You do a good job with your channel: An easy-to-listen-to voice, a presentation style that comes across like you are comfortable with your audience, a solid understanding of knives and good video production quality. Thanks for all you do to create these videos that make the day better for many of us who watch. And I agree about the SR1 Lite. I like mine.
I think the Ruike P801 is almost impossible to beat for the under $50 category. A perfect blade shape, bearings, upscale minimal look and what I consider the best budget steel hands down. It’s kind of a very very budget Shiro. Which is what I always look for in any knife. As many Shiro qualities as possible without the Shiro price tag. But I’m a simple design guy, monochrome fancy folding steak knife, slice focused geometry, easy to carry with drop shutty action, that’s me right there. 👍 The Civivi Brazen would be my second pick.
I agree about the honey badger. Also would like to point out that they do make knives that work perfectly as potato chip clips, they are called balisong knives.
The only one I have is the Gerber Zilch and i can verify it is fun and lightweight and extremely sharp actually. It really is interesting and small in your pocket.
Great video. The only thing I don't understand is why so many people have a problem with d2. Seems like it covers a lot of bases, especially in a budget knife.
Thanks so much for the work you put into bringing us interesting content so regularly . My experience with 440C is that in all ways it's better then AUS8 or 8cr. Maybe more like a tad under AUS10A considering all aspects.
Just found your channel and first video was on knives that are really affordable instead of a $500 one. Don't get me wrong I love seeing them but sometimes it's nice to see some that are affordable. Even if I had 100g in the bank I just don't think I'd spend 4 or $500 on a knife. I just don't see how I could justify it to myself but that's me. To each his own
Great list and video. Thanks so much for sharing. I will probably have to try the Penguin but D2 model as it is less expensive. Have been thinking to pull the trigger that one for a while. Stay well!
You'll be happy with the penguin. It's so good that on the job site I take the gas station and DeWalt knives from my helpers and trade them a D2 Penguin (or a RAT2 D2). They're great knives. I grabbing the m390/titanium variant because it's such a great design.
Hey Jay. Good to be watching your reviews again. I get sidetracked and often don't get time to watch enough videos. 1: I like the blade style on the Hau Ming. 2: I agree, Jay. That's a nice blade and the handle works well with it on the SRM-9201. 3: The colour of the Gerber Zilch doesn't really gel with me, but I can see the knife being useful. I have a Cudeman Vendetta with the same blade shape, and the wooden handle and Pallanquilla hardware would be about the size of the Gerber's handle, so very similar in size. 4: Yeah, that Civivi has that very cool blade shape like the SRM. And guaranteed quality build too. 5: The Ganzo looks like a functional knife. I like its design. I could imagine a RAT shaped blade on that. 6: Those smaller SOG folders make me think of stocky little boxing coaches or horse wranglers. Tough little buggers. 7: The Ruike looks solid as. 8: I guess if you're looking for a bit of a chunk of a knife on a budget, the SR1 would be a good choice. 9: Mmmm, that style doesn't appeal to me, but it is a good piece for the price. 10: I reckon the action on the Penguin will end up as drop-shutty as my large Crooked River, but at a way better price point. About a quarter the price. The more I look at that Penguin, the more I admire it. It speaks to me. 11: I have a confession. I've always quietly thought that the Honey Badgers were a little over-priced. Sorry for the long comment but I figured that would be a great way to catch up and say hi...by yabbering LOL.
Hey Brad, nice to hear from ya! No worries though, I'll always be here when you need to catch up on knife happenings. By all means, yabber away! Lol. Thanks for the very well thought out comment. The thing that stinks about the Honey Badger prices is that I'm still a big fan of their knives.
Hey Jay....I just received my Ganzo Firebird FB7601 today based on your recommendation and I love it! I have a couple of other similar Ganzos running on washers and the action is nowhere near as good as this little gem. It has renewed my faith and axis lock knives. For $20 that knife is a steal!
I subscribed to your channel because I thought you would do a good job focusing on lefty issues, like being able to swap the pocket clip on a knife. It seems I was mistaken.
