What are your thoughts on limited or no warranty?

Jsega51 said:
You’ve never seen knives in great condition from collections sell for more than original cost? You are definitely not a knife nut!
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No, I guess I’m not lol! I have half a dozen pocket knives I’ve collected over the years. Use them all quite a bit. Not sure anything’s worth much, one of them is maybe $150. I can’t imagine buying a knife I don’t use. But that’s just me I guess. I’m feeling more and more like I don’t fit in in this weird world lol. To each their own.
 
Truesome said:
No, I guess I’m not lol! I have half a dozen pocket knives I’ve collected over the years. Use them all quite a bit. Not sure anything’s worth much, one of them is maybe $150. I can’t imagine buying a knife I don’t use. But that’s just me I guess. I’m feeling more and more like I don’t fit in in this weird world lol. To each their own.
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Not everyone is going to enjoy this hobby the same way - and that's ok! Some people like knives strictly as users, some strictly as collectibles, and many of us are somewhere in between. Enjoy your knives how you want and let others enjoy their knives how they want :D
 
I have only contacted a knife manufacturer once regarding an issue with a knife and I am still waiting for a reply, years after.

I have never bought a knife based on warranty.

Usually the dealer sorts out any issues, so I always save the receipt (most of them have it electronically now anyway)
 
sharp_edge said:
Is there a knife manufacturer with great reputation but poor or no warranty? I can't think of one. This is in response to those who say nah I don't care about warranty i only care about reputation.

To the OP question, if I am paying some good $$ for a knife I surely expect reasonable warranty even if I may never need to use it. Otherwise, I simply don't buy it.
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Spyderco has a warranty but it is 2nd tier at best. I have broken a couple of tips at work and they just offered me a small discount on a new knife. Which brought the price down to slightly more than at your average online store. For example, of the tips broke cutting a zip tie. It wasn’t abuse.

I realize this is because Spyderco doesn’t do blade replacements which is fine but I really like Sal and their products and I wish they would stand behind them better.
 
DMG said:
Spyderco has a warranty but it is 2nd tier at best. I have broken a couple of tips at work and they just offered me a small discount on a new knife. Which brought the price down to slightly more than at your average online store. For example, of the tips broke cutting a zip tie. It wasn’t abuse.

I realize this is because Spyderco doesn’t do blade replacements which is fine but I really like Sal and their products and I wish they would stand behind them better.
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I agree Spyderco warranty is not as great/generous than some other companies though I'll definitely not put it into the "poor or no warranty" category.
 
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I have had to send exactly one knife back to the manufacturer for warranty work, I had some lockup issues. It was a Medford, and the lock was slipping; Amy was more than pleasant to deal with. I sent her some photos and video of the issue, she was very accommodating and receptive to the issue. While I had to pay the shipping to get it back to the shop, it was turned around and back to me within a week. I like what others have said that the peace of mind of reputation precedes warranty; that if you were to have an issue, the company will without question stand behind their work.
 
I don’t worry about warranty, I don’t buy junk from junk dealers. Buy from a good company and they will take care of you. I don’t own a knife collection I own some sharp tools that I use daily / weekly If there’s an issue I know it within a few days and It can be returned. Everything after that is and should be on me.
 
Most of the knives I own have been brought from overseas, so any warranty work is out of the question. If something breaks, I either have to fix it myself, live with it or ditch the knife.

There is one exception though! I was given a Leatherman PST (needle nose) by my foster family for Christmas while I was staying in Wisconsin as an Exchange Student when I was 16 (that is like 24 years ago). Somewhere arround 8 to 9 years later, when I was working, I let a contractor borrow my PST and proceed to jam the closed jaws under the lip of a stuck manhole cover and stomped on the handle. Which resulted on snaping one of the jaws. Don't ask me how I didn't kill the sucker right on the spot or whay I didn't ask him to replace it.

Anyway, soon after that I cut and ground the remaining jaw to turn my needle nose into a blunt nose plier. Which worked great for a few more years. Then I bought a Leatherman Charge TTI and having another multitool ready, I decided to send the first one to the Spanish dealer, with a clear explanation of what happened. To my surprise the returned the tool fully fixed, even though it had been long discontinued. I don't know if they replaced the jaws or just found some new old stock and gave me a new one. Because the knife blade had been sharpened and looked new.

So seems like Leatherman's warranty works well.

I also sent to the dealer a Victorinox SAK (unusued) with a broken spring. They gave me a new identical one.

Mikel
 
dont really need lifetime warranty, but prefer it's there. it's not a need, but just like the idear..more than the reality. even though you pay extra for it.

I should note, only if its on the product not the first owner nonsense.
 
sharp_edge said:
Is there a knife manufacturer with great reputation but poor or no warranty?
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Cold Steel has a great reputation, but ever since they were sold to GSM, their warranty has gone down the toilet. Their reputation under the new ownership may not be far behind.

There are several overseas companies that are well regarded, with little to no warranty support either. Oftentimes they'll include extra screws and clips when you buy the knife, but beyond that, getting any support is going to be harder.
 
Silent H said:
Cold Steel has a great reputation, but ever since they were sold to GSM, their warranty has gone down the toilet. Their reputation under the new ownership may not be far behind.

There are several overseas companies that are well regarded, with little to no warranty support either. Oftentimes they'll include extra screws and clips when you buy the knife, but beyond that, getting any support is going to be harder.
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I don't buy many overseas knives but the only time that I had to use the warranty of Reate, their support (a California office?) was just as good and timely as some of the best American ones. But I get you that there are overseas companies that provide little or no warranty, which I try to stay away.

