Glow Rhino Reactor - Made in the USA or Not?

brancron

brancron

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I came across this Glow Rhino Reactor the other day, which is listed on all retailers' sites as being made in the USA (Smokey Mountain Knifeworks says "Proudly made in the USA").

Here's the knife: https://www.bladehq.com/item--Glow-Rhino-Reactor-Frame-Lock-Knife--124629

Here's a screenshot from a Stassa23 Youtube review showing the card that comes with the knife, which says "Proudly Built in Detroit with Swiss Tritium":

6LiAVhC.png


With the Jake Hoback drama fresh in mind, I am looking at this Reactor knife, at the price tag, at the fact that Glow Rhino's website doesn't list any country of origin info, at the fact that they don't appear to have any knife manufacturing setup, let alone one in Detroit, and thinking to myself, is this knife, or any part of it, actually made in the USA?

My experience and gut tell me "no," but any insight would be appreciated. I of course emailed Glow Rhino to ask them, but they did not respond.

To tie this back to Hoback, it brings up the question again of what duty, if any, do knife retailers have in ascertaining country of origin?
 
I'd be surprised if their knives aren't made in China. Based on their collaborations, including a tritium insert scale for the ZT 0350, if I had to wager I'd say they do some/all of the work required to add tritium to their products here in the US.

But given the price point and complete lack of information, I'm with you, brancron. It'd be a shock if the Reactor was US-made.
 
Send them an email and ask?

Maybe we can cause another owner to have a full-blown butt-hurt denial-filled meltdown for us to enjoy? :p

The "professionally illuminated with self-powered tritium" sure sounds Chinglish to me, lol. What is so professional about tritium if it is self-powered? I mean it's not like they are making the stuff, or somehow causing it to glow...... :rolleyes:
 
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Jdottinger said:
“Built” and “assembled” are synonymous. I get a strong Ruike P801 vibe from the Reactor. My money is on Chinese made with tritium inserted in Detroit.
Click to expand...

That's very possible. The custom shop for Trijicon is in Michigan. It might be the same place where that insert is born and inlaid.
 
I suspect they use SRM as their OEM, much like Ruike. 'Built' likely means the tritium is inserted in Detroit.
 
If I was a betting man, I'd say that while they may be based in Detroit, those knives are not made there.

I would guess maybe the inserts are made there? But even that is questionable.
 
I ordered some thumbstuds from them that were listed as in stock. A week after the order was made they emailed and said they won’t be shipping them for an estimated 5-6 weeks because they aren’t in stock. I don’t think it should take a week to realize they sold me a product that they didn’t have. They also informed me that I wouldn’t be getting the titanium studs I ordered as they were switching them to stainless. Then they sent the email saying you should have received your thumbstuds by now so leave us a “glowing” review. I emailed customer service a week ago and no response. That’s been my experience with them so far, for what it’s worth.
 
I wonder if the tritium is sourced from the radioactive sections of Detroit.
 
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