Review of the Cobratec Small FS-3 OTF Knife
Pics at the end!
A couple of years ago, I started seeing Cobratec knives pop up in many of my local gun shops and outdoors stores. They were placed right next to the Microtechs, so I assumed they were outrageously priced and never gave them consideration. Needless to say, I was shocked and felt rather foolish when I learned their price point!
Having carried an HK Turmoil for some time, and having recently purchased a Benchmade Shootout, my dad expressed desire to own an OTF. Since he never had one before, I set out to find one that wouldn’t break the bank if he didn’t like it, but that was also of decent quality should he choose to actually use it. Enter Cobratec!
Most of Cobratec’s offerings are around $80-$120, with a few outliers on either end depending on size and materials. The company boasts being “American-Made,” but from what I can tell, the parts are imported and then assembled in the US. As long as the product is decent quality and the company has good customer service, I honestly don’t care where the parts come from.
I did some research on past reviews of the company and products, and talked to a few of my local dealers. From reports of people who have used it, the warranty and customer service of Cobratec is supposedly superb! Online reviews were polarizing, with some saying Cobratec was complete Chinese junk, and others saying they were as good as Microtech. My experience is neither of those. Cobratec, at least the model I got, is a decent knife that falls into the lower-middle class of OTFs.
Specs:
Handle Material: Aluminum Alloy
Handle Length: 4.25 Inches
Blade Material: D2 Steel
Blade Length: 2.75 Inches
Overall Length: 7 Inches with Glass Breaker
Weight: 4.5 Ounces
Warranty: Lifetime
PROS
-Snappy, smooth action
-Decent blade steel
-Easy to maintain
-Secure lockup
-Decent customer service
-Aftermarket parts available directly from Cobratec
-Overall decent quality for the price
CONS
-Not too sharp out of the box
-Painted finish
-Cast handle scales instead of machined
-Somewhat soft aluminum alloy handles
-Slight mismatch in jimping between handle scales
-Weak clip
Overall Fit/Finish
The FS-3 does not feel cheap at all, but is definitely not as nice as a Benchmade or Microtech. The handles are cast aluminum alloy, and are obviously not as precise as they would be if they were machined. My local shop did have an Enforcer in stock, which is Cobratec’s machined knife, and it definitely felt more premium, but at a jump in price.
After closer inspection, the jimping on the handles didn’t really match up between the halves, and the paint had some drip marks. Since this is intended to be a “user,” these flaws didn’t really bother me since they don’t appear to affect the function at all. However, some might really care about this. I will say, that I am not the biggest fan of the “painted on distressed” motif, and I find it to be kind of mall ninja-ish. The black finish on the same model was definitely better and gave it a more quality look, but that knife went to my dad.
The blade was decently sharp out of the box, but not as sharp as my Benchmades and Protechs. I’ll definitely need to spend some time getting it tuned up, which shouldn’t be a problem.
Materials
The FS-3 blade is made of D2 steel, so it is definitely serviceable, especially at this price point. The internal mechanism, including the slide, spring, spring hooks, and lock bars, are all some kind of steel; I don’t know what kind, but they all were ferrous when I checked with a magnet.
The handle scales are cast aluminum alloy. It’s hard to tell the quality of aluminum since the scales are painted inside and out, and the scales are much heavier than those of my HK Turmoil. I don’t expect a high grade of aluminum, which worries me for screws eventually stripping, but it feels much better than the cheaper Lightnings, Schrades, and Smith/Wesson knives I’ve had in the past.
This clip seems to be made of spring steel, but it was easily bent, so time will tell how well it holds up. I’ll most likely replace the clip with an aftermarket Microtech style clip anyway.
Action
The action at first was snappy, but really gritty. The amount of force needed to deploy and retract the blade was significant, but not too much, in my opinion. It was easy enough to deploy while being strong enough to not worry about accidental deployment.
The blade lockup was solid with minimal play, as is to be expected with an OTF. It has less blade play than my Turmoil, but slightly more than my Shootout.
The grittiness of the action really bothered me, so I took the whole knife apart and ran it through my ultrasonic cleaner. Holy moly this thing was DIRTY. I don’t know if it was from the paint, factory lubrication, or whatever, but the water from the sonic cleaner was very cloudy after all the parts went through.
After running the parts through the sonic cleaner, I reassembled the knife, lubed the action, and locktited the screws. The first flick was SO SATISFYING. No more grit, the action is now smooth as silk!
Customization/Maintenance
Cobratec has no problem with users maintaining their own knife. They even sell extra blades to swap to a different style! I also like that Cobratec sells “glass breaker delete” screws to use instead of the glass breaker on the end for a lower carry profile. I have also heard of users being sent spare parts when requested to replace screws, springs, and clips without sending the knife in. I don’t have first-hand experience with this, but it’s awesome if it’s true!
Overall the mechanism is similar to that of Microtech, and is relatively simple and easy to maintain as far as an OTF goes.
Overall Thoughts
I really like this knife, and I’m glad I took a chance. There are obviously some flaws, but I don’t expect perfection at this price. Time will tell how the knife holds up, but after my first impressions, I would definitely recommend this knife to someone looking for an inexpensive OTF, and I will definitely be exploring their products further!
