Zero Tolerance 0301 first impressions

puukkoman said:
See, that's just the thing... After handling both, my impression is that they're on a par with one another as far as sturdy-ness is concerned. They're both well heat treated steel, titanium frame lock, G-10 slab, strong-as-heck hardware, and the ZT has a liner under the G-10. What makes you say that the Strider is sturdier? Just the strong blade tip design?
Not trying to be critical, just chattin'.
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Mostly the blade because it's a lot thicker, noticeably so too. The G10 on the Strider is a lot thicker and it's ONE PIECE, the Ti is also noticeably thicker and the so is the frame lock.

In truth I really don't think you can hurt either one of these blades even under very hard use.

Holding them both in my hand I would have to give the nudge to the Strider, but then it's my opinion. :)
 
jill jackson said:
I can't see these knives that cost 400 and up as being so much better, myself. The ones I've handled just didn't seem worth twice the money, IMO.
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Striders are Custom knives so that really does drive up the cost.
 
Ankerson said:
Mostly the blade because it's a lot thicker, noticeably so too. The G10 on the Strider is a lot thicker and it's ONE PIECE, the Ti is also noticeably thicker and the so is the frame lock.
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Ahhh, that's what I was wondering.

Ankerson said:
In truth I really don't think you can hurt either one of these blades even under very hard use.
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Me neither. Really well-built tools.

Ankerson said:
Holding them both in my hand I would have to give the nudge to the Strider, but then it's my opinion. :)
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I'd have to spend more time with a Strider to make that call, personally, since I don't already have one of my own and have only handled one a couple times.

Good discussion so far! :)
:thumbup: :thumbup:
 
puukkoman said:
Ahhh, that's what I was wondering.


Me neither. Really well-built tools.


I'd have to spend more time with a Strider to make that call, personally, since I don't already have one of my own and have only handled one a couple times.

Good discussion so far! :)
:thumbup: :thumbup:
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It is. :)

That was my problem too, I didn't spend enough time with a Strider for a long time then I really got to use one for awhile. The quality and strength really jumps out at you, and they are Custom knives. :thumbup:

All I could think was man I really need to get a few of these for sure. :D
 
puukkoman said:
Ahhh, that's what I was wondering.


Me neither. Really well-built tools.


I'd have to spend more time with a Strider to make that call, personally, since I don't already have one of my own and have only handled one a couple times.

Good discussion so far! :)
:thumbup: :thumbup:
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From a collector standpoint the Strider is head and shoulders above the ZT line. Even my used SnG brought 90% of its original cost at resale.:thumbup:

Nobody'd want my used and abused 302; I'd be lucky to get 100 bucks for it and happy to get 50 (if it were for sale).

According to Ankerson, my old SnG was 3.5oz lighter than my 302. That's pretty significant weight savings. 3.5oz = a metric ton over a 2 day hike.

My point is/was performance-wise the 300-series and the Strider folders are neck and neck in my experience.
 
puukkoman said:
Ahhh, that's what I was wondering.


Me neither. Really well-built tools.


I'd have to spend more time with a Strider to make that call, personally, since I don't already have one of my own and have only handled one a couple times.

Good discussion so far! :)
:thumbup: :thumbup:
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Here are 2 photos of what I ment.



 
Ahhh, now I see what you mean. You don't think the additional liner is worth the weight-to-strength trade-off? I guess I don't really know whether I think it matters after all, considering how some knives that are renowned for their toughness (original model Spyderco Military, for ex.) didn't have any metal in the handle on one side.
 
puukkoman said:
Ahhh, now I see what you mean. You don't think the additional liner is worth the weight-to-strength trade-off? I guess I don't really know whether I think it matters after all, considering how some knives that are renowned for their toughness (original model Spyderco Military, for ex.) didn't have any metal in the handle on one side.
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I don't really know, but I would have used solid G10 personally, it would have been lighter, but the cost would be higher. I really doubt it matters as the ZT0300 series are excellent folders made from great materials at very high quality standards.
 
jill jackson said:
I can't see these knives that cost 400 and up as being so much better, myself. The ones I've handled just didn't seem worth twice the money, IMO.
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Unfortunately I believe that this is true in most cases. The sad thing is that that extra $ goes to being able to say its a strider. This is where Knifetests.com comes in handy to see if a knife is truly that much tougher for the money. Personally for $400 I'd rather have a real custom, that I commissioned, built to my specs, or with exotic materials. It's a hard sell to say that the strider is really worth an extra $200 when its the same materials. The addition of the liner on the 0301 would even add toughness IMHO.
 
coldblooded357 said:
Unfortunately I believe that this is true in most cases. The sad thing is that that extra $ goes to being able to say its a strider. This is where Knifetests.com comes in handy to see if a knife is truly that much tougher for the money. Personally for $400 I'd rather have a real custom, that I commissioned, built to my specs, or with exotic materials. It's a hard sell to say that the strider is really worth an extra $200 when its the same materials. The addition of the liner on the 0301 would even add toughness IMHO.
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To get a commissioned folder approaching the toughness of the ZT or Strider as you stated you would be spending a lot more than $400 for it I can tell you.