Another excellent video, Jay. I enjoy using and collecting folding knives and don't often shop in the $100 plus category. Plenty of knives here that anyone can afford. Including me.
The SOG Terminus is a great knife. If you don't mind G10 and D2 you can get one for $45 Honey Badger now has G10 scales you can get for $20 and include backspaces Hope you have a dandy weekend !
I grabbed a Ganzo Firebird maybe 3 years ago and love it. I lost my RAT 2 and decided I wanted something with a deeper pocket clip. The Ganzo looked like a rough copy of the RAT so I grabbed it for $17. No idea how they do that for so cheap. It would still be good value at double that. Maybe even more. I don't know if I'd pay $40 for it because of the great options for not much more, but I think the design, features and build quality actually make it worth $40.
Jay your killing it with these lists! Some I have and some I need to get from this list. The Ganzo F7601 has been on many of your lists and I definitely need to check that one out! If I could add a couple to your list it would be the Sitivien ST103 and the CRJB Crag in AR-RPM9. Keep this great videos coming!!
I got an email the other day from honey badger about new g10 scales you can buy. Definitely like the idea but feel that would help justify the price more if they were included instead of just an as an add-on after purchase. I'm with you on the price. Even though I really like my medium and small knives, the price is a little high for today's competitive budget market. Great list Jay.
Yeah, I heard about those scales to and I think you hit the nail right on the head. That's exactly why they offer the upgrade, to help justify the cost because the D2 models are not as competitive as they once were. I'm with you though, I still love those knives. Thanks Carmen!
the Ruike was my first knife starting my habit! Great video as always. My thoughts went to the Free Tiger that you recommended! What a beautiful action and slicer for the money!
Hey thanks Erik! I wanted to have FreeTiger on the list, but I couldn't find the FT903 for sale anywhere on Amazon. Let me know if you find it because maybe I just missed it.
Isn't this a way of suggesting these companies to raise their prices? I think we should be more careful as to how we express things thinking of us as consumers.
I agree about the Honey Badger especially when you can get the Dogma with brass scales for 5 dollars more. If I'm correct, Isn't the one you have is the brass and not the copper?
I knew it, Elvis has NOT left the building! Nice to hear from ya Jody. I'm just as guilty because I haven't stopped by to say hey in a while either, but I'll fix that.
SOG, Cold Steel, QSP, and Honey Badger are my faves in this one. You can buy G10 scales from Honey Badger now. I'm wondering if it'll feel like a more substantial knife with them, but the added cost pulls it out of the budget beast category for me.
I still love those HB knives and while the G10 upgrade is tempting, we would be looking at an almost $80 price tag on their D2's. Man those things have incredible action though.
Yeah, way back when they really were a great deal. I still love them things and I'm sure one of their newer tanto knives will eventually be in my collection.
Hey brother, I was wondering why I hadn't seen you in a while. Forgot to sub when I swiched accounts. Used to be frog frog Always love your lists my friend.
I would buy the Hao Ming if it didn't have that writing on it like that. Who does that ? Why ? The Ruike P801 is on my short term list but I also think a petrified fish knife should have been on the list. I guess no matter what you list you could always fine another to make a good argument to be included. The PF818 would be on my list before a few but I'm new to all this and not well educated yet.
Nice list. I actually own a couple of these. I was surprised not a one Twosun on here though... But I don’t think the Twosun’s should cost any more than they are, but a couple of the ones that I have certainly were a bargain compared to a lot of other knives in their class.
TwoSuns used to be an insane value before all these RU-vidrs blew them up. Especially if you scoured EBay and were patient. I have several ti/m390 models I picked up for well under $100. But they kinda blew up our spot on that one. Those days are all but gone. Still a good value, but newer models are going for $200 or $300 now, especially the really good ones.
@@jdisdetermined Ah... that sounds about right. Yes I was lucky enough to pick up 2 or 3 with m390 and or s90v for less than $100. And a few D2 models, I like them all. But I haven’t shopped for any in over a year, so I guess I should consider myself lucky...
