Reviews and Ratings for SOG SEAL XR Flipper Knife 3.9" Black TiNi S35VN Clip Point Blade, Black GRN Handles - XR Lock USA Made - KnifeCenter

Charleswayne
Hammond, Louisiana

Nov 23, 2019

Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

What a knife !

Wow what a great knife this is. I like the heavy duty feel and the blade is outstanding. I’m a knife collector and this is a knife that I will carry everyday. If your looking for a good quality knife, I definitely recommend this one.

Kenny S.
ST PAUL, MN

May 11, 2020

Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

IF YOU SEE WHAT YOU-LIKE, @ IT LOOK'S GOOD, IT IS EVEN BETTER IN HANDS

WOW-Z,!!! IS WHAT I SAY OF THIS KNIFE, MINE CAME THIS PAST SATURDAY, I, ALSO HEARD MY-SELF SAY, ( HOLY-SHIT ) !!! IT WORKS PERFECTLY, I, FIRST NOTICED THE SLICK-SMOOTH ACTION, OF THE BALL BEARINGS, A SMALL TOUCH ON THE FLIPPER-TAB, @ BAMM, SHE'S OPEN.., SECOND, I NOTICED, IT IS SO SHARP, IT CAN CUT ARM-HAIR. THIRD, I, NOTICED, THE THICKNESS OF THE BLADE, IT'S GOT TO BE PUSHING, .20 " THICK.., THE KNIFE HAS GREAT BALANCE TOO.., I HAVE A LARGE HAND, FOR A SKINNY GUY, @ MY HAND FITS PERFECTLY INSIDE THE GRIP @ FINGER GROOVES.., THE TRACTION ON THE HANDLE IS TACKY, MEANING THE GRIP IN LIKE A FINE-SAND-PAPER FEELING TO IT, KIND-A, STICKY FEELING.., I, SEE NO-REASON TO EVER DISASSEMBLE THIS KNIFE, AS MENTIONED, IN A EARLIER REVIEW.., @ FOR THE THUMB-RAMP GROOVES, ALL OVER KNIFE, TO ME, ARE NOT AT ALL SHARP OR BOTHER-SOME TO MY HAND, AT - ALL,!!! IN FACT, I, RUBBED THE KNIFE'S RAMPED GROOVES, ALL OVER MY HAND, @ EVEN MY FACE, WITH NO SCRATCHES TO SELF,!!! MY OLD DRIILL INSTRUCTOR, MADE US DO PUSH-UP'S IN THE GRAVEL ROCK GARDENS, IN FRONT OF OUR OLD BARICKS, DOWN IN FORT - KNOX., KY. LAST, I LOVE THE FIFTH-SPECIAL-FORCES / MACv-SOG , LOGO ETCHED ON BLADE,!!! THE ICING ON THE CAKE @ FINAL REASON I HAD TO HAVE-ONE,!!! VERY, VERY NICE JOB, TO , SPENCER, @ ALL AT SOG, HEAD QUARTERS.., FRICKING-OUT-STANDING,!!! I, SALUTE YOU-ALL,!!! @ THANK-YOU FOR WHAT YOU GUY'S DO,!!! @ SPECIAL THANK'S TO ALL NAVY-SEAL, @ SPEC. OP"S - OPERATORS WHO EVALUATE @ TRUST THIS, ( SOG-KNIFE )... KENNY S> ST. PAUL, MN. USA.., @ US. ARMY VETERAN.

Deserct Oracle
The High Desert

Nov 20, 2019

Pros: Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

Great mechanism

Waited a while to get this, been playing with the XR mechanism since I got it out of the box, absolutely great once you get the feel for it, use caution knife is sharp. I use a large folder as a tool, everyday, To be fair I would have to use this for a while to evaluate it properly. But what I see I like. Big, sturdy, solid, great grip, nice pocket clip, and a fun locking/unlocking mechanism.

Limeman
Morgan Hill, Ca

Aug 29, 2020

Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

Review update... upgraded!

I reviewed the SEAL XR a few months ago complaining about the all-over gimping and aggressive in-hand feel. Loved everything else, but gave my initial review 3-stars due to my misunderstanding of the design purpose of this blade. After several more months carrying this excellent blade daily, I have since changed my mind. I now love everything about this knife. Balance, blade, action, feel in-hand, and bomb-proof construction are impressive. As others have mentioned, this knife is heavy but the balance is fantastic, and the over-all gimping I initially complained about in fact provides an excellent tactile grip that is reassuring for all tasks. Most other knives now feel naked and slick in comparison, and if I had only one folder to carry, this would be it. One note: The pivot screw began to back out a bit after a few months. A touch of Loctite and all good to go. SOG has upped their game and they hit a home run with the SEAL XR. 5-stars!