Striders are Customs and are hand made, ground ect.
 
Ankerson said:
Striders are Custom knives so that really does drive up the cost.
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No... *custom* Striders are custom knives, and production Striders are production knives. Quality and uniqueness of design are two completely different concepts. There are plenty of crap-quality custom knives, and there are production knives of significantly greater quality than many, if not most customs.
 
coldblooded357 said:
Unfortunately I believe that this is true in most cases. The sad thing is that that extra $ goes to being able to say its a strider. This is where Knifetests.com comes in handy to see if a knife is truly that much tougher for the money. Personally for $400 I'd rather have a real custom, that I commissioned, built to my specs, or with exotic materials. It's a hard sell to say that the strider is really worth an extra $200 when its the same materials. The addition of the liner on the 0301 would even add toughness IMHO.
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Authorship has value. It's generally up to the author to establish that value; and then the market responds.

If you don't value authorship, then don't pay for it. It gets to be a slippery slope though, when you start trying to reduce all value to tangible cost. Personally, I think that is very cynical and short-sighted.

Strider has set prices for its folders that are on the high side, but not out of line with the comparables. People are obviously willing to pay those prices, and the Strider products hold their value pretty well on the secondary market.
 
I think the ZT 0301 is stronger then the SNG because of the liner, G10 is not that strong as G10 with a liner.

I owned the SNG and i don't think it is worth the extra mony, mine was also not that good with a very sticky frame lock you couldn't close with 1 hand.
If you want the strength of the SNG and the build quality of the ZT and have the money for it get a Hinderer XM-18.
 
Ankerson said:
To get a commissioned folder approaching the toughness of the ZT or Strider as you stated you would be spending a lot more than $400 for it I can tell you.

Striders are Customs and are hand made, ground ect.
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I have to agree with the others..... custom Striders are customs....regular Striders are...well, regular production line Striders seeing as how the "makers" have almost nothing in the day to day. They really don't even qualify Midtech IMO.

As for the $400 dollar quip in your quote.... I'd say there are quite a few makers that would take offense to that. When you figure in production Strider levels of F&F.....you'd likely be getting a better knife from a newer maker like WDZ in the $250 to $300 range. I don't know how you figure you dollar values, but, when you take away the Strider name any maker worth their salt can make a quality framelock folder for less. S30V, G10, titanium, heat treat and quality hardware doesn't add up to anywhere near $400 and the framelock in the beginners model for folder makers (not alot of parts, not alot of time involved and almost e/t can be water-jetted or CNC milled).

Oh, yeah..... I love ZT0300s too.... ;):D
 
I just got a sharpmaker yesterday, I've touched up almost all of my blades today except my 0301, what angles should I use? 30 or 40 degrees inclusive?
Thanks in advance!
 
Strider knives are of extremely high quality, and the hand finishing and fitting contributes to this quality.However unless a knife's design and materials are tailored to the end user's specification, it is not a true custom. This is true for any product.

That being said, i think that the Zero Tolerance knives use the highest quality materials and modern manufacturing techniques to provide a comparable knife to a Strider.

I personally have yet to pull the trigger on a new ZT 0300, but i'm sure a little longer on this forum and i will have one on order :-).

Has anyone managed to disable the assisted opening feature on the 0300 series knives? Did the knife still operate well as a manual? I've never been a huge fan of AO knives, but I've been wanting an 0300 since i first held one.
 
everydaycarry said:
-snip!-

Has anyone managed to disable the assisted opening feature on the 0300 series knives? Did the knife still operate well as a manual? I've never been a huge fan of AO knives, but I've been wanting an 0300 since i first held one.
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Personally, I don't think the speed safe on the 0300 series is all that speedy. Don't get me wrong, it opens with authority and that big blade snaps right into it's locked postion pretty quickly, but it's not as fast as most AO knives in my opinion. Before you go trying to remove/disengage the opening system, I would suggest carrying one for a week and seeing what you think then. I really don't see it working as well as a 100% manual opening folder.
 
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