Customer Reviews

Trademark Spring-Assisted Tactical Pocket Knife

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I ordered this product and it came promptly but with slight defects on the blade. When I mentioned this to the seller, they promptly fixed this. This is a highly reliable seller.

As an amateur knife collector and also a poor college student, I really know my cheap knives, and this is easily one of the best nonbrand knives I have ever come across. I am a firm believer in "you get what you pay for" but at the same time the same 20 dollars could get you a knife worth 5 dollars or a knife worth 50 dollars. In this case I rate this knife with the cost in mind, so keep in mind that I am not suggesting this knife to be of comparable to a CRKT or a Kershaw. I will separately review the components of this knife.

blade (5/5) : drop point blade (even though it looks like a spear point, the grind starts above the middle of the blade) with a partial swage on the back side. It has a combo edge, with a good serrated:smooth ratio, many knives have over half the blade serrated, which is silly in my opinion. Riccasso present for increased strength, choil also present. The blade appears to be made out of 440A stainless steel, or steel of similar hardness, which is pretty much low grade carbon steel with mediocre edge retention. But any knife made out of 440C steel is at minimum 40 dollars. Overall for the price the blade is as good is it can get.

Handle (5/5): Scales present for better grip, comfortable to hold. I am a big fan of the quillions on the blade, acting as a finger guard and a thumb rise. Overall rivet construction, with star screws, I was able to tighten it with a hex wrench, which reduced the blade play.

Action (4.5/5): The fingerguard on the blade acts as a speed tab, and flipping that allows the blade to spring open. Fast deployment, and easy to use. The thumb stud, however, is difficult to use, and located too close to the handle to be able to open with, so just use the speed tab instead.

Lock-up (3/5): Only part of this knife I would suggest improvement on. It locks up fine, and I test all my knives as soon as I get them by stabbing a 1/4" wood panel of red oak to make sure the lock will not fail. At first it would fail, but upon applying some lubricant to the pivot and also loosening and then tightening the pivot, the lock would be fine. However the grooves on the lock stick out too far and I discovered that if you torque your knife in a specific way, your fingers can catch on the group and cause the lock to fail. But you do have to try hard to do that, it should not fail under normal circumstances. Also, I have found that whenever the lock has failed, the finger guards catch on your finger, preventing the blade from striking your fingers.

Clip (4/5): clip and lock-up are two of the most important things to me, one being availability and the other being reliability after deployment. That being said, I spent a lot of time examining this clip. The clip on this knife is secured by a single star screw, and an indent into the handle holds the knife into place. I have had bad experiences with clips coming loose and eventually falling off, even with big name companies like Gerber, but this clip seems extremely secure and so far has not even wobbled in the slightest. The clip is mounted on the butt-end of the knife as opposed to the pivot end, which I am a huge fan of. This allows for quick deployment from the carry position, as when it is stuck in your pocket, reaching your hand in to retrieve the knife allows your hand to be in the right position automatically.


Overall: 5/5 considering the price, I have no problems at all recommending the knife. It is worth at least 40 dollars, and for 13 dollars it is a steal. In the two weeks I have owned it, I have subjected it to at least 2 months of abuse. As an EMT, I carry a CRKT as my main knife, but also carry this knife for use on things that I would not subject my CRKT to. It has been covered in blood, urine, diesel fuel, and I have used it to pry stuff, open cans, cut IV tubing, reshape splints, and other abusive stuff, and none of it has permanently damaged it at all. After getting it, I spent 20 minutes sharpening it and reshaping the bevel, but from then on 30 seconds with an arkansas stone every few days keeps it at shaving-ability sharpness.

Bottom line: I highly recommend this knife. It is reliable as long as you keep in mind to be careful about the lock. Everything else is exceptional considering the 13 dollars you pay. I know I would pay willing to pay 30 for it.

I have a thing for knives. It borders on obsession. So it was odd for me to buy a $13 knife (shipping included). I like nice ones.

But this one leapt out at me for some reason, and recently I've been abusing my $125 Benchmade knife more than I wanted to. So I figured I'd give it a try.

It's no Benchmade, but honestly... it's a great knife for the price. I will carry this thing and use it like knives aren't supposed to be used - I'll pry with it, open cans, beat on stuff.

I've had other impulse purchase cheap knives I've gotten from the welding supply store, and they felt like crap at the time, and proved themselves very quickly to be such. This knife is much tighter, and just feels better.

I may revise this review in a week or two (if I break the knife), but for now: bang for the buck!

I got this blade, was excited at first, then realised it could NOT lock. This became a BIG hazzard. Mabye a week after having the product I took it apart and saw the blade itself was not properly cut at the bottom to allow the locking mechinism to work properly. While using this item, because it can not lock it cut my knucle. Awesomely the next day I was contacted by the company (bravofun) here is what they said,

"sorry the knife is not working... did you fix it or can we send a new one? Would you please go to your acct and remove the feedback... and then just email me what we need to do to make it better...

thanks

Bravofun

Elena"

Nothing after I removed the feedback. Now they either need to send a properly working one, or I expect my money back.

The knife was great for the first couple weeks, but then the device that causes the blade to spring started rattling every time the knife was open. So if you took the knife out, it sounded like you had loose change in your hand.

A few days later, I whip the blade out and it won't shut. I had to use a key (only thing I had on me) to wedge the locking mechanism in so I could close the stupid thing.

Then, a few days after THAT, the whole knife flat out broke. I whipped the blade out and now it doesn't shut all the way, but it will shut half way, and the locking mechanism doesn't work at all (it shuts and opens half way despite the locking mechanism being 100% jammed).

Now, I could understand if I dropped the knife a bunch of times or whatever, but I was very careful with it, only used it to cut very, very few things (strings, tape on packages) and then it suddenly goes bad.

It's a piece of crap, don't buy it. Get an American made knife and spend a little more money, you won't be disappointed.

Right out of the package, the blade wouldn't stay locked open. I returned it. You get what you pay for. Looks like this company has severe quality control problems.

I purchased two of these knifes and within a week both of them had broke. The first spring broke so that it would not automatically open. The design of this knife requires you to use the spring opening, you have to apply LOTS of force if you want to open it with the thumb stud. This made the knife worthless as I could in practice open the knife to use. In addition the spring assist is slower then if they let you just flick it open with the thumb stud.

The other knife the locking mechanism broke so that I could NOT close it. I tried as hard as I could to force the liner to the unlocked position but it would not work. It was permanently stuck open. Talk about unsafe. I had to throw it away sandwiched between two pieces of cardboard so as not to shred my trash bag.

It is cool in concept but the knife is too cheap to be of any value whatsoever. Do not buy.

not made well. knife sticks, and the locking mechanism does not engage unless a paperclip is used to move it

The locking mechanism did not work, making the knife worthless. Also be mindful that the blade is only 3.25 inches long - the handle comprises the "4.5 inch" aspect of it. On the positive side, it is accurately describe and exactly as pictured. If the locking mechanism had worked, it would have been worth the (cheap) cost.

This knife does exactly what it's supposed to do: cut crap and open real quick. Well, that's what it does. It comes pretty sharp, but I went ahead and sharpened it myself. It holds its edge very well. The spring is pretty robust. The only issue I had was with the two screws coming loose over time, but I just stuck a little super-glue in there and fixed the problem. I recommend this knife.

Knife was a little larger than I hoped and blade tip has already chipped, but otherwise I enjoy it.