Spyderco Paramilitary 2

Reviewed 10/02/2016 by Casey

-Price Paid: $130.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

this knife was bought as my entry into the "high end" folder market, and as such i wanted a knife that could fit into any roll well (assuming that the trade-off would be that it is a master of none) however i was surprised to see that a moderately sized folder could be this light, strong, comfortable and good looking. it is light, so light i don't feel it in my pocket but it has just enough body mass to remind you its still there the blade of nearly 3.5 inches is perfect for any task i set out to do (as a EDC user) and its most important job as a toy to play with is done very well (over a year in my pocket and i still love playing with it) it is extremely well balanced and i would not hesitate to buy another. also the compression lock is a welcome depart from all the frame/liner locks out there and is lefty friendly (if you are a lefty like me, look no further) all in all i would recommend this to anyone looking for a quality, versatile folder in the $100-$150 range, you wont regret it

Reviewed 09/02/2016 by Brad Bentler

-Price Paid: $125.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

This is a great edc knife. It is light and flat and very ergonomic to use. The s30v is great steel that holds an edge for a long time. The compression lock is smooth and super strong. This knife deploys very smoothly with the oversized hole. This is probably one of the best edc knives that you can buy. Buy one!! You will not be disappointed.

Reviewed 01/23/2015 by Christian Konzett

-Price Paid: $180.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Greater than 1 year

Comments:

Even at this rather steep price point for a production blade i have to say it delivers on all fronts. I am a fan of US produced knifes and willing to pay for it. When it comes to quality ths is probably the best knife i own. It's flawless in construction and functionality. The lock is great too and what really stands out is that the pivit can be extreme tight without compromising on the smoothness of the opening mechanics. This truly outperforms a lot far more expensive blades- can tell from experiance.

Reviewed 10/22/2014 by Matt

-Price Paid: $180.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

I have been looking at this knife for a few years now but was happy enough with my benchmades that i didnt get one. I finally broke down and got one when almost nobody had them and everybody wanted one. After opening the box and coon fingering this knife I wish I would have spent the money along time ago. Its a nice and tight knife that keeps a great edge. I carry it every where now. There is a reason why my local knife shop had only one empty slot in the spyderco cabnet with a waiting list 18 names long. This knife was worth every penny.

Reviewed 07/25/2014 by Bradyn

-Price Paid: $125.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 1 year

Comments:

I was excited to receive my first pm2 because of all of the great things I have heard about them. When I received it in the mail I was disappointed. The centering was way off and there was tons of blade play. Spyderco said they would fix those problems. $15.00 and 2 months late spyderco had sent it back with nothing done to it. I managed to mke some improvements myself but there is still significant blade play.. Overall the pm2 is pretty good but no where near my fav EDC. And as for the spyderco customer service... Well they are incompetent.

Reviewed 07/21/2014 by Ron

-Price Paid: $129.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

Loved everything about it when I got it. Good build. Good ergonomics. Compression lock is strong and easy to manipulate. Best heat treat of S30V I have found: crazy sharp out of the box, holds an edge really well, resharpens by just alignining the edge with just a kitchen steel. But then on such a great knife, they put a shitty clip. I sprung the clip catching it on a door handle. No big deal, take it off and bend it back. Wrong! It is brittle and broke before I could get it back to position. Then Spyderco doesn't consider this to be a warranty issue and I have to buy a new clip. I don't abuse knives, but things happen. This is supposed to be a tough knife, but anything is only as strong as its weakest link. A crappy clip on a great knife. Shame. Shame. Shame.

Reviewed 06/01/2014 by marc

-Price Paid: $110.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 1 year

Comments:

Bought a pm2 before they were all the rage, the handle is to big for the blade and sucks in reverse grip. To much knife sticks out of your pocket with the stock clip. Pulled it out of my pocket it slipped out of my hand on to my hard wood floor and the tip broke off. Also owned a manix 2 that dropped onto my bathroom floor while I was cleaning it and broke the ti off as well..No more thin tip knives for my Only Emersons now and a zt 350 awsome tip.BTW when I sold the pm2 on ebay with the broken tip I got more than what I paid for it new..

Reviewed 01/15/2014 by Alex

-Price Paid: $130.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

In short...Best EDC ever in my opinion. Lightweight...but only feels strong and well built. Perfect ergonomics, love the blade shape and full flat grind. P.S. the compression lock makes it the most fun knife to flick open/closed that I've used. I've paid a little less for knives that aren't half this good. Unless you need a blade that is 3 inches or less I couldn't recommend a better knife!!

