Puma Advantec comments, reviews?

[nullandvoid]

I was looking at the Puma Advantec liner lock knife and was wondering if anybody had any opinions on it? I can't quite spend the ~$300 on sebenza and this is the closest model I can find in the Puma line to the one that's recommended on equipped.com

 

[Joe Talmadge]

null,

I'd argue here that if what you're trying to do is pick up something that performs like a Sebenza, but for less money, you're looking in the wrong direction. One of the key things that makes a SEbenza a Sebenza is that the Sebenza's framelock is so much more reliable than a liner lock. Liner locks are one of the most difficult locks for a manufacturer to consistently get right. With a framelock, the thicker lock/tang juncture gives the manufacturer more room for error, and the fact that when your hand goes around the knife you actually reinforce the lockup makes the framelock even more reliable.

My strong advice is that you should be looking at lower-cost production framelocks, axis locks, lockbacks, or compression locks that fit your needs. Are you looking at this as a last-ditch survival folder to help whittle fuzz sticks, cut cordage, etc.? There's lots of good options here. What you're looking for is a reliable lock, good quality steel, and the proper blade geometry for this type of use. I'd argue that the following could all fit the bill, at various price points: Camillus Dominator, Spyderco Chinook II, Benchmade 710 Axis, Benchmade Griptilian, Spyderco ATR.

Joe

 

[nullandvoid]

Okay, well I already have a variety of lockbacks, cold steel voyager, spyderco calypso jr, myerchin lightknife (okay so that one's not exactly a lockback). So guess I won't bother with another one... I just thought the equipped recommendations were usually good ones.

 

[Joe Talmadge]

Equipped is great. And not everyone agrees with me [or, as I like to think of it, has the testing experience I do] about the difficulty in manufacturing liner locks. Did Doug actually get to handle and test this knife and its lock hard?

No reason to take my opinion as gospel, but it does have a lot of years of specifically testing locks and getting good at learning how to find the weaknesses -- Doug's experience is across a much broader array of equipment.

 

[nullandvoid]

Gotcha, he recommended specifically the sportec drop point as one of the lower cost alternatives to the Sebenza, which is his ultimate suggestion I think. But it (the sportec) seems to no longer exist and the Advantec seemed to be the closest replacement. I don't think he tested it (the sportec) though. Who else makes a framelock? (I presume that's the same as the sebenza since part of the frame is what is "spring loaded" to lock the blade in place)

 

[K-T]

A very nice production framelock was the Benchmade 750, it has been discontinued (for whatever reason I don't know as it is a real winner). You'll have to dig around ebay and other knive places and might be lucky to find one but it is worth it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif This doesn't answer your original question though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif