xm 18

If you are a first responder you can order directly from Hinderer. If not, you can buy one on the secondary market for a markup.
 
Buy one on the exchange. They come up regularly. Wait for a good price and resell it if you don't like it. It's pretty simply. The flippers especially go really quickly so it's not much of a gamble.
 
On the Exchange, the "used" XM-18's usually go for $650 for a 3", and $725 for the 3.5". I've had both; sold both; admired both. Neither one fit my hand or my needs exactly. But...Yeah...they are overpriced if you have to pay the dreadful markup as a non-emergency worker.
 
You can get low $600 or even under if you're patient and flexible for options.
 
Go to a knife show and put your hopes into the basket of joy and despair....
 
Gotta pay to play. You might have to wait a couple more years for production to catch up with demand. Might as well spend a little more now and get over it.
 
SGT405 said:
Absolutey not. You will have to verify your status with your ID. Don't abuse Mr Hinderers generosity in rewarding those who serve.
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..Reward = "Pay $600 for a $200 knife instead of $1000"...

Have you ever done a search of LEO forums for discussion of Hinderers btw? They're pretty much the opposite of what real cops and emts want in a knife and I couldn't find a single post by anyone who had bought one or was considering doing so.
 
meanwhile said:
..Reward = "Pay $600 for a $200 knife instead of $1000"...

Have you ever done a search of LEO forums for discussion of Hinderers btw? They're pretty much the opposite of what real cops and emts want in a knife and I couldn't find a single post by anyone who had bought one or was considering doing so.
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Lacking on facts there and spreading misinformation.

The 3" and 3.5" XM retail for $385 and have done so for about 4 years with no change in price, therefore it is a $385 knife, not $200.
Some dealers do sell the XM for $385.

First responders, LEO & military have access to this $385 knife for $385, not $600.

There are members of this very forum who are LEO, first responders and military who own and use XM's.

These are all facts.
 
Jaytaylor said:
Lacking on facts there and spreading misinformation.

The 3" and 3.5" XM retail for $385 and have done so for about 4 years with no change in price, therefore it is a $385 knife, not $200.
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No, it's a $200 knife because that's how much you usually pay for a linerlock with that build quality, a brand name, and a niche design.

There are members of this very forum who are LEO, first responders and military who own and use XM's.
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I remember one guy was a volunteer EMT saying he used an XM. But all the pros in the same thread said that taking a knife of anything like that design near a patient was worthy of an ass-whopping. As for "cops" on this forum who use an XM: 1. they might not be cops - I used a forum for research were LEO status was verified, 2. they are not typical cops but cops who collect knives and own the knives because they are knife collectors, not because they are cops.

These are all facts.
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Well, no, not all of them are: people who claim to be cops might not be. And more to the point, facts have to be used with intelligence.

This is what happened when I searched an LEO forum for Hinderers:


- I picked what seems to be one of the main LEO forums in the US and used google to search the forum archive for "Hinderer", "XM18", "knives"

- There were two Hinderer threads: one from a civilian asking if carrying his Gerber Hinderer in the car would get him in trouble with cops if stopped, the other asking if it would be a good duty knife. That was it. Re. the second thread, people hated the Gerber and no one mentioned having a real Hinderer.

- No hits for XM18

- Several reasonably long threads on what knife to carry: most popular suggestion the Cop Tool, followed by Spydercos and several cheap knives with dedicated seatbelt cutters - one of them a $20 S&W that I'm pretty sure is also available as an even cheaper MTech. One guy was very enthusiastic about carrying a Stanley Fubar in the patrol car, so I'm guessing he either sees a lot of car wrecks or is on the front line against the Zombie Crips.

- The Hinderer designs are a very poor match for what cops say they want in a knife - which is most of all, serrations and/or dedicated belt cutter, with a strong implication of a non-piercing tip (you'd have to be an idiot to choose a pointy knife for rescue work.) And by strong implication, cheapness.

- No LEO expressed any dis-satisfaction with the cheaper knives that they used. To the contrary, people were very happy with $20 knives. Even those people who really admired a partner's Cop Tool seemed to be waiting for their current knife to break or be lost before buying one, and no one suggested that it was worth paying extra for the Wilson version instead of the CRKT.

- LEOs dislike expensive equipment because items tend to get lost or used up. E.g. cheap sunglasses are favoured because glasses will mist up leaving an air-conditioned patrol car and there may be no time to store them carefully - they may literally have to be thrown off to get into action. An officer getting someone out of a burning car is not going to have the time or spare attention to disengage a $600 folder's lock, fold the blade and put it back in it's sheath - he's going to cut the belt and drag the victim out of the car.

- The few people who carried a knife as a weapon carried a special LEO Kabar - a sort of punch dagger designed for high retention. The knife was there only to be used if wrestling for a gun, at which time their dominant hand would be on the gun and relying on flicking a folder with the weak hand would be pure stupidity even if the kabar wasn't a fraction of the price of a Hinderer.

In fact, not only did no one say that they carried a Hinderer, if you took their descriptions of what they wanted in a knife then the Hinderer would closely resemble the least desireable knife it is possible to design!

But if anyone can find a thread on an LEO forum from verfied LEOs expressing their love of Hinderers, I'd be interested. And if they can find one from EMTs I'll be amazed.
 
meanwhile said:
No, it's a $200 knife because that's how much you usually pay for a linerlock with that build quality, a brand name, and a niche design.
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It's a framelock, not a linerlock. If people pay $400 for a Sebenza there's no reason Hinderer wouldn't be able to ask $385 for his knives. He doesn't have the production capacity to keep up with demand, it's not like he's the one selling them for secondary market prices.

To the OP, you could buy a ZT 0560 now and wait for the supply to eventually meet demand ;)
 
Some people like to argue. Jay, look at his post history. He picks fights with everyone.
 
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To give the other side of the story, I own 2 XM-18's that I paid secondary prices for and I think they are worth every penny I paid, both in build quality, F&F, and pure pleasure in using. But each to their own opinion.
 
bpeezer said:
It's a framelock, not a linerlock.
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Oh, that definitely justfies the extra money and convinces me that EMTs really do carry a knife optimized for stabbing people! Come to think of it, with prices ERs charge, I'm surprised the EMTs aren't carrying gold-plated Glocks.
 
meanwhile said:
Oh, that definitely justfies the extra money and convinces me that EMTs really do carry a knife optimized for stabbing people! Come to think of it, with prices ERs charge, I'm surprised the EMTs aren't carrying gold-plated Glocks.
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Man, you seem to be harboring some serious hatred for a whole lot of stuff. IIRC Rick Hinderer has a history serving with a fire department, and thought offering his knives to those who serve would be appreciated. The man makes incredible knives and chooses to restrict sales to American heroes. The knives may not be optimized for EMTs, but they're also meant to serve Military, Law Enforcement, and Firefighters. Don't hate.
 
Meanwhile - I'm a cop and you're not. I carry one and you don't.

Not all cops are knife nuts and if I wasn't so into my knives I would probably be carrying a Spyderco or Benchmade. A $100 knife will cut things pretty darn well all day long but we (the typical Bladeforums readers) know there is more to a knife than simply cutting. It runs deeper.

Most cops I know don't carry the $20 junk knives, nor cheap flashlights, holsters or anything else they need to rely upon when their "career" momment hits them.
 
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