Whether Cold Steel's reputation remains the same under the new ownership is debatable. I have had all I need from CS and hence have no plan to buy any more,
 
Looking at it from a business perspective, warranty = cost and potential liability. Any company who offers a lifetime warranty on their knives don't just do it as a courtesy, or because they have that much confidence in their products, but they have priced this into their products making them more expensive for everyone.
I think a short warranty is adequate in case there is something defective out of the box, but a lifetime warranty is a luxury I do not need. I would rather not have it and make the products less expensive. And if I break it by prying with the blade or something like that, then I will have to look in tbe mirror, call myself a dummy and buy a new one.
 
Reputation is everything! I really don't even read Warranties as I have never used one. If some thing breaks I let the company know, if the answer is sorry, I trash it, If they fix it, I keep it. If I am worried it will happen again I ditch it. Never will pass a damaged knife off to another person, only those I just don't like or need. Any concern about quality means Never buy another from the company.
 
I do extensive research on most knives I buy and it's a factor but certainly not my main reason. As has been mentioned many things come into play such as trust in company/maker, reputation, cost, my intended useage etc...

I do use all my knives as intended but never abuse (knowing a tools limitations). For example I researched fairly extensively on Fallkniven knives before I purchased (using this company as an example as it seems their warranty isn't the best). I loved the knives and the process and the fact they are Hattori made (fixed blades). They aren't on the cheap side for a production model but I've used my A1 hard and can report it has held up very well indeed. Noss's videos on it showed its a tough knife generally.

I'd love to try an Esee as their warranty it seems is excellent and in this instance would play a bigger part in my purchase but here in the UK they are somewhat more expensive than in the US and for the knife I want I just won't pay 250+ dollars for a non custom in 1095.

Maybe when I've had too many beers I'll find I've ordered one!
 
Quiet said:
With that many knives needing to be repaired, I think the word you're looking for is "abuse".
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I’m not “looking” for any word.

The repairs were not needed due to abuse but due product failure, e.g. OTF or auto spring broke, screw came out, ball detention fell out, etc. If it was abuse, the repairs or parts wouldn’t have been covered under warranty. One Bose/Case knife had a crack in the ebony cover that may have been my fault, but Case said it wasn’t.
 
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Lots of people dislike striders around here and the guy behind it. But i do like the knives overall. That said, their warranty is crap if i have to describe it in one word. So i have my own warranty guy (Sean Campbell) to do on thier behalf and he does it wayyy better.

So no sometimes warranty isnt a big factor on my purchase
 
sharp_edge said:
I agree Spyderco warranty is not as great/generous than some other companies though I'll definitely not put it into the "poor or no warranty" category.
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I didn’t put them in that category. I put them in tier 2 warranty which is pretty generous, really.
 
midnight flyer said:
Makita is a good choice, but they aren't necessarily going to cover your tools if you are a professional. Makita is really popular on the job site.

If you use your tools no matter what the trade, including chefs wearing out their knives and pans, you will wear them out or use them up. Some take a relatively short amount of time, and some take a really long time. With so much stuff being of poor quality these days, it is important to find a brand you can count on. (At least for now...) I have switched just about all hand tools to Ridgid (several saws, several recip saws, 4 routers, 5 sanders, nail guns, hammer drills, impact drivers and on and on) for their warranty.

They actually stand by their products! They ask "is this something you feel you could install?" if I need parts, and have sent me batteries if they are old enough to have cycled out. No static, talk to real people in Ohio somewhere, and they ship out quickly.

The only other tools I know that stand behind commercial use are Metabo.

The ran into the tool rep at Home Depot one day when he was doing some kind of demo. He was the rep for several brands (not going to stir up the fans) and he assured me that many of the same brands were made on the same manufacturing lines. Different frames, different motors, different switches, bearings, etc. made the tools different. And then sometimes not.

He got a HELLUVA laugh out of people shopping warranties as part of their purchase. I mean he was really amused. Imagine of all the brands sold in Home Depot and Ace Hardware and a few in Lowes that he would represent. He told me that NONE of the manufacturers worry that much about warranty because as few as 30% of people actually register their tools. That's all. The warranty service is built into the price of the tool, but you don't get it if you don't register. God bless the bean counters.

How smart is this? You have a 90 day registration window with a lot of tools. You confidently tell yourself as you put the receipt in a safe place that you will have plenty of time to get to the receipt/registration in 3 months, no problem. Then you find the receipt 5 months later, or you locate it when the tool breaks. I would be better off if they had a 10 day registration so I would go back to the office or my house to register immediately. Pretty smart strategy, I say.

Personally, I don't understand why knife manufacturers don't offer really generous warranties on their product, just exclude abuse. If I can get a life time warranty on a tool that has to be assembled from dozens of parts like a motor, overmolded structural frame/case, brushes, variable speed switches, a carbide tooth chuck/bit holder, a ratcheting mechanism, 2 batteries and a charger (and a case!) for $199, why is it a problem to get a great warranty on a pile of screwed together pieces at the same price (or much more) that don't see anything remotely close to the service life of a hammer drill on a commercial construction site that serves multiple users? Beats me.
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The fact Rigid will replace batteries under the warranty is why I choose them for my battery operated tools. Corded ones I still go with Makita.
 
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