Why so little love for TOPS?

I currently own 3 TOPS knives (BOB with Black G10 scales, UTE XL Hunters Point, and Sparrow Hawke) I agree that many of their blades are aimed at the tactical crowd and that's just not my cup of tea but all of the ones I own are very good knives. Fit and finish is great, blades sharpen well, and hold an edge very well. I've been using the BOB and Sparrow Hawke for several years and love them. The UTL XL I just picked up used. It needed some regrinding but now that I have it sharpened at 20 deg. it cuts great and I really like the ergos. My son uses a TOPS Shango that he uses for all sorts of daily tasks and loves it. In fact several of the guys in his unit (Army) liked his Shango so much they have purchased their own. It is easy to pick on many of TOPS knife names, many are pretty silly but IMO I think they build a great knife.
 
I have a few Tops:"
Tracker T3, which I love (but I wish was thinner and I am about to strip the powder coat from)
Tracker T4, which I have to say might be my favorite knife...worn as a Scout or neck knife it is just always what I needed. My favorite, but it shouldn't be, but I just keep going back to it (also going to strip the black from it).
a Pair of the TB Scout knives, a great all arounder, still alittle thicker than needed, and that finish is so thick.

But in their defense, I understand why, the Trackers were designed as an all in one knife, so to chop and split the weight and thickness would help, and if you want to have a knife that can be rode hard and put up wet these can do it. We knife folks are a fussy fickle bunch. "This knife is perfect, if it was 2 ounces lighter in the tip!" or if they had made the handle a little longer, shorter, thinner, fatter, slicker, rougher, rounder, more square.

I spent a week in NJ with some brothers and sisters in the bushcraft scene, and was blessed to try dozens of each other's knives, I have to say the B.O.B. knife is awesome, as was the CUB, Cocise, and I believe it was the Texas Creek, they were all really nice knives. The only tops I really don't like is the Tracker 1 because my little hobbit hands can't hold it right!

Guess the issue is for the price of a tops, or cold steel, or sog, you can get a L.T. Wright, Battle Horse, Bark river, etc which seem to be more personal and often less tactical.
 
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Foxwalker.......

You have a very valid point ...image definitely creates an opinion.....
 
Foxwalker said:
Guess the issue is for the price of a tops, or cold steel, or sog, you can get a L.T. Wright, Battle Horse, Bark river, etc which seem to be more personal and often less tactical.
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The timing of this post is pretty interesting to me - just last night I had a conversation with my wife regarding my search for a cheaper "beater" knife for my truck so that I would not risk the loss of my LTWK Genesis. I've considered a TOPS BOB, HOG 4.5 or Esee 4, but they cost just about what I paid for a used Genesis. My conclusion? I like the BOB, HOG 4.5, Esee 4 and similar knives, but none of them perform like an LT Wright and they are all just too damn expensive for what they are. I'm just gonna buy another Genesis and call it good....
 
I've come close several times to picking one up, but their pricing is awful and keeps me scanning the Knifemaker exchange. For just a hair over what TOPS wants for a production 1095 knife, I can get a handmade custom if I'm patient.
 
I have no problem with TOPS. I've owned a few and some TOPS/Bucks. There are four or five that I have on my list if I ever start buying fixed blades again, including a B.O.B.

Much like Cold Steel, they have a large line of knives and most aren't that appealing to me but I can't say anything bad about their knives.
 
Comeuppance said:
I've come close several times to picking one up, but their pricing is awful and keeps me scanning the Knifemaker exchange. For just a hair over what TOPS wants for a production 1095 knife, I can get a handmade custom if I'm patient.
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This is very close to my experience....except I've actually pulled the trigger on about 6-7 of them over the years. The only one remaining is also my only remaining production knife in my entire collection - the Lite Traveler....such a great knife...even if proves they don't spell real good over there at TOPS!
 
Foxwalker said:
I have a few Tops:"
Tracker T3, which I love (but I wish was thinner and I am about to strip the powder coat from)
Tracker T4, which I have to say might be my favorite knife...worn as a Scout or neck knife it is just always what I needed. My favorite, but it shouldn't be, but I just keep going back to it (also going to strip the black from it).
a Pair of the TB Scout knives, a great all arounder, still alittle thicker than needed, and that finish is so thick.