Reviewed 05/19/2013 by Steve

-Price Paid: $120.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 6 months

Comments:

I've had my Spyderco PM2 for several months and have carried it everyday and for casual everyday tasks of opening letters and boxes its an incredible knife. Before carrying the PM2 I carried a Spyderco Manix 2 XL, which is a grate knife, the only detractor was its large size. This is where the PM2 trumps the XL. The size is just about perfect without feeling unwieldy. I wish i had picked this up a long time ago. I also own a Strider SNG , which is comparable in size, although I prefer the Spyderco for the thumbhole and smoother pivot. All-in-all, I'm very pleased with the Spyderco PM2.

Reviewed 12/17/2012 by Ethan

-Price Paid: $110.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for 3 months

Comments:

I'm surprised this knife doesn't have more reviews. Most anyone who owns one will tell you it is a great knife. It comes razor sharp out of the box and holds an edge fairly well. The blade is full flat ground, which makes it a great slicer. The compression lock is strong and easy to use one handed or two handed. There is a four way pocket clip that slips on very easily, yet is very sturdy. The jimping on this knife is superb. The g10 handle scales are thick, yet the knife still remains light enough for EDC. I highly recommend this knife to anyone.

Reviewed 01/22/2012 by abu uzayr

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

Comments:

I have owned the para-mili for over 5 years now, but have carried it as my regular EDC folder for several months now. Over the last couple of months I have EDC'd the following folders on a semi-rotational basis: Lonewolf T3, Benchmade M4 Lum Tanto, Benchmade Lum Onslaught, Spydie Dodo, Spydie Matriarch, Spydie Merlin, etc. After I had the para-mili reprofiled by one of the guys at the local knifeshop, who sharpens everyones knives for about $10 a piece, I still was not happy with the edge so I took some 1000 grit paper to it and finished it off with about 30 minutes' work on some 1200 grit paper. Now that I'm finally happy with the edge, I've been EDCing the para-mili for some months now. Recently, at camp in the Lamietberg I butterflied a 14 pound fish with the knife. Splitting the fish head was tough going and it left 3 small chips on the edge, which I sorted out with my 1000 and 1200 grit paper. After all my purchasing of knife sharpening systems over the years which I have never been happy with, my go to for sharpening these days is a sheet of 1000 and 1200 grit paper with cost a dollar each. And they remain good for multiple tough ups and sharpenings. This paper has even restored my confidence in- and preference of S30V steel which I always struggled to keep sharp using conventional purpose made knife sharpewning systems. So with my newfound passion for free hand sharpening my knives on "sand paper" most of my folders' edges have taken on a convexed profile. And they all cut like the blazes. Combining the convex edge in CPM-S30V with the distel-like taper of the Spydie Para-Millies choiled ergonomics makes for one meam cutting machine. My para-millie has now truely broken into the self defense realm.

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Reviewed 01/13/2011 by Matt

-Price Paid: $110.00
-Used for Every Day Carry
-Owned for Less than 1 Month

Comments:

The Spyderco Paramilitary 2 is an absolutely exceptional knife. It is my most recent EDC knife, which arrived after 5 months of waiting. I wanted to do a review asap but had to wait at least a month so I could carry it and use it to provide accurate feedback.

That said, out of the box the knife was dialed. Blade was dead center with no play, everything was tight, everything lined up and matched up well. The grind was good, and obvious attention to detail was paid. The knife would be perfect on build quality, except I had to ding it a point because the clip is slightly loose. If you apply pressure side to side at the bottom, the clip will rock back and forth every so slightly. I don't clip my knives, so it's not a major bother, just a nitpick.

For ergonomics, it fits my hand very well. I have a large palm and average length fingers and I wear the knife like a glove. The hole on the blade is large and makes for fast deployment. I find it very easy for my thumb to find the hole without looking, which is to say I'm very precise with blade deployment. I still had to ding the knife a point on ergos for the reason that the lock require a serious change in grip to disengage, as well as either a leg or second hand to close the blade. I knew this going in, but it's really one handed open, two handed close.

The blade is solid so far. I notice no degradation of the edge thusfar. The knife has held an edge with no visible chips and still feels very sharp.

A few other features I like are the liberal use of jimping, the nice large lanyard hole, and the fact that Spyderco finally got a clue and allowed for both tip down and tip up carry, unlike the past Paramilitary. I also like the fact that Spyderco is experimenting with high volume low margin sales on this one, because I got it for roughly 110 shipped, which is a steal, particularly considering the old, lesser refined Paramilitary 1 costs upwards of 140.

Overall I'm extremely please with the knife, particularly with price in mind. If you can get used to the compression lock, I highly recommend the Paramilitary 2.