Pros: Overall Quality, Blade Material, Blade Sharpness, None
Cons: Handle Feel, Handle Material, Lock Type
M16-14ZLEK
I am active LEO in a large city and I have been carrying this knife now off and on for three years. There are three areas that concern me when considering whether or not a knife works well FOR ME as a duty knife. 1. How easy is it to deploy? Does the knife have an ambidextrous pocket clip? Is it a flipper, spring assisted, or automatic opening knife? 2. Does it have a sufficient grip? Is there gimping on the back of the blade at the base? What is the handle material like? 3. Does it have an effective blade? Is the blade long enough? Is it sharp out of the box? Are the serrations effective and easy to sharpen or do they break? Under deployability this knife rocks. Being a flipper, it opens flawlessly and, be ready, because theres even a little recoil. The seat belt cutter at the base of the blade makes the flipping mechanism easy to locate in a pinch. I love the fact that CRKT makes it easy to take their knives apart for cleaning, if you like to do that every so often. If your picky about cleaning your guns you likely like for all of your equipment to be in top shape as well. With a simple star screw driver set, you will have NO trouble disassembling and reassembling the LEK. If your not into cleaning and not OCD like me, you will be happy to know that this knife works flawlessly out of the box for months and months. The grip on this knife is where I have a major problem. The grip is smooth and in sweaty or wet conditions the knife is likely to slide around in your hand or even slip out. I think this knife with CRKT's G10 rough textured grip would be awesome. The gimping on the base backside of the blade is excellent. If this knife is needed as a last resort deadly force weapon, I think maintaining a solid grip on it would be hard. The blade of this knife is mean looking. Its sharp out of the box and does not dull quickly. The seat belt cutter is a great addition and with the right tools is easy to sharpen. The serrations are durable and more than sufficient. One major con of CRKT M21 and M16 series knives is the weaker liner lock, but I didn't mention this as a necessary feature for LEO/MIL use. Unless you intend to chop wood with this knife I have found the liner lock to be more then sufficient. Several other reviewers said that the weight is a con on this knife, but for what you get I would say that the weight for the LEK is about average. The glass breaker at the bottom is an interesting addition, that I personally don't like. Most of us carry some form of baton, but if your military or a civilian looking for a knife that has multiple functionalities this might be good for you. A lot of military folks have told me that they are trained hold a knife in the inverted position with the thumb on the bottom. The glass breaker gets in the way to that end.
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