Spyderco Paramilitary vs. Emerson Mini Commander

T

tollund

Joined
Oct 5, 2008
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Can anyone who has experience with one of both of these knives give me some info on them? Both knives seem to be about equal to each other from the specs (more or less - I realise the Emerson's blade is slightly longer).

None of my local shops stock any of these knives so I can't check the feel of them. I'm just looking for opinions in terms of quality of workmanship, blade steel, ease of EDC'ing and anything else that might be relevant to a purchase.

Here are the links to the two knives:

http://www.cuttingedgeknives.com.au/product_details.php?pID=1630

http://www.cuttingedgeknives.com.au/product_details.php?pID=3156
 
Was tossing up the same thing recently, Mike is a great guy to deal with by the way.

I went with the Paramilitary, I feel the quality, F&F is somewhat nicer than Emerson's for the price point. IMO.
 
Cool - have you got some pics of the paramilitary that you can post? Did you get the S30V or the D2 version?
 
tollund said:
Cool - have you got some pics of the paramilitary that you can post? Did you get the S30V or the D2 version?
Click to expand...

Purchased the D2 version, haven't recieved it yet, however owning a couple of Spyderco's and an Emerson already, I'm confident in my research.

If you can hold out till next week, I'll be happy to put some pic's up.
 
Spyderco>emerson any day for any knife. IMO i have my reasons but dont feel like typing them all out tonight.
 
Another vote for the Paramilitary. I do like Emerson knives and with that being said:

I like the blade grind, ergos, lock and opening method on the Para better than the Commander.
 
The D2 and S30V Paras are real nice knives but the handle is a bit off shaped for my hand.
The blade shape is spot on though and the compression lock is great.

The Emerson Commander handle just melts into the hand but the blade shape is a turn off for me as I am not a fan of recurves.
The liner lock is fine but i do prefer the comp lock.

You cant really go wrong with either but I think the only thing to do is get both of them, just to be sure :D:thumbup:
 
i also don't care for the recurve on the commander. for an emerson that is that is about the same size as the para, i would suggest looking at the cqc7 series, in particular the "a" or spearpoint.

of your two choices id go with the para. hard to really compare the two, but the para, on its own merits, is a fantastic knife.
 
The Para for lock security , ergnomics and build quality . Not to mention all round utility !

Chris
 
Another vote for the Para-Military. I have 3 of them and they are all well made, well thought out and you can feel the quality.

I won't have an Emerson, because I don't trust their liner locks and I don't like chisel grinds.
 
I do not like the blade size vs. the handle on the para but would go with it out of the 2 mentioned. Personally I would get the military over all. I hate big handles and little blades.
 
Well then it looks like it's settled! Paramilitary it is. Now all I have to decide is whether to go with the D2 or the S30V. :o
 
The Para is a better knife.

Emerson knives are too high priced and have just "average" quality liner locks. The fit and finish on Emerson knives also leave much to be desired.

Here are a few pics.... enjoy!

Paramilitary1.jpg


Paramilitary3.jpg
 
The para mili has a compression lock .. and is simply a better buy over emerson, which I consider to be a bit overpriced...
 
Heres a couple of pics of the CMP-D2 one.

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Also if I was you and I could still find D2 para I would go for it instead of S30V, and if yoy don't like it then you should have no trouble trading it for a S30V one. good luck :thumbup:
 
d2 recommended.

i have the millie and para in fg/d2. its a sprint run iirc, and if you decide you prefer the s30v, as mentioned it will be easily traded/sold.
 
If your going for a Paramilli the FG D2 is the one to have :thumbup:
 
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