Victorinox Soldier Knife

12/14/2010 by Arjun

-Price Paid: $60.00
-Used for Other
-Owned for 1 year

Comments:

Some see this ranking and might be appalled. How could I score the knife this low. The scoring I assigned was in relation to other Swiss Army Knives. Frankly I am not happy with the direction this model has taken and find it to be a weak choice in a market filled with more viable and superior options.

overall the design feels chunky and not in a good way. The old soldier was known for its simplicity, clean lines and sheer usefulness. It seems like the designers were lazy on this one. The handle material while nice has nothing on alox. The ergonomics while OK are nothing stellar. The wide handle gives you something to hold onto but there are multiple hot spots due to the protruding tool parts. One handed opening is fine, but nothing great (nor necessary on a SAK). If it's something you must have on a SAK, then this is all you've got. The awl has plenty of flex, as does the screwdriver

The attempt at a liner lock is very disappointing. The design looks tacked on and there is up and down play. In comparison to the lock used on the Swiss Tool Spirit X it sucks. I know Victorinox can do better.

Then there is the blade. It would be good if it weren't for those serrations. Victorinox's steel is very corrosion resistant, takes a nice polish and 'usually' is easy to sharpen. Unfortunately serrations are not easy to sharpen and it dulls quickly.

This is just a one handed trekker with new scales slapped on. On paper the tool compilation sounds promising, but I'm not happy with the execution. If you are a camper I would suggest you buy a Swiss Tool spirit X etc. For only slightly more weight you get a plethora of useful tools, better locking system, better ergonomics, and with the X model a superior traditional pen blade. Buy that.

Victorinox is one of my 4 favorite knife companies, but that doesn't mean they get a pass on this. Purely average and in comparison with their other offerings it doesn't hold a candle to them.

Strider SNG

12/14/2010 by Arjun

-Price Paid: $400.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

I have a love/hate relationship with this knife. It has it's flaws but the more I use it the more I love it. It is important for me to state that a buyer needs to know what they're getting into before they plonk the cash down.

In terms of build quality it's a mixed bag. Why? It all depends on the unit you receive. Strider's are not known for their fantastic fit and finish. In fact this is their weakest area. Blade might not be center, lockup might be spotty, edge geometry might be thick. Now some may flame me for being harsh, but when a knife is $400 those are things that I do look for. Thankfully my SnG was not too bad. The pivot needed to be tightened, the edge re-profiled, and the clip bent into place. Once that was done I could begin appreciating the knife. I would try and handle the knife before paying for it, or specify to the dealer of particular features you are looking for. My PT wasn't as well built.

Another thing is cost. While I'm happy with my SnG I have a hard time saying that it's a great buy for $400. I love this blade (whether sane or not) but it's hardly a 'deal'. I would suggest those new to Striders to look on the secondary market. You save a fair bit of cash, and you can always ask about things such as lockup etc.

In terms of Ergonomics I would say it's quite good. You have the ability to choke up and gain control, or hold it further back. The choil is generous and the jimping functional. The SnG is very comfortable in reverse grip and is relatively easy to operate with gloves. I personally think a circular hole is better, but the oval hole is still superior to the thumbstud with gloves on. The only complaint is that there is a hotspot (lego version) when holding the knife hard in the choked up position. This does bother during hard use with bare hands. Other than that it is quite nice.

Blade is S30V with my favorite Heat treatment with a Full Flat grind. With a re-profiling it cuts very well. Love that performance. Operation is smooth (once broken in)and weight is decent.

This is a strange knife for me. Even though I mentioned a fair amount of negatives I still rank this in my top 3 favorite knives. The more I use it the more I love it. Might just be a psychological reaction to justify the $400 but I don't see myself getting rid of it anytime soon.

My advise is to try and hold one before buying. Make sure it is right for you. At this point and time there is a lot of good competition. Buy this knife if you really 'feel' it. That intrinsic feeling is what makes this knife worthwhile for me. It's a well built, though as nails knife which makes me feel like a bad-ass. Be picky on your unit and you should be fine.

Leatherman Juice S2

12/14/2010 by John Zaleski

-Price Paid: $30.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

I have carried this tool as my primary non-knife for almost 4 years. I find all the tools to be useful and they hold up well during use. Although none of the tools or the blade lock, I have not had an issue with this during any kind of use. The only think that could be improved is the edge on the can opener. Mine came out of the box butter knife dull and, while one could open a can with it, it wasn't a fun or easy project. I have sharpened mine along the "grind" from the factory and it works much better. This tool is a great choice if one doesn't want to carry a belt sheath.