Yeah, I agree. A while back they were a heck of a deal. Still great knives, they just cost a little more now. Kizer was the same way with their $99 knives.
Totally agreed we pay 90ish buck for one in nz and the blade steel is not good where as a ruike you pay 20 dollar less and get a much better overall knife and sanvic steel which I love
Even though I agree that honey badger seems a bit overpriced, I still really like the looks of that knife. I'm sure I'll cave in eventually. lol Cheers, Jay!
Have you tried removing the Hao Mingh from the blade. I would buy that immediately if not for that horrible branding. I know it's not important, but I just can't get past it.
Nope. I have three of them and they are all on washers. They have great action for washers, all of them. I carry them often, especially the m390 in denim micarta. Flys open and 1 shake close. Love that knife.
8crmov13 or whatever the heck they call all of that junk steel, I always cringe when I see them on lists. Even on new knife day on knife center. So much cringe for junk steel.
I don't think that it's that these knives should cost way more then they do. Maybe other knives should cost way way less then they actually do. East to often we compare cheap with expensive and with the modern technology and companies in China producing quality products for easy less we should be opening our eyes and realize that the expensive knives are just names and hype in most cases. For instance Jack wolf knives are way expensive even compared to gec and other brands that seem expensive. But why? They're made in China. The steel isn't the best. But there's hype, limited production, e.t.c that drives up the prices. They could easily produce way more knives and lower the prices. The same can be said for gec. I have a qsp penguin for 35 bucks and a benchmade for over 200. The penguin does everything I need it to that the benchmade does. Both have micarta scales. They both deploy and drop the same. But the steel is better in the benchmade. But it isn't 6 times better. I don't know. I'm liking the cheaper qsps,qsp, civivis, e.t.c then the more expensive brands. Call me cheap.
Somebody apparently needs to say it and, even more importantly, others need to start thinking about it. I love knives. I LOVE KNIVES!! HOWEVER, I love the freedom to buy, carry and use them even more. I also enjoy all the other freedoms most of us take for granted every day. China hates us. China steels from us. China, along with some help, has caused us a lot of devastating loss recently. Some of those losses we cannot recover from. All of us the world over (but I'm especially talking about the U.S. currently) hit up all these knife channels and geek and nerd out over all these Chinese knives and other gear and buy, buy, buy. We are LITERALLY FINANCING OUT OWN DEMISE. Yeah, American made stuff is expensive. Way too expensive in most cases. That's our own fault. But, it's time we all stopped thinking like kids wanting toys and bite the bullet and stop buying this stuff. No matter hiw good or cheap it is. In reality, we don't need that many knives. Instead of buying 2, 3 or 4 imports, take that money and buy 1 American made blade. Our politicians don't have our best interests in mind and it's gonna fall to us, citizens, to do more than our part and (I know we like to use this word at times but in reality most of us have no idea of it's true meaning,) SACRIFICE. If not, we will likely be very sorry very soon. Our kids and grandkids definitely will suffer and probably suffer greatly. What's happening in Ukraine is only a preview of what several countries would like to do to us and they are gaining power every day. Partly due to weak leadership in the U.S. and other countries. We are giving them the money to pay for their plans. Look at how they've been taking over other countries. Stop buying this imported stuff and buy American! Or, you and yours and all of us will pay a much bigger price in the future.
I agree with you about buying U.S made. I'm relatively new to knives but I've witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union and the out sourcing of jobs to other countries that has us following behind compared to when we not just owned but dominated it. My next knife I plan on getting is a Hinderer. I'm setting money aside while looking for one. I don't know about you but $450 is a lot of money. for me.
There's really nothing I can say here that will resolve anything today, so I'll just say thank you for sharing your opinion, which I'm sure has not been limited to just my little channel. I know you mean well and I wish you the best of luck spreading your message.
Was the Kershaw the only one made in the USA? This video just pisses me off. Don't buy Chinese! What price do you put on patriotism? A budget folder is American made for under $150. Case, Buck, Gerber all have options. Throw those cheap Chinese gas station picks in the scrap bin.