Masterguns
California

Jun 26, 2020

Pros: Ease of Opening, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

Love It

I'm a retired Marine and have carried knives my entire adult life. My EDC was the Adamas by Benchmade. I like a hefty knife. This one has moved to my right pocket and the Adamas has moved to my left (I'm right handed). Always good to have a serrated (Adamas) and a regular blade. If they made this in serrated I would carry two SOG's. This knife has a smooth action, three ways to open and is very solid. I like the Gimping but understand that not everyone wears rugged cargo pants to work. For dress clothes I carry the Benchmade HK which is a slim knife. For everything else I carry the two mentioned above. I love the axis style lock. Not a fan of liner/fame locks or lockbacks. This locks tight and is secure. Nice thing about knives is everyone has a different need. This one is great for med to heavy duty work all day. The S35vn steel sharpens easily on my Ken Onion belt sander, I get it razor sharp every week in mere minutes. Highly recommend!

Clark M
WA

Jan 01, 2020

Pros: Ease of Opening

Cons: Weight

Got it for Christmas, modifying it alreaddy

I deburred the flipper. That made the knife lock closed, requiring unlocking to open. I made a stand off of Aluminum alloy on my mill. The stand off stops the blade from fully closing, down by the blade tip.

Viperz Venom
Los Angeles

Apr 11, 2020

Pros: Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

Great Knife

Edc/ Self defense I'm glad SOG gets it that naiiledvthos this knife in every way from the s35 vn steel to the xr lock personally I love the jimping all around the handles it's there for a purpose, Itasca hard use tactical knife if you have to defend you life you might be glad it's there sweaty or worse bloody hands are nor a good thing in life or death situations, I can deal with minor discomfort in having a tool you won't loose in the worst case situation.

Cutty
Northern VA

Jul 30, 2020

Pros: Ease of Opening, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: Weight

Baby Butt

You office workers with smooth baby butt hands, be aware. You will squeal like a seal. This tool is for manly men. “Ohh the gimping... oh my, the sharp angles...” But I don’t think this is overly aggressive at all. This is a work horse. Yes, it will tug your trousers down to your ankles. Yes, you can hang your rucksack with the clip. But the weight is your friend when you want to do some serious work. I tell ya, this is the most easily opening and closing folder that I have. I have Buck, ZT, Civivi, Kershaw, Microtech, Cold Steel... this blade is such a smooth open/closer that I would favor this knife as an edc only if it didn’t pull my pants down. The flipper is fantastic. The lock bar is very easy to manipulate. Despite thousands of times that I opened and closed this thing, the lockup is solid as a rock. One thing... yes the delta spring did break on me. I had to send it to them to fix it (they don’t sell the damn spring). But I think under normal use you wouldn’t break the spring. I’m an outlier. The steel is great. I can get a nice edge on it. This would be my go-to after a fix blade in a real hard use blade. But it will pull your pants down. But hey, maybe that’s not a bad thing!

2Tall
NJ

Jun 11, 2020

Pros: Weight, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

This knife is a beast

I pre-ordered this knife after seeing it and had to wait months before receiving it. So I tried to check my hopes/expectations but when it finally arrived it met or exceeded all of them. The knife does have a strong detente but if you push at the right angle it's not too bad to overcome. The blade opens with a solid and satisfying thud. The blade has no play, has a nice thickness and came sharp right out of the box. The handle and jimping grip are great (some might even find it slightly excessive). Everyone I've shown this knife to is awe struck by how great it is. And it's a serious knife because the locking system makes it as close to a fixed blade as a folder will ever get. If you're thinking about purchasing this knife just do it.

Edcmag
KS

Dec 22, 2019

Pros: Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality

Cons: None

Impressive Blade

This is the most impressive SOG I’ve owned to date. Action is phenomenal and the grip is fantastic which enhances the “one handed” management of the blade. Weight is appropriate for the size. I’m truly impressed. This knife actually delivers on the description given. Good job on this SOG!

