Why the hate for AO (assisted opening ) ?

I have 2 AO knives. Both cost about $10. One's a piece of junk by "Karambit-tech," and the other is a Kershaw Hotwire. As we all know, the devil is in the details. I like the Kershaw a lot and it hasn't tried to neuter me. The other I wouldn't even trust as a paper weight. I have no preference in AO verses manual as long as it's properly made. The Kershaw has a detent ball and a good liner lock, the other, uh...it's blue? Picture of a spider on the handle? OK, I got nothing, it just sucks all around, ha ha. (Both made in China)
 
NoF said:
It doesn't have a detent hole, so yeah.
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That just sucks but it is an easy fix if you still want it. Nick Shabazz has a break down vid of a Kershaw Blur if that's of any help. Some companies will send you an assist spring free of charge but I'm not sure about Kershaw.
 
I have no hate for AO knives and they serve a purpose but I noticed I was getting the stink eye from some women when I deployed my Blur to strip some cables. That loud CLICK is a head turner in a quiet office setting so when I serviced it last I put extra grease in the torsion bar compartment and that made it 50% quieter. I have heard that you can deassist Blurs and that they work very well with the assist spring removed so I might give that a try.
 
fjblair said:
AO never made sense to me, so I've never owned one. I do have a couple of auto's though.
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I can see a need if you are physically impaired or maybe wearing gloves. Maybe. Other than that, they make as much sense as an auto knife. I just don't really see a need for either one, personally. A good axis lock is hard to beat.

I have a Kershaw Echelon that I de-assisted. A much better knife, IMO, without the Speed Safe option. That leaves me with three more to modify.

The AO feature normally will not make a sale in my book but, it has stopped me from purchasing a folder more than once.
 
I had an AO, a Benchmade....not sure where it is but I think my brother has it.

I have not set out to avoid AO, and just started looking at Autos. I'll buy some in 2019. Really like some of the Pro Tech automatic knives.
 
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