Kizer Feist and the gritty action....

Both BladeHQ and KnifeCenter (high volume dealers) have around 15-20 in stock which is almost certainly the old Feist.
 
Lapedog said:
That is super stupid and I am very disappointed in Kizer for not doing something to mark these as different. Lundquist I can't believe you are letting them halfass the fix like this? Even if a store sold 100 Feists and only one customer complained that could just mean that only one customer used the knife, or knows knives well enough to recognize the issues.

All it would have taken is a friggin permanent marker X on the box.
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while it sucks, and i also disagree, i also understand (not agree) why kizer made this move. they don't want to label ALL old stock and old models out in peoples' hands as "defective", they want to consumer to distinguish what is bad and send it in to be corrected. plenty of people got perfectly good feists, including myself and several folk in this thread.

i happened to be so obsessed with the feist, enough to buy a new stock from the dealer lundquist mentioned, just to compare to my perfectly good knife from the old run.

anyway, not ideal. this is what sets companies like benchmade aside from companies like kizer. benchmade may be one of the only companies out there in this price range that would have played this situation out for the consumer's benefit (e.g., full recall, better communications and transparancey), while negatively affecting their profits. Kizer is picking a middle ground. they are fixing the production and offering to replace defective models, which is much better than the alternative of just ignoring the issue, but they are doing so in a way that leaves the consumer guessing.

let's also take a step back and remember the real life implication, if kizer had benchmade level customer service, and spyderco taichung level quality control, we wouldn't be getting these products at these prices. they would be further up in the WE or Reate price range. just my two cents
 
So instead they will end up pissing a bunch of new customers off. How will the average customer who doesn't know about the site Lundquist recommended feel when they get a defective kizer Feist. Then they find out Kizer knew about it, but didn't think it was important to distinguish to customers if they are getting a Feist that is potentially problematic.

That would seriously piss me off. All it would take is a little black marker X on the box to tell us customers which version it is.
 
i just dont know how a knife manufacturer messed that up so bad. then the whole issue with trying to resolve it. and not to mention all the other QC issues i keep hearing about. not looking good for kizer.

There are people out their that wont call to complain or get warranty service for the defective knaf. they will just deal with it. i feel really sorry for those folks. the ones that dont go on forums.
 
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Kizer has very good quality. I have over half a dozen models going back to 2014. My last three Kizers have been small flippers with 3" blades and no issues at all: Mini Intrepid, Guru and Envoy. Great price points except for Mini Intrepid. My last Kizer which is the Envoy can't be beat for $137 which includes S35VN, titanium frame lock flipper with solid detent, ceramic bearings and detent ball, titanium clip, etc.

I will pick up a Feist once I know for sure I'm getting the fixed version. So, I may have to wait a few months.
 
Just out of the box, my new Feist from EDC is perfect.
It looks the same as the old Feist.
But the difference is immediately noticeable: No grittiness. Smooth. Easy to open and close.

Congratulations to Jason Lundquist, whose name appears just underneath that of Feist. This version is a real pleasure to use. It even feels like the maker took care to get this one right.

That said -- for now at least, if you are purchasing anywhere else, I don't know how you can be sure what you are getting.
 
flash900 said:
Just out of the box, my new Feist from EDC is perfect.
It looks the same as the old Feist.
But the difference is immediately noticeable: No grittiness. Smooth. Easy to open and close.

Congratulations to Jason Lundquist, whose name appears just underneath that of Feist. This version is a real pleasure to use. It even feels like the maker took care to get this one right.

That said -- for now at least, if you are purchasing anywhere else, I don't know how you can be sure what you are getting.
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thanks for the update, i received mine from urbanedcsupply yesterday as well. I disassembled and scrutinized mine VERY closely and concluded the stop pin issue is not "perfectly" fixed. my stop pin is very slightly loose, so the grittiness is only 98% fixed. again, if i wasn't looking for it, this might have been negligible and i wouldn't have noticed it, and it's to the point where the action is smooth as desired. the only time i can hear the grittiness is if i hold it up to my ear and wiggle the blade up and down. My theory is they tightened the tolerances to prevent sending out some of the really bad units that were floating around, but the execution still isn't 100%. at this point, i think my bar may be too high. we all deal with plenty of quality control issues in this price range with benchmade, ZT, and spyderco, and are happy with our knives as long as there are no deal breakers.

