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Pros: Blade Material, Lock Type, Overall Quality, Ease of Opening, Handle Feel, Weight, Lock Ease of Use, Blade Sharpness
Cons: Handle Feel, Lock Ease of Use, None
Decent knife, carries small
I probably would rave more about this knife if it hadn't arrived on the heels of my Benchmade 806, a truly spectacular knife. The SOG has a good-sized blade and mostly comfortable handle and rides easily in my pocket. I removed the thumbstuds as they're not needed to easily open the knife and they do stick out quite far, slightly hindering pocket extraction. The overall fit and finish is not as good as on the Benchmade: small protrusions here and there around the handle serve to distract the hand, I think. Also, the notch where the massive thumbstuds fit is slightly sharp, a problem particularly in the ice-pick hold (though it does grant slightly better knife retention) and I wish there was a smoother transition from the jimping on the knife's spine to the handle -- either pare down the handle there or make the blade's spine protrude higher. Finally, the arc lock curves backwards, towards the spine of the knife, and not towards the palm as it does on the Benchmade. This means that you have to draw your fingers down and away to release the lock/start the blade moving from closed and that's just not as smooth an action as pulling it slightly towards your palm. In all, a fine blade and one I'll keep in steady rotation, but not the WOW I've been expecting as I've lusted after this series all these years.
