Zero Tolerance Current/Upcoming/Discontinued Models

4mer_FMF said:
Great looking. Double the cost of the standard 0450 :eek:!

Sorry. Gonna pass.
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Yeah, ZT is hilarious these days. A few minor changes and a new steel and it is double the price? It is a good looking knife, but how about some new designs? Some innovation of any kind? I love ZT, but it has been awhile since they made anything I really had to have.
 
I think the additional cost is from ZT marketing execs who follow bladeforums, and realize us knuts spend double the amount on shiro's and x and y and z brands. They are simply doing what any exec is supposed to do in a company, and maximize profits.

Just saying, ... we are our own worst enemy when we have no analytical self control and throw large $ at whatever is new and shiny. I like to think I have not fallen off that deep end yet, as I tend to limit myself to under 200
 
4mer_FMF said:
I’d say the 0999 was innovative.
Whether or not it was tasteful is a matter of opinion.
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I agree, they can do innovative in-house designs, but they excel at taking other peoples designs and producing them at volume. The TS 0095 and the Frag 0450 are a bit uninspired all in all. Getting a 0462 next week finally so I am looking forward to that. Speaking of it, a 0095 with a satin blade, blue CF show scale and a blue ano lock side would look really good. Hey ZT do a 0095CFBLU20CV :D
 
Innovation is nice... Or they could just re-release the 777 now that KVT, 20CV, and CF aren’t ultra-premium options. They could knock those out with a street price of ~$240 and people would be all over them.

They keep dancing around the idea and releasing Kershaws and assisted ZT models that are smaller and similar - piggybacking off the demand for the 777 - but a regular production 777 would be a showstealer.

It could even have flat handles and a boring standard clip like the 0770 and still be a killer product. Call it the 0707CF or something and just finally sell the product people have been wanting for years.
 
sharp_edge said:
I think the additional cost is from the FC part.
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It is, but the whole notion of "factory custom" seems like marketing hype at best and misleading consumers at worst. What is "custom" about adding some different hardware, or a different scale and blade material? These knives are simply limited production, nothing more. I don't fault ZT because they are in this to make money and I suspect they do extremely well with their "factory custom" line; however, I won't being paying that much for them.
 
jstn said:
It is, but the whole notion of "factory custom" seems like marketing hype at best and misleading consumers at worst. What is "custom" about adding some different hardware, or a different scale and blade material? These knives are simply limited production, nothing more. I don't fault ZT because they are in this to make money and I suspect they do extremely well with their "factory custom" line; however, I won't being paying that much for them.
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I agree that the value isn't there for me. But what the "Factory custom" designation means is that the hardware is made personally by the knife designer, in this case Sinkevich. For some people that may be an added value, for others it won't.
 
4mer_FMF said:
I’d say the 0999 was innovative.
Whether or not it was tasteful is a matter of opinion.
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That's right. Though I think that, and this is just my bias, I tend to think "mechanical" or "material" when I think innovation, rather than cosmetic.
 
dirc said:
I think the additional cost is from ZT marketing execs who follow bladeforums, and realize us knuts spend double the amount on shiro's and x and y and z brands. They are simply doing what any exec is supposed to do in a company, and maximize profits.

Just saying, ... we are our own worst enemy when we have no analytical self control and throw large $ at whatever is new and shiny. I like to think I have not fallen off that deep end yet, as I tend to limit myself to under 200
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I’ve not owned a reate knife, but despite others’ accounts of how wonderful they are, I assume the profit margin on reate knives are double or triple those of zt knives.
 
Yonose said:
I’ve not owned a reate knife, but despite others’ accounts of how wonderful they are, I assume the profit margin on reate knives are double or triple those of zt knives.
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I'm not sure it's double but definitely higher, in part because a lot of designs from ZT are collabs with makers who want their cut. I'd hope that Reate pays their workers well, given the way David (?) was described he at least sounds like a decent guy. I just have two Reates, so I can't really say too much, I'd say built-wise they are on par with ZT, action-wise they are a little bit above ZT. I am still more of a ZT Fanboy than a Reate Fanboy, simply because more ZT designs speak to me than Reate Designs, but my threshold for Reates is ~300$ (A few of them are ~450$+ here) which is within 30-50$ of most ZT's here.
 
Personally, I'm all in on this. Anyone remember a few years back the "Sinkevich Touch" run? SiDis took 20 regular 450's and modded them, similar idea on a larger scale....and these are alot less. Haters gonna hate, but the FC line has produced some interesting collaborations. They don't need to be universally loved, because they will be in limited supply. I'm sure they will sell out quickly. Plus i dont think they are trying to innovate, or push the envelope with the FC line, they seem to be trying a different approach to offering a limited edition knife by getting the designer more involved and using some of their custom parts.
 
I wish it was an 452 though. I ended up getting rid of all of my 450s because they are a bit on the small side for me and I don't feel there is anything they do that the 452 doesn't do better.

Of course, for the pure collectors that want them all or get things based on looks I understand the allure of the 450. I have a bit of that in myself as I now have "spare" of every 0452 variation I'm aware of, except the M390BLU that I somehow missed out on.
 
falar said:
I wish it was an 452 though. I ended up getting rid of all of my 450s because they are a bit on the small side for me and I don't feel there is anything they do that the 452 doesn't do better.

Of course, for the pure collectors that want them all or get things based on looks I understand the allure of the 450. I have a bit of that in myself as I now have "spare" of every 0452 variation I'm aware of, except the M390BLU that I somehow missed out on.
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Well, as far as actual sales go, the 0450 is a vastly bigger seller for ZT so I can understand why they'd go this route. The 0452 sprint runs have always taken a while to sell out, whereas this one will be gone in like, minutes.
 
Not that anyone cares but I just remembered that ZT did the 0055 last year which had the SLT tab on it which was pretty innovative for a production knife. Maybe I should give them more credit in that area.
 
SpySmasher said:
Not that anyone cares but I just remembered that ZT did the 0055 last year which had the SLT tab on it which was pretty innovative for a production knife. Maybe I should give them more credit in that area.
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I thought about mentioning that, but then again it was GTC's idea. But yes, producing something on a large scale is their fortè, same with the MUDD knife (which I hope they might release again.) Overall I think it would be cool if they just re-released some older models with new features/updated materials. I think they would sell.
 
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