What is a close second to a balance? CF preferred...

B

brvheart

Joined
Oct 13, 2014
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I was trying to find a balance CF and can't for the life of my find one (except a used one going for $333+) so I got to looking around and wondered what you guys think is a good close second?
 
The Equilibrium is a similar knife (technically the successor?), but substantially larger in pocket. It doesn't come in CF though. There's also the Cricket, which fulfills the same role as the Balance in my lineup. It has been made with Nishijin scales, which looks kind of like CF.
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Thanks 50! I was going through the catalog and saw the cricket and considered it - wasn't sure how it compared to the balance. It does look fit for purpose with the slight hook edge for cutting open boxes and such.
 
I have a CF Balance and a Nishijin Cricket. I will probably never part with the Balance but I definitely carry the Cricket more. It is a very handy blade shape for sure. I would say opening packages is what it excels at. It has more blade length than the Balance too. The Cricket is also thinner and fits great in a watch pocket.
 
Dragonfly thrown in as a curveball...

I do like the blade shape on the cricket, just seems like it was built to have packages thrown at it. Breaking down boxes I will grab my GB2 but opening? I think the Cricket looks like it might be a good fit.

Will check the sale forum shortly maybe I'll get lucky :-)
 
bearfacedkiller said:
I have a CF Balance and a Nishijin Cricket. I will probably never part with the Balance but I definitely carry the Cricket more. It is a very handy blade shape for sure. I would say opening packages is what it excels at. It has more blade length than the Balance too. The Cricket is also thinner and fits great in a watch pocket.
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This is where I am exactly. The Balance is a great design, but the Cricket is probably the best package opening knife I've ever used. The Nishijin versions were just discontinued I believe, so if you want one you should snag it now. Carrying mine today:
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average gimp said:
FWIW, Knifecenter is blowing out the Equilibrium for $60.
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Yeah, the problem with the Balance and Equilibrium I think is that they always seemed expensive for a small knife, even for a Spyderco, and its one of the reasons they didn't last, I think. A shame because they're cool little knives.

I find the Balance to be the superior design, but it seems too small until you hold it. The Equilibrium was supposed to remedy that, but then it starts competing unfavorably with larger knives.
 
brvheart said:
I was trying to find a balance CF and can't for the life of my find one (except a used one going for $333+) so I got to looking around and wondered what you guys think is a good close second?
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check your messages
 
50an6xy06r6n said:
Yeah, the problem with the Balance and Equilibrium I think is that they always seemed expensive for a small knife, even for a Spyderco, and its one of the reasons they didn't last, I think. A shame because they're cool little knives.

I find the Balance to be the superior design, but it seems too small until you hold it. The Equilibrium was supposed to remedy that, but then it starts competing unfavorably with larger knives.
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True. I don't see that the Equilibrium can do anything for $60 that my $17 Mini Tuff can't do, and the Mini Tuff is lighter. However, the Mini Tuff loses out on overall thickness and the usual excellent Spyderco fit and finish.
 
average gimp said:
True. I don't see that the Equilibrium can do anything for $60 that my $17 Mini Tuff can't do, and the Mini Tuff is lighter. However, the Mini Tuff loses out on overall thickness and the usual excellent Spyderco fit and finish.
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I would probably carry my mini Tuff more if it were made by Spyderco, because then it would be easier to open, thinner in pocket, have a better steel, and have a tip up clip. It would probably cost more though, but as long as I'm paying that much for knives in general... I'll accept the lock is stronger, but it's overkill for such a small knife anyway.

The Equilibrium could probably afford to have a slightly more substantial handle though tbh.
 
But, the over all design of the Mini Tuff Lite is a bit better. It gives a good hand/blade/task cutting angle. The edge is also very thin so it is a great cutter.
 
DocT said:
But, the over all design of the Mini Tuff Lite is a bit better. It gives a good hand/blade/task cutting angle. The edge is also very thin so it is a great cutter.
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That is true. My biggest gripes have to do with deployment. The slot cutout is far less comfortable than the spyderhole, and the Tri-ad lock is not really an ergonomic design. Basically I'd love for Spyderco to make a knife similar to the Tuff but to their standards.
 
How about a Lava? A bit bigger, but no carbon fiber though...


Also, the Spin. And maybe a Mouse if you can find one.


And on a side note, I just connected the dots inside my head that both CS and Spyderco have models called the Tuff.
 
SpeedHoles said:
Also, the Spin.
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I've only got medium-sized hands, but I find manipulation of the Spin very difficult, much as I like the concept. The Lava--at least the SS version--is appreciably heavier, but has excellent ergos. If you're going to suggest the Mouse, you may as well bring up the Toad as well. The latter also had good ergos, but I never tried a Mouse for size.
 
average gimp said:
I've only got medium-sized hands, but I find manipulation of the Spin very difficult, much as I like the concept. The Lava--at least the SS version--is appreciably heavier, but has excellent ergos. If you're going to suggest the Mouse, you may as well bring up the Toad as well. The latter also had good ergos, but I never tried a Mouse for size.
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Yeah, the Toad looks kind of cool, but I've never held one. I have one of the Bladetech Wegner Mouse "knockoffs", I guess you could call it...

Lava is one of my all-time LBK's, just a great little knife. I prefer the sprint to the SS, but just my preference.
 
average gimp said:
I've only got medium-sized hands, but I find manipulation of the Spin very difficult, much as I like the concept. The Lava--at least the SS version--is appreciably heavier, but has excellent ergos. If you're going to suggest the Mouse, you may as well bring up the Toad as well. The latter also had good ergos, but I never tried a Mouse for size.
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Yeah as much as I like small Spydercos, the Spin is a bit small for me. I think it's because the deep could force you into a two finger grip, whereas I can even get 3 fingers on the Manbug.
 
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