Any recommendations for an assisted opening knife?

The Benchmade Vector family of knives are among my favorite knives ever made. They're assisted, and they use coil springs like Benchmade's auto knives, rather than the torsion bar mechanism that most other companies use. I find this makes the action much snappier, and probably as close to an auto knife as you can get. They have comfortable handles, and thin blades that are ground to cut, which sometimes seems like the exception, especially when compared to ZT. Pictured here are the 496 on top, and the 495 below.

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Benchmade also makes the 490 Arcane, which has the same mechanism, in a slightly smaller package.

If you're looking for a good value, look at the Kershaw dividend in 20CV steel. It's USA made, has top of the line steel, and good ergos, all under $100. The fit and finish and action on my example are "meh" and it's a little heavy for its size, but it makes for an excellent beater knife.
 
I really don't like assisted opening but I do have a Zero Tolerance 350 that I enjoy. Really Kershaw has the assisted opening market to themselves, as Zero Tolerance, Kershaw, Shun are the same company. I would stay with Zero Tolerance over Benchmade just because the quality is higher. The other brands in this category are SOG and Boker which are not lifetime products (less quality than Benchmade). I wouldn't say your getting more by going to a different brand.

I think you need to try a USA made Kershaw or a Zero Tolerance. I would say if you want a lifetime product that is indestructible a ZT0350 fits the bill. But realistically you should accept assisted knives as disposable items as they are like automatics and you have to spend big money to get long term reliability.
 
Snacktime said:
But realistically you should accept assisted knives as disposable items as they are like automatics and you have to spend big money to get long term reliability.
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I guess I will have to wait and see with my 0350. So far ZT has been hands done the best CS I can remember dealing with. I requested a pocket clip for another model by mistake and they sent me 2 of them. No questions asked. I then asked for a set of screws for my 0350 and then sent me a complete rebuild kit, including torsion bar, at no charge and no questions asked.

My SOG knives were by definition, that being complete crap, disposable knives. Once they literally fell apart I tossed them.
 
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The Kershaw Leek is popular but smaller than what I like. The Kershaw Blur is one of the best implementations of assisted opening that I've used. It has big thumb studs that are easy and positive to hit. I've owned a number of assisted Benchmades and my favorite is the 913 Stryker (now discontinued). I like the looks of the Emissary 470, and there is a larger model I think the 477. I've owned the 581 and it is great although the handle is a little fit. Another of my favorite Benchmades is the 890 Torrent. I owned one until my daughter took it, maybe I should try to get it back.

Having said all of that, I think assisted opening is a gimmick more than a useful feature. A good one-hand opening mechanism is as fast and at least as positive and reliable and most assisted opening knives. The problem I have with most of them is that it can be hard to hit the thumb studs to activate them, and sometimes your thumb misses or slips off. The Blur is the exception to this. I find that the large thumb holes used in Spyderco knives are much more positive and reliable for blade opening. I still own and carry the Benchmade 913 but I own and carry a lot of different Spyderco models.
 
bdmicarta said:
The problem I have with most of them is that it can be hard to hit the thumb studs to activate them, and sometimes your thumb misses or slips off. The Blur is the exception to this.
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Same here. That's why the only one I have been able to really stick with is the ZT 0350. It has the flipper. The thumb studs are near impossible to use really.
 
I'm not convinced assisted-opening knives are significantly faster than ordinary thumb-operated ones and may even be slower.
 
Thought I posted this hours ago; but there it still is waiting at the bottom of the thread:

Check out the ZT 0770 - the aluminum handled is less expensive than the cf
 
Alberta Ed said:
I'm not convinced assisted-opening knives are significantly faster than ordinary thumb-operated ones and may even be slower.
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For the most part, I agree...but, back when assisted opening knives first hit the scene, that wasn't necessarily the case.
The main deterrent, to me of assisted opening is the extra resistance when closing...though, admittedly, I like being able to slowly open a knife if the situation merits (without having to two hand it).
 
Welcome to the forums. Lots of good recommendations so far.

I own one assisted opening knife, the above mentioned Kershaw Blur in 14C28. My ZT 350 has been de-assisted and I prefer it that way.

If you have your heart set on an assisted opening knife, the Kershaw Link 20CV and Kershaw Blur S30V are great choices. Since I don't have a lot of personal experience with long term assisted opening knives, I can't speak to longevity.

I'd recommend a non-assisted knife.

Are you certain there are no blade length restrictions where you live?
 
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Any particular reason it needs to be assisted (arthritis or otherwise limited dexterity)? These days even inexpensive un-assisted flippers come with bearings and rocket open with ease.
 
I think everyone pretty much nailed this round of recommendations.

Cheap: CRKT new knives are mostly assisted now, such as the new LCKs. I've had my kershaw blur for a few years now and never saw it fail.

ZT357 is a great one, and it's fairly affordable and goes on sale once in awhile.

I would say my favorite BM assisted knife is still the Arcane. Although assisted + axis lock takes a little getting used to, I find it easier to close with a framelock or linerlock.
 
Why not just a decent flipper like a ZT 450, or the Malibu?? No springs to worry about, and open just as fast as an assisted.
 
I've had BM Barrage and Violi for a lot of years now and both have served me well with zero problems. Lost a mini barrage but it was 100% too.
 
Hackenslash said:
AO knives aren't that tricky, but make sure you have some decent tools to work with. There are lots of folks here who are way better than me at taking apart knives that would be willing to help you. I used to use AO knives almost exclusively and rarely encountered a problem that couldn't be solved by cleaning and lubing.
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Well, turns out you nailed the problem. I'd blown it out with air while it was apart, but that apparently wasn't enough. I decided to pull it apart. I was pretty amazed by how simple it was. Had I known this, I'd have done it a long time ago. Once it was apart, it seemed like the grease had kind of turned to gunk and there was a lot of dirt and lint around the torsion bar. I cleaned everything off, put a light coat of oil on it to lube it, and some silicone paste (that's the best thing I had on hand) around the torsion bar. Upon putting it all back together it seems to work perfectly. I'm amazed at how simple of a design it really is, and that just giving it a deep cleaning fixed the problem.

It also makes me wonder why when I've sent them to Kershaw in the past they've told me that it wasn't repairable and had me select the replacement model that I wanted from their catalog. Maybe they just don't want to clean them. I just always assumed it was something more serious since they were replacing them.

I also discovered by looking at the model # that I actually have a Kershaw Scallion, not the Chive like I originally thought. It had been a long time since I'd ever looked at it.
 
Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone. Since I was able to get my Kershaw functioning again, I may stick with it for a while. I guess I should have asked originally how to repair it. Although I'd like to check out some of these others mentioned.

As for the reason for assisted opening, maybe it's just the manual knives that I've had, but even the ones I've had that had a flipper and weren't hard to open, I normally don't find complete reliability in them flipping open each time. That's why I like the assisted opening function. When it kicks it open, I know it'll open. Maybe I just haven't had good manual flippers though, and I guess I'm not opposed to one of those.
 
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