What was the worst most over hyped knife you ever bought?

[Jordan@DLT]

Hinderer XM series.

I have owned four. Only two had acceptable detents and I only have one of those two to this day.

One of the biggest issues with with their soft detents is that the jimping next to the flipper tab is pretty sharp. I've busted my finger tips up on them a few times.

When their popularity was at its fever pitch, they were selling for more than some customs.

Really loved the knives otherwise, wish I could've carried more of them. Hopefully the larger Half Track is free of these issues, I'm really excited for that one.

The Gen 6 has certainly fixed the soft detent.

 

[JPD1998]

Lock slip, lock rock. Basically every lock issue imaginable. I had one that the lock rock like crazy. I was able to fix it by bending the lockbar in but not a good look.

I bought an earlier version of the mid tech Gunhammer under the "Maxx Q" brand (pre HTM).

I've bought dozens of knives over the years and this one is the biggest POS I ever got.

Biggest let down ever with rock- lock, mis-sized/stripped screws holding the pocket clip on, and a blade lock face that looks like a shop student ground the blade.

Could never reach anyone about warranty work and I would never sell it to anyone, thats how bad it is.

 

[marrenmiller]

The Gen 6 has certainly fixed the soft detent.

Not in my experience. I bought two (one an exclusive from DLT) and both were quite soft. I even gave one more lockbar tension and it's the loosest flipper I've ever owned.

 

[marrenmiller]

I'm going to say the Emerson Roadhouse, followed by the Emerson CQC-15. Just absolute garbage, both of them. Atrocious lock stick, locks engaging past 100% when opened firmly, no detent to speak of, gritty and terrible opening and closing action, a wave feature that didn't work at all, horrible construction (no positive locating features to keep the scales from shifting around other than screws and the pivot, as the standoffs aren't nested inside the scales), nothing fit together properly and the knives basically explode apart and then don't want to go back together during disassembly, garbage Nylatron washers that are not even flat on a new knife, G10 with the surface finish of 50 grit sandpaper, soft steel that rolled for no reason, thumb discs that sucked for opening even when replaced with monster ti discs, and the knives were not comfortable in hand with their big, blocky, boxy, unfinished handles. One of them came to me with the detent bar not even bent from the factory, and bending it did nothing to increase the detent. All that for $220+? What a deal.

At least the pocket clips were good.

 

[Owen K.]

The manic lightweigh. Don’t get me wrong I liked the knife but you can’t disassemble it! What the heck. Also the action was far inferior to the axis lock.

 

[Lapedog]

Emerson Super CQC-8. Ridiculous lock stick, gritty pivot, poor finish and a pivot screw that had to be loctited, as it would back out over the course of a week or two of regular carry. $200+ folder. I had a Kershaw/Emerson CQC-4KXL that was a better knife in pretty much every regard.

Seems like most my knives have pivots that have to be loctited or they will start to back out.

 

[Joshua1973]

Spyderco Lum Tanto. Ugh.

I am starting to have a bad opinion of Spyderco. I won't speak on it here but I am not impressed with my Endura 4 and 3 1/2 weeks now in their shop still waiting for them to fix blade play or even to ship back to me. I may end up selling mine if I ever get it back and not buy another Spyderco.

 

[Insipid Moniker]

Seems like most my knives have pivots that have to be loctited or they will start to back out.

Most of mine will back out eventually, but in a week? At first I actually attributed it to the wave feature, but having since owned knives that have the wave and haven't had that issue, I kind of have to attribute it to the general poor fit of the knife.

Edit: When I say back out, I don't mean start to back out, I mean in about a week or two of carry the screw would be about ready to fall out. Have a friend that actually lost the pivot screw on his CQC-10 from the same issue.

 

[craytab]

I've got two. One I bought and one I did not.

First, Kershaw Skyline. This one I bought. I was a bit new to knives at the time and I bought it because of all the hype. Lockup was scary early. Blade was way off center. The thing would not flip unless a snapped my wrist, hard.

Second, Opinel. This one I held and decided I would never buy. After I actual got to feel how the lock worked I was like "hell no". I would much rather have a non-locking folder like a SAK or Bull Nose than a folder with a poorly made wonky lock that takes two hands to engage.

 

[ridnovir]

Hinderer XM series.

I have owned four. Only two had acceptable detents and I only have one of those two to this day.

One of the biggest issues with their soft detents is that the jimping next to the flipper tab is pretty sharp. I've busted my finger tips up on them a few times.

