yet another layer of time and obligation to my daily doings.

Given all this, to spend my time bitching about an overwhelmingly bad product isn't a productive or efficient use of my effort. I make exceptions, of course, when the spirit moves me or when somebody challenges me to do so. I pointed out in the course of a general flashlight piece that the CMG Reactor was a horrible little light; I wasn't terribly impressed with the Smtih and Wesson boot dagger that is a copy of the Gerber Mark I, and said so; I was positively miserable when it came to RENOTT's Western Knife Fighting tape. For the most part, though, if I do not find more positives than negatives I generally will pass on doing the evaluation.

More than once I've sent back products from people who wanted very much for me to promote their merchandise by reviewing it. Sending back a product is always awkward because you don't want to upset the manufacturer, but you have to be honest. I've had people thank me for this and vow to get the bugs worked out to resubmit. I've also had people get pretty darned mad.

I've written at length because this is a topic about which I feel strongly. I pride myself on my honesty and objectivity. As The Martialist has grown I've become a little alarmed at the number of critics who seem to crawl out of the woodwork and have some sort of irrational problem with me (there's one forum in particular where I am a popular topic of negative discussion, whose members are in the process of trying to storm my own forum) for no other reason than that I have opinions, state them openly, and support them logically. Fortunately, this is balanced by the e-mails and even phone calls of support I get. In the last week I was very flattered to get a phone call of support from a self-defense instructor in a neighboring state, for example, as well as a very encouraging e-mail from a law enforcement instructor.

Wow, this is a long-winded response to a simple question. Sorry.
 
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