Wlb
Cape Coral, Fl

Nov 12, 2019

Pros: Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

Almost Perfect

SOG SEAL XR Flipper Knife 3.9" Black TiNi S35VN Clip Point Blade, Black GRN Handles - XR Lock - 12-21-01-57 After all these months of waiting for the XR Flipper to arrive at the Knife Center it came up on the website last week and it arrived Friday. Good job Knife center, very prompt as usual. Out of the box , extra sharp, I have the cut finger to prove it, and everything worked as advertised, except the flipper was very stiff. So I lubricated it and beyond all expectations… it stopped being a flipper unless you were superman. The lockup for the blade could now easily move, and the lock also retains the blade in the folded position. It now moved a little more into the lock position when closed, and the flipper deployment could only be accomplished by using one finger to hold the pressure off the lock while flipping.. Not easy, but possible. There is also some play in the hinge in the folded position which could have something to do with it. Locked open, no play whatsoever, it feels like a fixed blade. My hands are large, I wear extra Large glove size, and this knife is perfect… Weight and balance, also perfect for me. The ball bering pivot is very smooth, so opening the knife is easy, just hold back the lock mechanism rock the knife foreword and the blade is deployed..Reverse to close. I love the knife so much I would rather keep it than send it to be fixed. It only took couple of days to fall for my XR. I presume mine is a freak and you could have no such problem. Having it flip would only be icing on the cake so to speak..for me. WLB

The Collector
Colorado

Jul 16, 2020

Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

Bad a**

Can't believe some of the reviews about to rough for there hands ,this is a man's knife. it's not there fault the description doesn't say that but I thought was kind of implied. This knife is tougher smoother and tighter than any knife I own, axis lock,ball bearing knife sweet,my cold steel large espada is the only other knife that inspires this kind of confidence when you hold it just in a more manageable size.

Chuck
Neptune, Nj

Nov 22, 2019

Pros: Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

Smooth operator

Smooth as butter ,love this SOG,this is probably my favorite production knife to date ,the flipping mechanism is dead on along with the xr locking feature,solid lock up ,no play what so ever ,the weight is lil bit up there but to the weight to size ratio it fits the pocket perfect,all in all love this Seal Xr Flipper is magnificent.

I Know Better
North Carolina

Jul 25, 2020

Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

Sweet JESUS!!!

I want this blade with the fire of a million suns. And $170 is totally fair.

Seal Xr
Portland Oregon

Jan 17, 2020

Pros: Ease of Opening, Blade Sharpness

Cons: Weight, Handle Feel, Pocket Clip

Good can be better

Great smooth opening .big knife . great blade steel.strong lock would buy again for tool purpose or self defense now cons jimping way to hard can all most rip your skin off or would if you say and opened it 50 times so much so flipper kinda useless unless file jimping off off or were glove thumb hole doesn't work at all wrong placement great idea tho they just need to rethink couple things I think it would all work if the close retention wasn't so stiff if you try pull blade out buy itself with no lock bar opening it's hard to that why other ways don't open easy.and also smooth handles because some sort plastic even were you open lock bar.the pocket clip makes 1 inch of knife showing when caring beside all that knife is good and strong work tool .

R W
Texas

Dec 20, 2019

Pros: Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness

Cons: None

Made It Perfect

I would have given it a 5 but I had to do some tuning to make it perfect. First of all, I’m left handed, so during the process of moving the pocket clip from one side to the other, I discovered one of the four scale screws were missing, particularly the one hidden under the clip. I called SOG and receive a replacement screw within a few days so top marks for customer service. Second, as mentioned by another reviewer, the flipper was fairly stiff. I kept flipping it open several dozen times thinking it would break in but it kept getting stiffer and stiffer until it was almost impossible to even use the flipper. Rather than send the knife back for warranty, I decided to disassemble it myself and figure out what was causing the issue. Once disassembled, I found the track of the blade the XR Lock occupies when the blade is closed was milled too steep so that the XR Lock could not begin moving downward as the blade begins to open. I carefully made the opening of the blade track more shallow by removing metal using a cutting bit on my drill press and then polishing the area to a mirror finish. After assembling the knife with proper lubrication everything is now buttery smooth and the flipper flips with very little effort. I absolutely love this knife after tuning and know it will be my daily carry for a long time to come.

Limeman
Norcal

Dec 28, 2019

Pros: Ease of Opening, Blade Material, Blade Sharpness

Cons: Handle Feel, Handle Material

Really want to love this blade....

Want to love this knife. The blade is made in the USA and it is a good one with thick S35VN steel and a terrific clip point design. SOG's take on Benchamde's AXIS lock is also very good. Love the size and weight and general over-all feel - with some caveats. So why only 3-stars? Too expensive in my opinion for an Asian assembled folder. Additionally, the excessive use of gimping that is far too aggressive. Snags in your pants pocket. Can be uncomfortable in the hand, especially during hard and aggressive use. Will tear your jeans to pieces. Works great with gloves, but will tear them up as well. GRN handles at this price point is absurd. SOG came close, but having to take sandpaper to a $180 dollar knife's handles to make it useful is not acceptable. If it came to market at about $130 max, it would be an acceptable deal. At asking price, not worth it. Too bad, because it is certainly a looker and has terrific potential.