My sentiment exactly I had to let go, at a considerable loss, all 4 XMs I had, due to weak detents.

 

[Mo2]

Kershaw natrix and ffkw+massdrop budget collabs.

ZT 0850 was hyped and still has great action and ergos but has a whole host of cons and issues etc. Wasn't worth the price either.

 

[Jordan@DLT]

Not in my experience. I bought two and both were quite soft. I even gave one more lockbar tension and it's the loosest flipper I've ever owned.

I wish I could see those, I've handled dozens of the gen 6s here and I had to intentionally try to get them to not fully deploy.

 

[RayseM]

Sad to say - a ROCKSTEAD CHI Though a really beautiful knife, after a month or so of very light weekend use it started to open in my pocket unassisted . After doing my best to try to make adjustments I had no choice but to send it back to Japan for repair. They decided it needed sharpening too and sent me back - my virtually new YXR7 DLC tanto blade - with misaligned grinds from the primary edge through the tip & scratches on the mirror finish. Spent a month and 20 emails trying to get compensation (I even asked that they simply install a new blade.) No go with the CHI. Took a beating on selling this knife that I never ever intended to sell. What a huge disappointment.

I'm guessing from the Rockstead love that I just struck out with an otherwise highly rated product. Probably not fair to call it the "worst overhyped knife" experience but it was my greatest knife let down.

Ray

 

[Danke42]

I am starting to have a bad opinion of Spyderco. I won't speak on it here but I am not impressed with my Endura 4 and 3 1/2 weeks now in their shop still waiting for them to fix blade play or even to ship back to me. I may end up selling mine if I ever get it back and not buy another Spyderco.

Good

 

[marrenmiller]

I wish I could see those, I've handled dozens of the gen 6s here and I had to intentionally try to get them to not fully deploy.

Well, I'm guessing you remember my post about one of them over at /r/knifeclub...

I very much have to try to get it to deploy, otherwise it opens about 1/3 of the way. And that is with a knife where the lock bar has enough tension, theoretically, to wear fully across the blade tang and still have tension to spare. Plus the lock bar shifts around visibly when you preload the flipper tab, and I wasn't the only one to notice this on their Gen 6. I don't know if Hinderer changed something in his detent design, but this generation has been much worse for me than the gen 4 that I had (tiny sample size, I know). It is my personal theory that the core issue here is that RHK has a fairly inconsistent system for setting detent ball depth and lockbar tension.

Also, are you flipping them all with the bearings installed? That will help matters a bit, but I've installed the bronze washers because I feel that's most fitting with the fundamental design choices of the XM-18. I don't think it counts as fixing the core issue if your fix relies on using bearings in the pivot.

 

[Colorodo]

I have had three or four Spydercos in the past didn’t do anything for me. I normally dont even look at the exchange when they go up for sale. I happened to look at some Manix 2 for sale and the cheap one caught my eye so I bought it. Received it Monday and it has been in my pocket since. So I bought another off the exchange with g10 scales.

 

[marrenmiller]

Seems like most my knives have pivots that have to be loctited or they will start to back out.

Yeah, I don't get that as a valid complaint. Screws back out of anything that rotates or shifts frequently, which is why Loctite is so prevalent in industry. Why would a knife be any different?

 

[DRLyman]

Spartan Kranos. If you paid $200 for that knife you have overpaid. Para 2. Tried many times to like it and see if it grew on me, but always ended up selling them.

ETA Spartan Kranos to the list

 

[NicoColt1911]

Lionsteel Kur Metamorphosis, AKA the flipper that does not flip no matter how hard you try, is prone to open itself in your pocket, has to be carried in a belt pouch but that got handles neatly change color. I keep it as a reminder of not being caught by marketing again. But this is a damn terrible piece of a knife. 2016 Blade Show Knife of the year, piece of junk of the decade to me.

Not trying to be a smartass here but that sounds as if you might have a lemon with a defective detent. The detent generally prevents the knife from opening in your pocket. In a flipper it also provides enough resistance so that one can build up the force needed to fully open the knife with ease. So a weak/broken detent could be the cause of your problem.

My brother had similar problems with his TRE and sent his knife in - came back just perfect.

Maybe write Lionsteel an email (info@lionsteel.it) or ask for help in the Lionsteel forum.

 

[blades&wrenches]

Benchmade 940-1
Terrible centering, terrible grinds, terrible action...just a terrible example.
Come to think of it, I've been underwhelmed by most Benchmades I've had.