All in all, i was initially slightly disappointed that the issue wasn't completely gone, but in conclusion, i do have a very decent knife that i enjoy, so i am satisfied.

here's an action clip, extremely fun to fidget

https://gfycat.com/SillyJollyHalcyon
 
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How do you tell if you're ordering a new one. Does it have a different name or code?
 
josh yu said:
thanks for the update, i received mine from urbanedcsupply yesterday as well. I disassembled and scrutinized mine VERY closely and concluded the stop pin issue is not "perfectly" fixed. my stop pin is very slightly loose, so the grittiness is only 98% fixed. again, if i wasn't looking for it, this might have been negligible and i wouldn't have noticed it, and it's to the point where the action is smooth as desired. the only time i can hear the grittiness is if i hold it up to my ear and wiggle the blade up and down. My theory is they tightened the tolerances to prevent sending out some of the really bad units that were floating around, but the execution still isn't 100%. at this point, i think my bar may be too high. we all deal with plenty of quality control issues in this price range with benchmade, ZT, and spyderco, and are happy with our knives as long as there are no deal breakers.

All in all, i was initially slightly disappointed that the issue wasn't completely gone, but in conclusion, i do have a very decent knife that i enjoy, so i am satisfied.

here's an action clip, extremely fun to fidget

https://gfycat.com/SillyJollyHalcyon
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Hmmm..... after reading this I've been wiggling and listening, wiggling and listening....Putting it right up to my ear.... Nothing loose. Still no grittiness.

Seems perfect.
 
blade man said:
So if you read this thread, the last two pages detail this issue.
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I was wondering if there was any update since people actually had them in hand but feel free to be rude instead. Even just writing 'no' would have taken up so much less of your precious time.
 
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It is very hard for me to put my Feist down. It keeps kicking my small 21 out of my pocket. I love the blade shape it's got, everything about it. Sometimes if you listen very closely I can hear my stop pin moving inside its track as I open and close the knife. It is very quiet and not gritty sounding. Just the sound of the stop pin running in its track. ,I never sent mine in. I fixed it at home. Its so quiet and slight though that you can only hear it if you are trying to.
 
Pomsbz said:
I was wondering if there was any update since people actually had them in hand but feel free to be rude instead. Even just writing 'no' would have taken up so much less of your precious time.
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'No'

There does not appear to be a difference in how the knives are marked. At this time, there appears to be one dealer who has verified that they have nothing but new stock.
 
flash900 said:
Hmmm..... after reading this I've been wiggling and listening, wiggling and listening....Putting it right up to my ear.... Nothing loose. Still no grittiness.

Seems perfect.
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excellent! then i guess i got a lemon lol (relative to yours). either way, the "lemons" of this batch are pretty close to perfect, and even calling it a lemon is holding kizer to CRK level standards, and that's not fair considering 3X pricing.

Also... i have an extra stop pin on the way from kizer. i'll update here in a month lol
 
josh yu said:
excellent! then i guess i got a lemon lol (relative to yours). either way, the "lemons" of this batch are pretty close to perfect, and even calling it a lemon is holding kizer to CRK level standards, and that's not fair considering 3X pricing.

Also... i have an extra stop pin on the way from kizer. i'll update here in a month lol
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Add some grease in the area that's loose. Could help a little.
 
Mo2 said:
Add some grease in the area that's loose. Could help a little.
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I've fully disassembled cleaned, oiled, tweeked 3 out of the 4 feists ive owned. everyone seems to love to tell me to add more lube lol
 
josh yu said:
excellent! then i guess i got a lemon lol (relative to yours). either way, the "lemons" of this batch are pretty close to perfect, and even calling it a lemon is holding kizer to CRK level standards, and that's not fair considering 3X pricing.

Also... i have an extra stop pin on the way from kizer. i'll update here in a month lol
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Either that, or you are better at wiggling and listening!

:D
 
josh yu said:
I've fully disassembled cleaned, oiled, tweeked 3 out of the 4 feists ive owned. everyone seems to love to tell me to add more lube lol
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What I mean is.. Take a speed safe knaf for example. We use grease on the tension rod to stop the rattling. If you add grease to the pin that's rattling it will cease making the noise. Now I'm unsure the exacts but I hope you understand what I mean.
 
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