Pros: Pocket Clip, Lock Type, Blade Material, Handle Material, Handle Feel, Weight, Lock Ease of Use, Blade Sharpness
Cons: Ease of Opening, Overall Quality, None
06 Auto
I was impressed when I first took it out of the box but upon first try with the knife, the blade didn't open all the way. Played with it a quite a bit to see if it would loosen a bit upon repeated use but soon realized it would not. Was not a problem to fix as it just took an adjustment of the small screw that is located just in front of the lock to get it to fire completely. I also noticed the blade is not centered in the handle when closed. It doesn't actually touch the handle but still, would expect the blade to be centered on knife of this quality. To increase functionality of the knife, I ended up doing a complete disassembly, wiped down the internals, put a dab of grease on the part that touch and reassembled it. Once I got the screws adjusted right where the tension provided the best operation, I removed each screw and applied blue Loctite and tightened the screws to just where the knife functioned the fastest. Now the blade "snaps" out with force and it has minimal side to side movement when open. While the quality of the parts is excellent I I love the S30V blade, one would expect to not have to rework the knife to get it to function correctly. I understand that it is more of a utility knife by design but if I could change one thing on the build, it would be to have ball bearings for the blade to ride on as opposed to it riding on metal to metal. Knives I have that are built with ball bearings for the blade to ride on open smoother and super fast. Could be Gerber just needed to keep the cost down or maybe they decided not to go with ball bearings because use in fine sand might hamper the operation with ball bearings since the knife was designed for use by the military as a utility knife. Anyway, I gave it only three stars because I had to rebuild it and make adjustments just to get it to perform as it should have upon arrival.
(