Kershaw Shallot

12/13/2010 by Fits

-Price Paid: $75.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 1 year

Comments:

My version is the CPM 110V, and while I've yet to receive a knife with a factory edge "razor sharp", I make them so as soon as possible and the Shallot was no exception.

Terrific build quality, and the super-steel is unmatched in absolute keenness as well as edge retention. Sharpened down to approximately 22 degrees inclusive this is simply the sharpest, most durable stainless steel blade I've ever owned.

The one minor gripe are the slippery scales but that's easily remedied in any number of ways; just a shame Kershaw didn't think to send them out with a firmer grip purchase because then the thing would be a 10 all-around.

Leatherman Charge

12/13/2010 by Sapper

-Price Paid: $90.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 6 months

Comments:

The Leatherman Charge is an outstanding tool. It is of particular use due to its ability to shift different bits. This brings the capacity to use this tool for all sorts of applications. I have had a wide variety of leatherman type tools, including other Leathermans and Gerbers, and believe this is an exceptional product. I particularly like the knife blade with its 154 CM steel. This steel is awesome and is the same steel I use in my coveted Benchmade knife.

Spyderco Manix 2

12/13/2010 by gerberboy0100

-Price Paid: $85.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 6 months

Comments:

I purchased this knife ate the Spyderco factory outlet store in golden Colorado. The staff ate Spyderco were all super nice. I have been carrying this knife for about 6 months and so far it has been excellent. Some of this knives strength's are its blade in all respects, its solidness and quality. Some things that I don't like are the super polished clip, and the ballbearing lock is stiff when you first get it (it does loosen up after a little use). You can’t go wrong with a Manix2.

RAT Cutlery Izula

12/13/2010 by KennyB

-Price Paid: $55.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

I got my ESEE Izula because I wanted a small fixed blade to EDC. The no-questions-asked warranty was also a very big attraction. I've carried it for a little over a month now.

My favorite aspect of the Izula is the versatility and carry options. It can be a neck knife, or can be carried easily on the belt in both horizontal and vertical configurations. On top of that, you can attach molle or tek loks to it to attach it to your packs.

The ergonomics are the second reason, but this knife is one that has a lot of options of ergonomics. You can carry it "naked" with just the skeleton frame, with a paracord wrap ( of which there are many different wraps that ofter various grips ), and there's also the optional micarta scales. I never found it very comfortable to carry it naked when using it for cutting tasks that require more force, but for mundane EDC things it's all right. I think the paracord wrap is a step up in comfort, but the scales really give you a lot more to hold on to. The only thing I don't really like about the scales is that they leave the pommel exposed and make it feel like there's nothing there to hold on to; but it's easy to wrap this part in paracord to have a half micarta/half paracord setup. As far as carrying it goes though; at 2 ounces and with all the options for carry, it's easy to forget it's even on you sometimes. Between the handle and carry options it's kind of hard not to find a comfortable way to carry and use.

There's a lot of things this knife can do that a lot of 3" offerings can't, but this can be kind of bad on one hand because I started trying to use the Izula for tasks that no 3" knife was suited for--slicing up a full sized ham for example. For the most part though, I haven't felt limited by the blade length, and I haven't felt like there's anything the blade can't really do within reason. I mean, as far as strength goes, I already had to use it as an ice pick/prybar to get my gas hatch open after I ran out of gas on the side of the road. It tore up the 1/16" sheet metal on the car in 18 F weather and all that happened was I slightly dulled up the tip and rolled the edge the tiniest bit (didn't even notice until 3 days later when trying to shave arm hair), but yet it's small enough to be able to handle delicate cutting tasks like whittling or taking out a splinter, cooking tasks, opening stuff. etc. I can even shave my face with it, which you probably wouldn't see me doing with many other knives I can treat like this.

I wasn't sure about 1095 steel when I bought it. Mostly because of the corrosion resistance because the humidity can get pretty high around here. From what I've seen with my limited experience the coating is pretty durable, but I've had the edge rust up slightly from leaving a little water on and putting it in the sheath. A little rust isn't really a big deal though.