But in their defense, I understand why, the Trackers were designed as an all in one knife, so to chop and split the weight and thickness would help, and if you want to have a knife that can be rode hard and put up wet these can do it. We knife folks are a fussy fickle bunch. "This knife is perfect, if it was 2 ounces lighter in the tip!" or if they had made the handle a little longer, shorter, thinner, fatter, slicker, rougher, rounder, more square.

I spent a week in NJ with some brothers and sisters in the bushcraft scene, and was blessed to try dozens of each other's knives, I have to say the B.O.B. knife is awesome, as was the CUB, Cocise, and I believe it was the Texas Creek, they were all really nice knives. The only tops I really don't like is the Tracker 1 because my little hobbit hands can't hold it right!

Guess the issue is for the price of a tops, or cold steel, or sog, you can get a L.T. Wright, Battle Horse, Bark river, etc which seem to be more personal and often less tactical.
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Fox,
I generally make culinary knives these days but I completely understand that one handle size doesn't fit all. Fine a maker that makes the Bushcraft, Or prybar thingy ???" you want, that knows how to size hands and will make your knife handle accordingly.

I really enjoy customizing handles for my clients, It one of the reasons I got into knife making some 20 years ago cause I have the opposite issue with my Ape sized hands with long fingers.;)
 
I really like my tops bob. I got one fairly cheap and they make good quality stuff. Different strokes for different folks.

I also like how they use different designers and put their names on the blade.
 
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I dont mind there simply designed stuff. The prather war bowie, for example, has a silly name but is acually quite useful for a big ass clip point bowie. It makes a great platform formcustomizing too...





And BOS doesnt het treat all of their blades
Many are differentially heat treated in house. You can see the Hamon on my customized bowie.
 
I'm sure there are some fine designs, but everytime I see something like this. Makes me not take the company seriously.
tops1027_medium__zps90iht5y7.jpg
 
rajincagin said:
Not sure when the word came into existence but I'm sure it's been around a lot longer than you think. Sales pitch? No more than hunting, camping, survival, tactical, chefs, or a myriad of other words are. Some knives use terms to describe their intended use, it's really quite fascinating.

The only tops knife that is interesting to me is the B.O.B., which priced right around a hundred is a good starting price.
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It's the Australian version of our "woodcraft". It's been around since the 1800s.

I love Tops. I think they make good knives. I don't have as many for the same reasons folks here have already said: a lot of off-the-wall designs and more simpler, less expensive models from other manufacturers (ESEE, especially) that fit the same use envelope.

Having said that, I would totally buy a Tops knife if I like the design....quality has never been an issue. Also, they have some great other-than-knife items that are unique and useful that I have.
 
I have been considering their mini scandi for some time now. The price is considerably higher than an Enzo necker, another one of my favourites. TOPS handle looks like it is more secure and the Enzo kydex sheath does not have the retention it should. Of course retention is easy to adjust with a hot air blower, but they could have made it right to begin with.

jaa_6880_large_.jpg
 
I bought a TOPS machete. The steel would get sharp, but did not hold an edge when chopping. My Condor and Ontario machetes can hold an edge most if not all of the day, they got very sharp and held an edge even with high impact. My TOPS I was sharpening a couple times a day. It was much more expensive than my other production machetes too.

Could been a problem with this one particular blade though, not sure.
 
Basp2005 said:
I'm sure there are some fine designs, but everytime I see something like this. Makes me not take the company seriously.
tops1027_medium__zps90iht5y7.jpg
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^^^ this... and the fact that they at one point tried to corner the market on "HARD-CORE" Quotes. i can remember the full page adds with no less than 5-7 get ya reved up army slang slogans to make you feel like these are the hard core choice for hard core individuals, designed by the worlds foremost hard core-ist soldiers... well, as you can see; soldiers have stupid ideas too, and TOPS turns a lot of those stupid ideas into reality. They do have a number of great choices once you sift through the ridiculous however.
 
I agree, you must sift through all ninja combat stuff to find the useable ones,
recently i bought a Dragonfly 4.5 and was quite hapy with it, it was a good sturdy and sharp knife for the money, i ditched the sheath because it was way too tactical looking and also extremely bulky for the knife.
I found the scales to be slightly too thin for me.
Now the knife is sold and i make my own knives instead.


Here, compared to a Bark River Aurora and a Hultafors (a Swedish made workers knife, i like those more than Mora..)

td5.jpg


td4.jpg
 
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