The Orca: Eric Ochs design, Reate build, Massdrop release

Honestly, I've been watching MD, and they really are horribly bad at pricing... I can't count the number of times they are trying to push a knife that costs more after shipping than many of the big BF supporting stores, KC, BHQ etc etc

plus, you get to wait 8-10 weeks until they ship it... all around MD is a fail for me, with rare exceptions
 
If this has a left hand option I would be all over it. Have a MD Ferrum Forge Gent and orderd the Gavko Thresher as a lefty.
 
dirc said:
Honestly, I've been watching MD, and they really are horribly bad at pricing... I can't count the number of times they are trying to push a knife that costs more after shipping than many of the big BF supporting stores, KC, BHQ etc etc

plus, you get to wait 8-10 weeks until they ship it... all around MD is a fail for me, with rare exceptions
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Are you calling the pricing "bad" on the Orca? The Gent? The Falcon? The Crux? The CTF? The Perpetua? I can understand if you're talking about off-the-shelf production knives, but the pricing on some of the in house designs is hard to beat in my opinion. The Prism is the cheapest Reate available short of some remaining stock on the Hills. Where's the horribly bad here? Maybe you're not looking close enough.
 
Hackenslash said:
Are you calling the pricing "bad" on the Orca? The Gent? The Falcon? The Crux? The CTF? The Perpetua? I can understand if you're talking about off-the-shelf production knives, but the pricing on some of the in house designs is hard to beat in my opinion. The Prism is the cheapest Reate available short of some remaining stock on the Hills. Where's the horribly bad here? Maybe you're not looking close enough.
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I'm pretty sure D dirc just meant what he said:

dirc said:
Honestly, I've been watching MD, and they really are horribly bad at pricing... I can't count the number of times they are trying to push a knife that costs more after shipping than many of the big BF supporting stores, KC, BHQ etc etc
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I've seen it too. Often when you look at a production knife they have up for sale and you throw the model name to google you'll find gpk/bhq/kc/etc. selling the same knife everyday for a lower price. Usually in those cases it's not a ton of money, the massdrop price coming in just 5-10% higher, but I've seen massdrop be as much as 20-30% over one of the big shop prices a couple of times.
 
evilgreg said:
I'm pretty sure D dirc just meant what he said:



I've seen it too. Often when you look at a production knife they have up for sale and you throw the model name to google you'll find gpk/bhq/kc/etc. selling the same knife everyday for a lower price. Usually in those cases it's not a ton of money, the massdrop price coming in just 5-10% higher, but I've seen massdrop be as much as 20-30% over one of the big shop prices a couple of times.
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I think the serious value among Massdrop knives lives within their collaborations like the Ferrum Forge designs mentioned previously. I can’t say I’ve scrutinized their production offerings much, but I’ve eyes up some Spydercos. They seem to be at MAP for those in current production, with an opportunity for a small price reduction if you decline the offer of a free case. I presume MAP is a hard line they won’t cross.

I’ve seen a few Kizer knives offered at great prices, like half retail, only to see them pull the drop.

For some production knive offerings, I think the buyer must weigh a slight price reduction, sometimes with a shipping charge, against a delay in shipping.
 
evilgreg said:
I'm pretty sure D dirc just meant what he said:



I've seen it too. Often when you look at a production knife they have up for sale and you throw the model name to google you'll find gpk/bhq/kc/etc. selling the same knife everyday for a lower price. Usually in those cases it's not a ton of money, the massdrop price coming in just 5-10% higher, but I've seen massdrop be as much as 20-30% over one of the big shop prices a couple of times.
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Do any of the knives I mentioned support the claim of overpriced or poor value? I already conceded that off-the-shelf production knives have little to no value through MD, but I specifically asked if the lack of value extends to MD developed knives. Neither you nor he addressed my question...yet.

This thread is about a MD developed knife after all.
 
Hackenslash said:
Do any of the knives I mentioned support the claim of overpriced or poor value? I already conceded that off-the-shelf production knives have little to no value through MD, but I specifically asked if the lack of value extends to MD developed knives. Neither you nor he addressed my question...yet.

This thread is about a MD developed knife after all.
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I’m on record already asserting the value of the MD designer collaborations. I’m interested to see how the new Ferrum Forge Pro Fortis 2.0 compares to the Massdrop Ferrum Forge Crux, which is a great hard use EDC knife for the price. The new Fortis seems similar in construction and intended use, with a different blade and handle design to be sure, but at @$100 more.
 
Hackenslash said:
Do any of the knives I mentioned support the claim of overpriced or poor value? I already conceded that off-the-shelf production knives have little to no value through MD, but I specifically asked if the lack of value extends to MD developed knives. Neither you nor he addressed my question...yet.