Pics at the end!
A couple of years ago, I started seeing Cobratec knives pop up in many of my local gun shops and outdoors stores. They were placed right next to the Microtechs, so I assumed they were outrageously priced and never gave them consideration. Needless to say, I was shocked and felt rather foolish when I learned their price point!
Having carried an HK Turmoil for some time, and having recently purchased a Benchmade Shootout, my dad expressed desire to own an OTF. Since he never had one before, I set out to find one that wouldn’t break the bank if he didn’t like it, but that was also of decent quality should he choose to actually use it. Enter Cobratec!
Most of Cobratec’s offerings are around $80-$120, with a few outliers on either end depending on size and materials. The company boasts being “American-Made,” but from what I can tell, the parts are imported and then assembled in the US. As long as the product is decent quality and the company has good customer service, I honestly don’t care where the parts come from.
I did some research on past reviews of the company and products, and talked to a few of my local dealers. From reports of people who have used it, the warranty and customer service of Cobratec is supposedly superb! Online reviews were polarizing, with some saying Cobratec was complete Chinese junk, and others saying they were as good as Microtech. My experience is neither of those. Cobratec, at least the model I got, is a decent knife that falls into the lower-middle class of OTFs.
Specs:
Handle Material: Aluminum Alloy
Handle Length: 4.25 Inches
Blade Material: D2 Steel
Blade Length: 2.75 Inches
Overall Length: 7 Inches with Glass Breaker
Weight: 4.5 Ounces
Warranty: Lifetime
PROS
-Snappy, smooth action
-Decent blade steel
-Easy to maintain
-Secure lockup
-Decent customer service
-Aftermarket parts available directly from Cobratec
-Overall decent quality for the price
CONS
-Not too sharp out of the box
-Painted finish
-Cast handle scales instead of machined
-Somewhat soft aluminum alloy handles
-Slight mismatch in jimping between handle scales
-Weak clip
Overall Fit/Finish
The FS-3 does not feel cheap at all, but is definitely not as nice as a Benchmade or Microtech. The handles are cast aluminum alloy, and are obviously not as precise as they would be if they were machined. My local shop did have an Enforcer in stock, which is Cobratec’s machined knife, and it definitely felt more premium, but at a jump in price.
After closer inspection, the jimping on the handles didn’t really match up between the halves, and the paint had some drip marks. Since this is intended to be a “user,” these flaws didn’t really bother me since they don’t appear to affect the function at all. However, some might really care about this. I will say, that I am not the biggest fan of the “painted on distressed” motif, and I find it to be kind of mall ninja-ish. The black finish on the same model was definitely better and gave it a more quality look, but that knife went to my dad.
The blade was decently sharp out of the box, but not as sharp as my Benchmades and Protechs. I’ll definitely need to spend some time getting it tuned up, which shouldn’t be a problem.
Materials
The FS-3 blade is made of D2 steel, so it is definitely serviceable, especially at this price point. The internal mechanism, including the slide, spring, spring hooks, and lock bars, are all some kind of steel; I don’t know what kind, but they all were ferrous when I checked with a magnet.
The handle scales are cast aluminum alloy. It’s hard to tell the quality of aluminum since the scales are painted inside and out, and the scales are much heavier than those of my HK Turmoil. I don’t expect a high grade of aluminum, which worries me for screws eventually stripping, but it feels much better than the cheaper Lightnings, Schrades, and Smith/Wesson knives I’ve had in the past.
This clip seems to be made of spring steel, but it was easily bent, so time will tell how well it holds up. I’ll most likely replace the clip with an aftermarket Microtech style clip anyway.
Action
The action at first was snappy, but really gritty. The amount of force needed to deploy and retract the blade was significant, but not too much, in my opinion. It was easy enough to deploy while being strong enough to not worry about accidental deployment.
The blade lockup was solid with minimal play, as is to be expected with an OTF. It has less blade play than my Turmoil, but slightly more than my Shootout.
The grittiness of the action really bothered me, so I took the whole knife apart and ran it through my ultrasonic cleaner. Holy moly this thing was DIRTY. I don’t know if it was from the paint, factory lubrication, or whatever, but the water from the sonic cleaner was very cloudy after all the parts went through.
After running the parts through the sonic cleaner, I reassembled the knife, lubed the action, and locktited the screws. The first flick was SO SATISFYING. No more grit, the action is now smooth as silk!
Customization/Maintenance
Cobratec has no problem with users maintaining their own knife. They even sell extra blades to swap to a different style! I also like that Cobratec sells “glass breaker delete” screws to use instead of the glass breaker on the end for a lower carry profile. I have also heard of users being sent spare parts when requested to replace screws, springs, and clips without sending the knife in. I don’t have first-hand experience with this, but it’s awesome if it’s true!
Overall the mechanism is similar to that of Microtech, and is relatively simple and easy to maintain as far as an OTF goes.
Overall Thoughts
I really like this knife, and I’m glad I took a chance. There are obviously some flaws, but I don’t expect perfection at this price. Time will tell how the knife holds up, but after my first impressions, I would definitely recommend this knife to someone looking for an inexpensive OTF, and I will definitely be exploring their products further!
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