Two new ZT's Monday!!!

Meh…..Glad I grabbed the 0308cf on sale for $295 last month. I miss the old ZT.
 
I'm definitely up to try the 0044. I love a good button lock, and if it flips like typical ZT I have a feeling it will keep, especially coming in at less than 3 1/2 oz.

I'm that guy, though, who loves the 0545, even though it's the antithesis of what ZT historians prefer. Just give me good design, and I'll appreciate it. The 0545 is the best flyweight framelock flipper I own. I have enough actual overbuilt ZTs to appreciate that side of them, too. I'm happy enough for them to do both.
 
Interesting. 0044 & 0512

Both are on the small side 3.25 & 3.45 inches, respectively, and the 0512 is another auto.

0044_profile_web__20021.1736377784.png


0512_profile_web__20758.1735867212.png


However, they're both underwhelming & are not of any interest to me. 🤷

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Note: For those too lazy to post pics on the new knives, I just added pics of them here.

Better to be able to SEE what we're talking about whether you like then or not.🤷
 
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Stringjam7 said:
I'm definitely up to try the 0044. I love a good button lock, and if it flips like typical ZT I have a feeling it will keep, especially coming in at less than 3 1/2 oz.

I'm that guy, though, who loves the 0545, even though it's the antithesis of what ZT historians prefer. Just give me good design, and I'll appreciate it. The 0545 is the best flyweight framelock flipper I own. I have enough actual overbuilt ZTs to appreciate that side of them, too. I'm happy enough for them to do both.
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100% love my 0545
 
I like the 512 with cruwear and micarta But, the Kershaw Launch Iridium with magnacut is half the cost of the ZT512.
 
yamsi12 said:
Would it kill ZT to actually put a halfway decent clip on their $300+ knives? They just slap their logo on a Kershaw clip and call it a day….its infuriating.
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It’s a good clip function wise which is what I prefer most, but I do agree it looks out of place on the 0044. Kind of phoned that one in. I’d still prefer it over some stylistic milled clip that was too stiff, poor retention and added another $30 to the price.

It’s impressive to me that they can charge $340 for the 0044. My uneducated assumption is that it probably requires an equal amount of materials and milling time as say the Benchmade Narrows but that costs over $100 more. Protech does made in USA button locks well from about $225-300 but those are mostly aluminum, some of the fancier models go higher than that.
 
The designs that came out during their golden era of collaboration with custom makers, were unmatched at the time of release and their price range. Offering excellent and otherwise expensive designs to get, at a pretty good price but still high quality.
It's obvious that their in-house designs and ideas are shown in the Kershaw line-up, after all Kershaw is what they had been designing all along, while ZTs used other knife-makers' designs.

It seems to me that they try to produce their knives in a more cost-effective way by using current design templates for certain parts between the brands, but that takes away part of ZT's identity (if that's the case, part of that money-saving should also be reflected in the pricing, you hear me KAI?? 😡)

That being said, there's still a ZT appeal on these two, the 512 reminding me of Hinderer's bowie fixed blade (we, then, consider this an unofficial Hinderer collab and call it a day) and the 0044 does carry something from a 0804, but with some Kershaw influences, of course.

The 512 looks relatively simple but good overall (talking abut the general design/shape, not concerning ourselves with that clip and that awful choice of cerakote).
I really commend the Cru-Wear choice (moreover at 63/64 HRC? Who said that ZT is not bold anymore?? 🤫).

All i have to do now is wait for a limited edition with black CF/G10, a satin or a 0392-style 2-tone blade and plain TI (at this point i would gladly take a linerlock/sub-frame lock with CF/G10 on both sides, there's enough TI going around).
After that, i would have to wait for a special promo of course,, because if this sells at 320 as it is then that version will be at the 400 range.
Ridiculous prices nowadays....
 
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