This thread is about a MD developed knife after all.
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I'm not arguing that they have no good deals. I'm just saying I remember the early days of massdrop and they marketed the site heavily as a place you'd save money by buying as a large group (they've done away with that messaging, incidentally). For a site built around that it seems pretty shady that the "buy as a big group and save money" price is very often higher than the everyday price at major retailers. I wonder how many suckers overpay for a knife on md thinking they got a great deal . . .
 
That is certainly an interesting development. On the other hand, it's absurdly ignorant to think that Massdrop (or anyone) is going to sell a product below MAP. It's impossible.

Personally, I think their original design collaborations are well priced.
 
I see the daily email from Massdrop. I see a lot of tags for free shipping in the USA for the groups I watch.

Being in Canada of course I don't get that benefit. I do cross check pricing if I'm looking at a drop and don't panic to join. Most of the time it's less than buying on this side of the border or it's unique to them so comparisons may not work.

I can see someone with poor impulse control who likes to mash the buy it now button having issues.
 
evilgreg said:
I'm pretty sure D dirc just meant what he said:



I've seen it too. Often when you look at a production knife they have up for sale and you throw the model name to google you'll find gpk/bhq/kc/etc. selling the same knife everyday for a lower price. Usually in those cases it's not a ton of money, the massdrop price coming in just 5-10% higher, but I've seen massdrop be as much as 20-30% over one of the big shop prices a couple of times.
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With the Massdrop street price being 20% higher for a common knife, the true profit margin of their exclusive designer knives is probably quite large...they are a marketing firm that's for sure.
 
Both off the shelf production knives I purchased through Massdrop were about 20-25% cheaper than online retailers plus they offered free shipping.

The Gent was a good value as well even when factoring in the wait. No complaints from me so far.
 
Hackenslash said:
Do any of the knives I mentioned support the claim of overpriced or poor value? I already conceded that off-the-shelf production knives have little to no value through MD, but I specifically asked if the lack of value extends to MD developed knives. Neither you nor he addressed my question...yet....
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I’ll bite.

I have the three FFKW colabs. I don’t think they’re a bad value, but I don’t think they’re a great one either.

Take the Crux. With tax I paid around $135 to my door. The pocket clip is trash, so add on visit to Pop’s and I’m in $165–still with a few rough edges I mentioned in post #39.

That’s S110V PM2 money, not to mention some very good TFF Kizers, ZT0450,—or even the Spyderco Southard’s that were on closeout for $150 a bit after I took delivery <<THAT was a good deal>>

Please don’t read this as a bash. The Crux has been a solid real-life hard user for me and I like the form factor (even though I’ve been slowly migrating smaller/lighter). With eyes wide open however, I just don’t see it as the exceptional bargain it’s sometimes made out to be.

ETA Sorry, it’s not specific to the Orca, but the thread’s become a bit more broad along the way.
 
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4mer_FMF said:
I’ll bite.

I have the three FFKW colabs. I don’t think they’re a bad value, but I don’t think they’re a great one either.

Take the Crux. With tax I paid around $135 to my door. The pocket clip is trash, so add on visit to Pop’s and I’m in $165–still with a few rough edges I mentioned in post #39.

That’s S110V PM2 money, not to mention some very good TFF Kizers, ZT0450,—or even the Spyderco Southard’s that were on closeout for $150 a bit after I took delivery <<THAT was a good deal>>

Please don’t read this as a bash. The Crux has been a solid real-life hard user for me and I like the form factor (even though I’ve been slowly migrating smaller/lighter). With eyes wide open however, I just don’t see it as the exceptional bargain it’s sometimes made out to be.

ETA Sorry, it’s not specific to the Orca, but the thread’s become a bit more broad along the way.
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Valid points. I'd agree that the FFKW colabs are the low water mark for value among MD developed knives. I also think they learned a lot from those first efforts.

Right now MD needs to deal with a growing backlash of folks impatient with delivery. A month late on the Prism, 2 months late on the Eternium and maybe a year late on the Delica Super Gold has the Dropees stirred up and demanding satisfaction. MD has bungled communication so far. We'll see how this plays out.
 
We have an update on your Massdrop Made product. Production is now complete and the Massdrop x Eric Ochs Orca Titanium Liner Lock Knives have arrived at our warehouse.
During quality control checks, we noticed that some of the blades were not sharpened at the same angle completely through the heel of the blade where it meets the choil. To make sure that every blade meets our expectations, and those of Eric Ochs and most importantly all of you who have been waiting patiently, we have shipped all of the knives to Eric’s workshop in Oregon. Mike Jones, our Product Lead for Blades collaborations, will be joining Eric next week to help with unpacking and the inspection of every item. Then Eric will be personally sharpening any blade that needs to be touched up.
Because of this, we’re tracking behind our original estimated ship date and now expect to begin shipping these items in early March, as soon as they return to the warehouse.
We apologize for the delay. If you prefer not to wait the additional time, you can cancel your order on your transactions page
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Nice. I'm cool with this.
 
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