chiral.grolim
Universal Kydex Sheath Extension
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2008
- Messages
- 6,422
Not at all. There have been quite a few videos of BRKT failures and a LOT of blame-the-customer by MS himself and BRKT fans, MS heavily censors his forum (KF), and fans dismiss any and all reports of poor QC as the fault of the customer. *shrug* You can also google "mike stewart knives" and read the bladeforums links - lots to read. I've seen LOTS of chipped BRKTs (not little chips either, >1/4" half-moon chips), scales peeling from tangs (bad glue-job), bad grinds... Based on how I've seen Stewart and BRKT fans treat customers and respond ignorantly and violently to negative reports, coupled with what I've read about the guy's history, I'm wary of spending my money in that direction, even if some of the designs appeal to me. But that's me. I have the same issue with ESEE - not seen material failures there, but just how the owners carry themselves and insult users/customers, etc. I love my Izula and may buy a Gibson (if it is ever actually produced) but am otherwise hesitant. *shrug*
So far, the biggest issue I've seen with Survive! Knives is their slow out-put and under-estimating production times, but I was aware of all that coming in and none of it is personal. Guy's been honest and responsive in everything I've read from him, keeps me coming back. His knives aren't as "pretty" as a lot of BRKTs, but his company is MUCH newer/smaller and has fewer designs to offer, and I've yet to encounter a S!K failure like those I've seen from BRKT.
I'm glad your experiences have not been like that. BRKT was brought up in this thread because they are making the OP knife which has a blade very similar to the GSO line and is designed to be a direct competitor to pick into S!K's market. *shrug* It's not like S!K has a corner on the market, just the opposite, but we're not comparing the GSOs to Gerbers and Bucks or Fallknivens and Beckers or Bussekin and TOPS. I'm sure there are folk who own both BRKT and S!K and are fans ... but this new knife is just a bit too close for some of us.
But if you are looking for owner-involvement, you'll get plenty there, similar to posting in this S!K subforum or in one of the Bussekin forums or the Spyderco forum (Sal makes appearances both here and in their own forum outside BF), or at Jungletraining you'll get an ESEE owner, ColdSteel's people jump in on threads in their area... *shrug* It just depends where you are posting.
In honor of my 3-yr-old with a similar set of disabilities, I choose to support him 
Knowing that we were just wrapping up the final details of the GSO-4.7 and then seeing this other knife debuting is the reason I've been kind of quiet over here on this particular thread. If the Ambush knife is meant to be a competitor for me, that's cool, best of luck. It is a free market after all.