A comparison of the Delica 4, Tenacious, Para Military 2, and Manix 2 for Newbies

[mastiffhound]

After many threads asking about these 4 Spydies, I thought this might be helpful. I was new and had to read a ton of threads on these knives. It helps that these 4 are some of the most popular sellers, a reason I looked at them when I started here a month ago. Spyderco knives are just different when you come from more traditional folders. I'll give a score of 1st through 4th place, 1st gets 4 points and 4th gets 1. In the event of a tie both will get the higher place and score. Should be easy enough to figure out. I'm doing this on the fly, I have no idea who will have the best overall score at the end. Hey, I like to surprise myself sometimes!

Now this is all based on my hand size and the way I dress. I'm a mechanic, my hands are pretty strong. They're also beat up and my the skin is tough with lots of calloused real estate. I wear a large size glove. I wear jeans mostly with big pockets. YMMV if you have a white collar type of job and wear slacks or you might have smaller or larger hands. Well here goes, I hope this helps out some Newbies!

Looks, eye of the beholder, whatever you want to call it. It's different for everyone. For me:

1st: Para Military 2 (It's the digi-cam and overall shape.)
2nd: Tenacious (I know, I know. I just really like the look with the black blade, sorry.)
3rd: Manix 2 (Function over form, function can be kind of hot sometimes!)
4th: Delica 4 (It looks better than knives from other companies to me but it can't beat the others.)

Fit and Finish, this was more about the scales as all had blades and hardware that were very well finished:

1st: Manix 2 (The edges of the G-10 were rounded just a little better.)
2nd: Para Military 2 (Not bad but the G-10 was just a little sharper on the edges.)
3rd: Tenacious (I know. The G-10 was actually finished very well for made in China.)
4th: Delica 4 (I had to polish the flashing off on the scales as it was a little sharp.)

Grip Texture:

1st: Delica 4 (The texture just locks onto your skin wet, dry, or oily.)
2nd: Tie between the Para Military 2 and Manix 2 (The G-10 feels the same to me, I couldn't say one had a better texture.)
4th: Tenacious (It's better than slick steel but not even in the same league as the other 3.)

Comfort in hand when open:

1st: Manix 2 (It fits my hand like a glove, it's really close though.)
2nd: Para Military 2 (It's great, it's a hairs width between it and the M2.)
3rd: Tenacious (It feels good but not as good as the PM2 or M2)
4th: Delica 4 (I get some "hot spots" in my wrist and my pointer finger has trouble finding purchase)

Speed of opening when new out of the box, thumbing, using my middle finger, and Spyder Drop (I think that's what it's called):
1st: Para Military 2 (It came buttery smooth with no adjustment needed.)
2nd: Tenacious (Also smooth, not quite as smooth as the PM2. I was impressed for something made in China.)
3rd: Manix 2 (It's only slightly stiffer than the Tenacious, still pretty good though.)
4th: Delica 4 (It was very stiff out of the box, I couldn't use my middle finger either. Could be the nature of the lock, it got slightly better when I loosened it.)

Blade play left, right, front to back:

1st: Tie of them all, no play what-so-ever. (Impressive when you consider one is from China!)

Blade finish as in scratches, nicks, or imperfections:

1st: Tie of them all (All were nicely finished, I couldn't find any imperfections. Again, I'm impressed)

Edge centering, as in how even is the edge ground on both sides:

1st: Delica 4 (I can't see a difference, it's as perfect as I can see with my eye or magnifying glass.)
2nd: Manix 2 (The grind is slightly steeper on the right side when when viewed edge side, left side from the spine. It's really close but just barely off.)
3rd: Tenacious (It's close, same side as the Manix, only slightly steeper.)
4th: Para Military (Same side as the others but noticably the steepest.)

Ease of carry, how it fits in the pocket. I like to carry mine in the change pocket of my jeans:

1st: Delica 4 (Like it's not even there.)
2nd: Tie between Manix 2 and Tenacious (Both fit well without getting in the way, hardly noticed if at all.)
4th: Para Military 2 ( It gets carried more in my regular front pocket, sometimes in the way of my keys. I notice it often.)

Edge straightness out of the box, as in if the edge rolls or waves from one side to the other along the edge:

1st: Tie between the Para Military, Manix 2, and Tenacious (I couldn't find any rollover or waves)
4th: Delica 4 (Halfway up the blade and just below the tip it rolls slightly over to the left, enough to catch fabric or a fingernail)

Sharpness out of the box. Arm hair, printer paper, plastic clamshell, and cardboard:

1st: Para Military 2 (It goes through everything with the least effort.)
2nd: Tie between Manix 2 and Delica 4 (I couldn't tell a discernible difference.)
4th: Tenacious (It could be the oxide coating, or it could be just not as sharp. It's still very sharp, it shaved arm hair easy enough.)

Lock mechanisms, as in safety while opening/closing and ease of use out of the box:

1st: Para Military 2 (Fingers have no reason to get in the way of the closing blade on either hand. One handed closing is easiest out of the 4.)
2nd: Manix 2 (Some might think the spring is too stiff but I can open and close it easy, just not as easy as the PM2.)
3rd: Tie between Delica 4 and Tenacious (Closing them isn't as easy, your fingers can come into contact with the edge if you get careless using one hand.)