As far as the other aspects of the steel go, I'm pretty surprised at how long the edge holds up to tasks that are nasty on an edge. I reprofiled but left the factory geometry; I just put a more even bevel on. Afterward I batoned through a 2x4 with no rolling or noticeable dulling, cut up about 16' of carpet with only slight dulling, and cut through a good bit of a steel radial tire. I think that with the blade thickness and a full flat grind it helps to keep it thick enough to handle a lot of stuff, but thin enough to still be a great slicer. It still dulls faster than my other EDC in S30V, but it's not so far behind it I wouldn't use it at the same rate.

To me though the real shining factor isn't the edge retention, because it does have its limit. What's really nice is how quickly it sharpens. That probably has to do with the 57 HRC hardness. You would think that being that soft it wouldn't hold an edge at all, but it holds it quite well and it's very easy to put back on. Seeing how I can even compare it to my S30V in edge retention, yet I could probably sharpen it back up in a quarter of the time, I think that's a huge asset.

The only real issue build wise I have with the Izula is that near the choil there is a very slight recurve. It ground out pretty well, but it still remains after my first reprofile, and so it prevented me from grinding out the entire original finish. It's not really a big deal at this point, but with the factory edge I think it would make it hard to make contact with the full edge at this point on the blade. The jimpings were a little rounded and provided little friction because of the coating as well; but that's nothing a file won't solve so it didn't bother me, but these were the only two questionable things I found with the build.

It's really hard to beat the price point given everything. All the carry and handle options, the low weight, and the insanely stout yet utilitarian build quality, it's generally a $30-$60 buy and you have a lot of options even when purchasing. It comes with Pink, OD Green, Desert Tan and Black coatings, and there are many more colors available online--I've even seen Red white and Blue patterns, and some vendors have exclusive "Safety Orange" models available. In addition to that you can get it with the "survival kit" or just with a sheath on its own. The micarta scales are about a $15 extra purchase though. At the end of it, for about $75 you can have an Izula with the survival kit and micarta scales, or for about $40 you can find just the knife on its own.

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Spyderco Leafstorm

12/12/2010 by Ulli

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

The Leafstorm is a clever little knife. The first thing I noticed about it was the appearance. The color on the g10 scale is awesome. It looks like it would glow in the dark(it doesn't). The blade is well shaped and useful, and deployment is smooth and quick.

The knife has superior performance for a knife this size. It's very small, and perfect for around the office. It's somewhere in between a hard use knife and a gentleman's knife as it certainly won't raise any eyebrows when drawn, but handles tasks and holds an edge surprisingly well.

The Leafstorm has a titanium frame lock, which works well, showing no signs of discernable blade play when the knife is open.

Overall I'm satisfied. I don't really have anything bad to say about the Spyderco Leafstorm. I'd recommend it to a friend as well as it is fairly priced.

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Spyderco Shabaria

12/12/2010 by Ulli

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

I bought this knife on a whim because I liked the way it looked, and to be honest, I just don't understand it. The Shabaria has nice craftsmanship and is well built, but the layout and ergonomics simply do not work for me.

The are three things that kill this knife for me:

1) When the knife is closed, the already small thumb hole in the blade is half covered by the scale. The knife is extremely difficult to deploy, which makes it lousy for self defense.

2)The blade shape makes the Shabaria a good piercer, but that is all. I don't find the blade shape useful under other circumstances. It's awkward.

3) The handle on the knife is too skinny. I feel like my hand is doing a backbend when I hold the knife in a position that I would cut with.

Overall, the knife seems fantasy inspired appearancewise, but unfortuneatly, it also seems fantasy inspired performancewise. I won't tell you not to get it, because it might work for you, but it's not my style after all.

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Zero Tolerance 0500

12/07/2010 by cutter17

-Price Paid: $144.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

Been wanting to do this review but never found the time to do so. Now I've found the time to do one, so I'm going to give you the truth as seen by cutter17! :-)

I avoided this knife when it first came out. I had been spoiled by the ZT0200 in regards to ergonomics and it's heavy duty build, which put it's weight at 7.7 ounces. The specs on the ZT0500 put the weight at 4.8 ounces, which in my mind did not make this a very heavy duty knife. I know, weight does not make the sole requirement for a heavy duty knife, but for me I put some emphasis on it because it usually tells me something about the thickness of the components making up the knife.

When I finally did take a chance on the ZT0500 MUDD I was very impressed with the knife. The second I picked up the box I knew this knife weighed more than 4.8 ounces, that, or either a ZT0200 was packed in by mistake! First thing I did was to weigh the knife on my scales and it came up as 6.8 ounces, much more to my liking than the listed 4.8 ounces.

Here are the specs;

Specifications

Blade Length (to handle): 3 3/4 in

Blade length (Cutting edge) 3 1/2 in

Overall Length: 8 3/4 in

Closed Length: 5 1/16 in

Blade Steel: 154CM Stainless ~ DLC Coated

Handle Material: Machined, aircraft aluminum, black anodized

Sheath Description: Pocket Clip

Weight: 6.8 ounces / 190 grams

As the specs tell you, this is a fairly large knife, and a heavy duty one to boot. There are a few things about this knife that are not real common in mainstream production knives.

First is the G&G Hawk sliding lock. This lock is located on the right side of the handle just behind the pivot. Though it is located on the handle I have yet to disengage the lock on any activity I have used the knife, and really don't notice it as I use the knife. The lock is a sliding hardened steel plate that has a U shape in it that slides over a stud, made from hardened steel, located in the blade. This locks the knife open with no bladeplay at all. Another identical stud acts as the detent to keep the blade in the closed position. The lock is covered with a boot of neoprene designed to keep grit out of the lock. Speaking of this, the pivot also has neoprene seals that work to keep anything out that would inhibit the lock. I've heard people speak of these seals as nothing more than a gimmick. It didn't matter one way or the other to me as I liked the knife anyway. But I was able to see a youtube video of Gavin Hawk burying this knife in wet sand, not once, but three times, digging it up, and opening and closing it with no gritty sand in the pivot nor lock.

These seals are no gimmick, and they DO work.

The second thing is the material used to construct the aluminum frame for this knife. Most every aluminum framed knife you see has 6061 aluminum as the handle material. This is a very good aluminum alloy, and works great for it's use as knife handles. Kershaw went a step further and used 7075 aluminum alloy, an aluminum that is stronger than any other aluminum alloy. The frame has black, checkered, G-10 panels overhaid on the aluminum to complete the handle.

A couple of other things include the 5/16" diameter pivot, with it's 7/8th's" pivot screws. These screws are not typical of what you normally see, and do not tighten/untighten with a torx driver. Instead, these have 4 small holes evenly spaced around the outside. I found a simple way to tighten the pivot by using two small nails and a screwdriver. The nails fit down into the holes across from one another, and then I place the shaft of the screwdriver between the nails and turn it clockwise to tighten, counterclockwise to untighten it. The thumbstuds are also different as they are much larger than most. Being knurled all around the edge, they are easy to access with your thumb, and nice when you have gloves on. The last thing I'm going to mention is the deep-carry pocket clip. This clip attaches on the left side and goes around the end of the handle to come down on the right hand side for right handed people. As it comes, the clip is a little higher off the frame than I like it to be, so I modified it to slide down between the "ears" at the handle's back. It still places the entire knife inside my pocket with only a small clip to show on the outside.

All in all the ZT0500 is a heckuva' of good knife that will do the job you ask of it, and come back begging for more!!

CRKT Gallagher Badger

11/30/2010 by Oliver

-Price Paid: $40.00
-Used for Light Duty/General
-Owned for 1 year

Comments:

For the better part of a year, I used my Badger as a general purpose pocket knife. I have since replaced it and I don't miss it.

When I first got it, the thumb stud lock was a little tricky to figure out. However, it is very easy to use once one fiddles around with it for a while. The blade swings out very positively and lockup was very tight.

Well, it _was_ tight. After a few months of light use the blade worked itself very loose. You can tighten it up yourself, but only if you have a set of torx head drivers.

The pocket clip is non-reversible, which annoyed me slightly. The frame and back side of the blade come to points which look good but chaffed my hand every time I reached past the knife for my keys or anything else in my pocket. However, the Badger felt very comfortable when it was open in my hand.

The blade is nothing to speak of. The weird point design seemed to make no practical difference for small tasks.

Overall, I would not recommend this for an everyday carry knife, unless you like rounding out the points with a file and periodically re-tightening the blade. For $35-$40, I think better knives can be had.

Victorinox Farmer

11/28/2010 by cscoop

-Price Paid: N/A
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

I've carried my Alox Farmer for about two years now. Working as a landscaper I've put it through some hard work. The textured Alox handles give it a better grip. With it I cut all kinds of materials including sod, burlap, plastic tie wraps etc.. I like the saw blade that is extemely sharp. The main blade gets very sharp and holds an edge well.

All around excellent tool at a great price.