What Brands Won't You Buy Again?

J

JNieporte

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Nov 1, 2004
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I'm curious as to whether anybody has a particular brand (or brands) that they won't buy from again, and why. I have a few myself...

Gerber... they used to be really nice, but the Taiwan-made knives they put out today are nowhere near the quality of their US-made knives. Hell, their US-made knives aren't near the quality of their US-made knives from 15 years ago. "Surgical stainless steel" makes me cautious, especially coming from a company that used to love advertising their 154CM and AUS-8 blades.
Cold Steel... yeah, here I go on the hating. The only Cold Steel products that I've thought enough of to keep are the Roach Belly and Finn Bear. Everything else - the Vaquero, the two Voyagers, the Gunsite - and even the SRK were way too much money for what I got. Why does the Voyager cost more than the Spyderco Endura, despite not being as well-made? The SRK was good in Carbon V, but the recent ones are AUS-8 and are the same price. I can buy a Kabar or a RAT for that much. I realize that Cold Steel puts out a lot of decent blades, but I can't shell out hundreds of dollars for them. No Espadas, Caledonion Edges, or Laredo Bowies for me.
CRKT... I've never been fond of Columbia River. To me, the knives I've handled and owned looked nice but performed poorly. I don't know of a single CRKT product that's worth the money, at least to me... $60 for an AUS-8 M-16 that I've seen fail several times?
Al Mar... whoa, don't kill me. I think that Al Mar knives are extremely well-made. I just have a problem with paying $100 for a piece of AUS-8. The designs appeal to me, but the price point doesn't.

And last, sadly, I will never buy another product from SOG. I love my Twitch 2, Twitch XL, and Flash 2, but that's all. It seems that SOG has gone flashy; the SOG cut-out on the pocket clips especially bothers me. Maybe that's why I like the SOGs I have; they have no marketing gimmick. The price tag of $70-$100 for AUS-8 doesn't appeal to me, either.

I don't want to start a flame war here, and it's not my intention to have members arguing over what brand is the worst. I simply want to know who you'll never buy from again, and why. Thanks all.
 
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I do agree with you on some of the points you made above.... But I cannot say that I would never buy from those companies again... Every year they all try to do new things... And I am more than willing to try out something new if it appeals to me..... But the track record that some of these companies have, does effect how often I check out new products...
The only company that I can honestly say , I (probably) wont buy from again is CRK and Strider... Considering I prefer my Lrg CRKT S-2 to the Lrg Sebenza that I owned.. What more is to say... I know they are not really comparable... But then again.. A new design might come from them that interest me...
 
trimcut123 said:
I do agree with you on some of the points you made above.... But I cannot say that I would never buy from those companies again... Every year they all try to do new things... And I am more than willing to try out something new if it appeals to me..... But the track record that some of these companies have, does effect how often I check out new products...
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Well put. I actually bought a CRKT Zilla Tool after saying I'd never buy another CRKT product. I later gave it away because a co-worker thought it was cool.
 
Not definate but right now
Cold steel- Too much money for too little, and solid proof portrays knives as almost pure weapons. If non knife people saw that it would give them the wrong impression.

Gerber- did the exact thing that i hate for companies to do; they shifted the majority of their manufacturing oversees and cut quality on their knives just to save a bit on manufactureing. Of course spyderco did not cut quality and still produces quality knives from oversees and makes a good selection of USA made knives.

I will probably not buy any spydercos or kershaws off the primary market just because their knives dont appeal to me much, but if it is cheaper in the forsale section im all for it.

Leatherman- after the charge, what else could i need?
 
Schrade. The original company went out of business in 2004, and I have no interest in any of current products with the "schrade" name.

Case. Just cause I have so many already. Ah hell, I'll probably buy more. ;)
 
Jury is still out for me on BRKT I like the knives but after all the craziness about......
 
Spyderco,
For putting their name "Spyderco" on a Chinese made knife (Tenacious). They all ready had the Byrd line of Chinese made knives and I was fine with that, but when you take what is basically a Byrd knife and mark it Spyderco and mark the price up $10.00 to 20.00 that is out of line.
 
Nice rant. I can't say there is one brand I'd never buy again. I'm always interested in what is being offered. Schrade and Marbles have some beautiful knives. I just can't get past that Chinese thing.

I have to admit, though, when I buy a Buck and it has a China stamp on it, I feel like a cheap whore. Some people are very deceptive and I can't always find out if Buck is Chinese or USA. Most websites won't say and I don't know many websites that will tell you.
 
I have companies I prefer to buy from because most of the knives I like come with their name on them, but I can't honestly say I will boycott any brand forever. Some just don't appeal to me. There are a couple where the management style puts me off. But if they do a product that's really right, management style is not going to remain a deal-breaker.
 
"What Brands Won't You Buy Again?" implies I have already bought at least one.

Rough Rider, I suppose. Really don't see what the fuss was about.

As Esav Benyamin indicated, it is hard to imagine never buying a knife sold by a firm at any future time. Things change - I still remember being impressed with the Camillus CUDA line, an occurance I never suspected happening.
 
I will leave myself open to being pleasantly surprised. No doors are slammed yet. I have even considered picking up another CS Vaquero. It was fun early tacticool knife.
 
I will never say never. I try to keep an open mind. I might even buy another Bark River.
 
There are a few that I will never buy new again.
Bear MGC- a handle scale fell off and they kept the knife nearly a year with me trying to get it back, and when it did it had many new grinder marks on the blade and a dulled edge.

Ontario (and Queen)- After the RAT debacle they are off of my list.

Case- I bought 4 new knives of theirs, all with MAJOR flaws IMO. Wrote them twice with my concerns and never received a reply (this with their stellar customer service record)

Bark River is off of my list when I get what I already have on order after learning a few things about them and reading what the owner has said (I refuse to cancel my order as to me that is my word and I do not want to break it).

I probably will not ever buy a Strider or a Busse, more because the designs don't do it for me at their price point, and Al Mar as well.

I think there is another one but can't think of it right now.
 
Opinel.
After reading all the hype here I ordered a couple of non-American knives against my better judgement. How can people mention them in the "best out of box sharpness" threads when they don't even come with a sharpened edge!

Also SOG.
My Twitch 2 and Flash 2 seemed nice but wore out and broke WAY too quick.

I feel like I don't even need to mention Cold Steel or Gerber, as they should be well covered by this thread.

I'll stick to my Buck's, Case's, and GEC's for long lasting American quality. Oh and they all put a sharpened edge on there knives from the factory. Kershaw is another good company.
 
joe-bob said:
Case. I feel like they're just phoning it in.
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I don't get the analogy....


There really isn't a brand that I can say that I'd never buy again, but I'm less likely to by SOG knives in the future. I have had two and both had a lot of blade play and were uncomfortable.
 
I wouldn't say never, buy I don't see myself buying any brands/models that come from China or Pakistan any time soon.
 
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