Blade retention in the handle, will the blade shake loose:

1st: Tie of them all (Not a hint of movement no matter how hard I snap my wrist or shook them.)

Blade steel. This is based on what I've read, others shared experience, and from my own limited understanding of knife steel:

1st: Tie between the Manix 2 and Para Military 2 (both use CPM S30V, by all accounts it's the best when comparing these 4 blades)
3rd: Delica 4 (VG-10, a very good Japanese steel, better than 8Cr13MoV by all accounts)
4th: Tenacious (8Cr13MoV, very close to AUS8 from what I've read. Chinese made steel. Lower quality than the others.)

Weight, lightest gets the highest place and score:

1st: Delica 4 at 2.4 ounces
2nd: Para Military at 3.9 ounces
3rd: Tenacious at 4.2
4th: Manix 2 at 5.2 ounces

Price I paid, this isn't to rank them, just a reference. Prices will be rounded to the nearest dollar. All were purchased in January 2015. In the order I bought them:

Delica 4: $62
Para Military 2: $111
Tenacious black coated blade: $41
Manix 2: $86

Now for the outcome. This could be helpful when your trying to figure out what you get dollar for dollar I guess. Everyone is sized differently, this is what works for me and what I compared between my 4 examples. Others might get different scores. Hopefully this will give you an idea when it comes to what might fit you or is it worth it.

1st: Para Military 2 with 50 points
2nd: Manix 2 with 48 points
3rd: Delica 4 with 40 points
4th: Tenacious with 38 points

As I said, this outcome was unknown to me before I tallied the points up at the end. I was honest and fair with my ratings, observations, and experience with them. Looks was the only one that's subjective but the scores wouldn't change much. Is the outcome surprising? Not to me. It would seem that the old saying "You get what you pay for" holds true. They literally ranked out in the order they cost. I will say that I don't feel like I overpaid for any of them. Others may have ranked some categories differently but the outcome would be likely very close to what I got. Hopefully this is helpful to those newbies that are looking to get one of these Spyderco folders.

 

[powernoodle]

Good stuff, Mr. Hound. I appreciate that you acknowledge how much subjectivity goes into this. For me it would be 1) Para, 2) Delica, 3) Tenacious, and 4) Manix 2.

Delica 4.

 

[GatorFlash1]

I'm a Gayle Bradley EDC guy, but I would put the Manix 2 XL over the PM2, by a slight margin.

 

[bdmicarta]

I have all of the knives mentioned. My EDC rotation contains (among others) 2- PM2's, 2- Manix 2's, the Bradley folder, and a new Manix 2 XL that I'm carrying today. I have a Tenacious but I don't carry it because I get more enjoyment from the more expensive models. I have a Delica that I don't carry because it is too small for me and doesn't have a one-hand lock. I have 2 more Manix 2's that I use for work knives.

The Delica is the classic Spyderco but otherwise is somewhat out of place in this discussion because it is a lockback with FRN scales while the others are all one-handed locks with liners and G10 scales. Of course everybody has different needs and some people like the smaller Delica and don't mind the slower lock.

I put the PM2 as easiest to carry and the Pm2 and Manix 2 almost equal for ease of the lock to use.

 

[mastiffhound]

It's almost daily that a thread popped up about is the PM2 worth it, is it awesome, or should I buy it over this or that. I did a thread myself on that very subject. I tried to be as detached as possible when rating these 4 Spydies. I wanted to see if I could honestly say the PM2 was as good of a folder that everyone says it is. That's kind of hard to do when I own one without being a little biased, the only category that I felt biased was the looks. You can look through the rankings and see that the PM2 isn't rated 1st in every category though, in some it even came in last.

I was a little surprised that the rankings ended up being in the order of price. While ranking them I noticed that the Tenacious had some decent scores and thought that it might end up even or even beat out the Delica 4. For a folder made in China the Tenacious turned out to be a really good bang for the buck even though it was compared to knives that cost 2 to almost 3 times as much. How is that possible? I think quality control is the answer to that, even though it's a "budget" folder the qc must be pretty good. I don't feel the Delica was too out of place, after all it scored highest in some categories.

Honestly, right now my favorite is the Manix 2. It just fits my hand better, has features that I value like the extended finger guard, uses the same steel as the PM2, and carries better. That's for me though, the PM2 will still get pocket time as it's still a great folder. Out of the 4 the PM2 got the higher score but it was close, like I said I wanted to be as honest in my evaluation as possible. It might rank higher or lower for others depending on their needs and use. I also said that I didn't feel as though I overpaid for any of them and I stand by that. Dollar for dollar and feature for feature it ranked out higher than the others. That's the way it should be though. Quality costs money.

 

[kubelik]

for me the PM2 vs Manix 2 is too close to call. every time I spend a lot of time with one and then pick up the other, I rediscover all sorts of things I like about the lesser-used knife, and so I switch over until the process repeats. just got a Delica 4 so I'll be putting some careful thought into seeing how it matches up to the other two.

great analysis - always good to test out your objective reasoning and see how it compares to gut feel.