Zt350 vs ZT566 opinions ?

I like the ergos of the 350, but I'm not crazy about the recurve. I also prefer Elmax over S30V and have found ZTs Elmax to be great, and reports of issues with it greatly exaggerated. Elmax is a superior steel on paper, and at least in my real world use, I find it performs better than S30V. It is an EXCELLENT all around steel. Not knocking S30V as it is great too and one of my favorites.
 
I only own the 0566, but I do plan to get a 350 some day. I think the 0566 is perfect for EDC. I can't really speak for the 350 but the 0566 is my favorite knife. It has been opened a couple thousand times by now and it is buttery smooth. No wrist flick needed. The only thing I don't like much is how hard it is to get a grip on the lock bar. After opening it so much tho my thumb has callused up and I can open it and close it for hours without a problem. Just a warning tho :thumbup:
 
Jfglockgrl said:
Thank you everyone for your wonderful feedback. I really wasn't expecting so many people to give me a response, so I highly appreciate it. I do have small hands, and I have handled the 350 and really liked it, it flipped out very smoothly. With that being said I havn't handled the 566 because no one around here carries it. I feel if the 566 is hard to deploy that would irritate me. Is this a common issue with every 566?
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I would say no, sometimes it's not the knife that is the issue but the operator.
 
I have both and carry the 566 every day. I like my 350, it's easier to both open and close and feels better in hand but the 566 carries much better. I clip them both in my right front pocket and I forget them 566 is there but the 350 reminds me every time I sit down, it's just wide and thick enough to be annoying. It just depends on what's most important to you, can't go wrong with either.
 
David Lowry said:
Just to clarify.... Elmax is not necessarily better than S30V.
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My mistake. You are correct sir, I jumped the gun when I said that. The 0566 is the first knife I've owned with elmax, so I don't have enough experience with it to come to that conclusion. I've owned plenty more in s30v and it is a great steel. I just couldn't get my 0350 as sharp as I would have liked, but I have gotten more proficient at sharpening since I traded it.

So user error, not steel inferiority on that.
 
I've had two 0566s. The first I finally got sick of fighting and sold it. The second was a little better. I finally saw a post where someone had taken just a hair of the curve out of the assist spring. I did that and poilished the internals a bit and it is now superb! Very easy to open and it is as smooth as glass. I also discovered today that I can actually activate it wih the stud/blade stop.
 
jkwithawave said:
My mistake. You are correct sir, I jumped the gun when I said that. The 0566 is the first knife I've owned with elmax, so I don't have enough experience with it to come to that conclusion. I've owned plenty more in s30v and it is a great steel. I just couldn't get my 0350 as sharp as I would have liked, but I have gotten more proficient at sharpening since I traded it.

So user error, not steel inferiority on that.
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No worries man. We've all been there at some point or another. ;)
 
I've got both the 350 and the 566, 566 is hands down more pocket friendly. The elmax holds a great edge too, as for small hands and hard to deploy well my 5'1" 110lb daughter who wears extra small gloves carries one and has no problem opening it. So I wouldn't worry about that, most of the complaints about it being hard to open I have a hard time understanding. Its a pretty simple thing to flick the flipper open.
 
RevDevil said:
I would say no, sometimes it's not the knife that is the issue but the operator.
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And sometimes it's the knife. It seems to me that a knife that has a fair percentage of users who have difficulty deploying it might need a re-look at the design or construction. I've never had any trouble with a flipper, before or since the 0566. That's certainly not to say that everyone will - clearly they don't.
 
That's what I was thinking. Opening a knife really shouldn't be rocket science or require some special trick to easily deploy it. It just seems like just about every person who has the 566 complains about this problem and has to modify it or polish something to make it opperate smoothly. I'm surprised ZT hasn't fixed whatever issue that's causing this.
 
I felt that a little at first but I just flipped it a couple thousand times and now it is super smooth
 
Both are cool but the 566 feels much better in hand. I wear a large size glove.
 
[video=youtube;Fbe1EIZTKXo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbe1EIZTKXo&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Honest to goodness its not hard to open.
 
I haven't done anything except sharpen it since I got it. No taking it apart and polishing anything or extensive break in just used it.
 
cricketdave said:
I like it a lot, sure makes it easy to use while I'm working on stuff around the ranch.
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Awesome. Thanks for the quick response. I've de-assisted a couple of my Kershaws, and was thinking about taking the torsion bar out as soon as mine gets here.

I may just leave it assisted for a while, and see how I feel about it. It's a beautiful knife, and I keep kicking myself in the butt for not ordering one sooner.
 
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