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Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness
Cons: None
Crisp Snappy Action - blue scales are darker than shown
As usual, this is an excellent EDC knife offering by Civivi. I own the Kizer Original in dark green aluminum scales with a black blade, and comparing the two, the Altus handle is slightly longer than the Original while the blades are almost the same length. The Civivi Altus also has a much crisper and snapper action than the Kizer Original. I also like the jimping on the Altus blade, which the Original doesn't have. I was hoping the Altus aluminum scales were a brighter lighter blue, but alas the aluminum scales are a dark grey blue (my biggest disappointment with this knife). I so wish knife makers, especially Civivi and its cheaper cousin, Sencut, were more adventurous with their knife scale colors and go beyond black, dark grey, burgundy, plain sliver and other gloomy colors, especially in aluminum. (Personally I this knife would look very cool with emerald green, real red, orange, or bright blue aluminum scales with a satin blade - like a Microtech, which often have bright aluminum scales). The Altus blade is sharp and easily passed the paper cutting test with flying colors. The only flaws I see with my new Altus (besides the dark grey blue scales) is the blade is slightly off center in the body of the knife but the much better detent puts this knife ahead of Kizer Original. Again, my Kizer Original blade does not snap out of the frame as crispy as the Altus. I would definitely say that the detent on the Kizer is weaker. The Altus has great snappy action, drops almost perfectly back into the body, and size of this knife makes this knife one of my favorite Civivi's (I own about 15 models of them now). I much prefer the more elegant, cleaner and compact lines of the Kizer Original frame/body over the Altus, because it is more rectangular with its rounded edges, to the chopper and more angled lines of the body of the Altus. In summary, the Kizer Original wins handily in its form over the Altus, while the Altus wins in its function over the Kizer Original.