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Pros: Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness
Cons: None
Excellent knife
In an urban environment, I have three favorite carries: Benchmade Bugout with titanium handle, Benchmade Mini-Freek with S90V blade, and this one, the Viper Vale Magnacut blade and fatcarbon handle. All three knives are excellent, but I think that I like the Vale most. The steel is probably the best all-around steel and well-suited to everyday carry. The knife is very durable. It has a reasonably thick blade, carbon scales with thin steel liners. I like the very high saber grind to flat grind blade. It comes really sharp. It has a great belly but the point works well too. It has a functional finger choil, which allows a great grip. My large glove-size hand will fit four fingers on the handle without the choil - barely. It has a great detent and well-placed blade jimping. I have a canvas micarta pocket knife and find it to be abrasive to my pockets. So, I chose the fatcarbon for maximum durability. The scales are not smooth like carbon-fiber is typically. The texture allows good grip, but I don't think it is as abrasive as canvas micarta. The purple on the scales shown in the picture doesn't show up on my knife except in bright sunlight in a few places. The deep pocket clip is functional. The detent is good. The centering is good. The grind is even. There is no con to the knife, but there are areas where it is beaten by other knives. The knife can be opened by thumb stud or flipper. The thumb stud is less abusive on the finger. I have knives that open easier than this one. I have knives that have a more beautiful handle, although this one looks nice IMO. The liner lock on this knife is functional, but I prefer the Axis lock or Compression lock. The other knives I mentioned are lighter. I really like this knife and recommend it. KnifeCenter got it to me reasonably quickly too.