Brand:                                   Schnitzmesser von Herbertz (C. Jul. Herbertz GmbH)

Model:                                   B25

Blade/handle:                       Damascus – high carbon steel / Bone

Length:                                  19.7cm (7.76 inches)

Blade:                                    8.3cm (3.27 inches)

Lock mechanism:                Walker - Liner lock

Sellor:                                    Aliexpress - $13.29 (registered shipping included)

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-7-Bone-Handle-High-carbon-stainless-Handmade-Damascus-Custom-Forged-Steel-Pocket-Folding-Knife-B25/676369446.html

So what’s all the fuss about this so-called Damascus steel besides the noticeably swirl design in the steel itself?  Let’s take a look at an excerpt from Wikipedia.

Damascus steel was a type of steel used in South Asian and Middle Eastern sword-making.  Damascus steel was created from wootz steel, a steel developed in India around 300 BC.  These swords are characterized by distinctive patterns of banding and mottling reminiscent of flowing water. Such blades were reputed to be tough, resistant to shattering and capable of being honed to a sharp, resilient edge.

The original method of producing Damascus steel is not known. Because of differences in raw materials and manufacturing techniques, modern attempts to duplicate the metal have not been entirely successful. Despite this, several individuals in modern times have claimed that they have rediscovered the methods in which the original Damascus steel was produced.

The reputation and history of Damascus steel has given rise to many legends, such as the ability to cut through a rifle barrel or to cut a hair falling across the blade, but no evidence exists to support such claims.

So with that out of the way let’s get down to business.  I’ll try to keep an open mind and give an unbiased opinion about this $13 pocket knife.

Design:  3 out of 5 grape sodas

There’s nothing to “toot” about here.  It a very common bow design and it just works.

The curves of the handle is very comfortable in the hands especially with the bone material and can accommodate someone with bigger sized hands.  With the blade closed, the knife measures at 11.4 cm long (4.5 inches).

This knife sports a liner lock to keep the blade locked in the open position.  There is no play in the mechanism while locked.

If you notice, there is no clip or ring where you can attach a lanyard.

The thumb stud is also a little too close to the handle.  I find that I have to press a little harder to get it open.  I may replace it with a taller stud.  Going to discount it big time because of it.

The bone material as well as the pitted looking metal gives it an antique look.  With the blade fully extended, the distinctive patterns of the Damascus steel goes very well with the rest of the knife.

Build Quality:  3 out of 5 grape sodas

Rough but tough look.  All the components look and feel like they were not well made at first glance and look like it’s a used knife that has been put through its paces through the years.  After a closer look, you noticed that it’s not as bad as you think.  The metal is well machined and moving parts look sturdy and durable.  I am hesitant to compare this knife with any of the others I have.  It’s sold as a “handmade” which I won’t dispute the fact that it might.

I haven’t disassembled the knife yet however I am already planning on replacing the low friction plastic washer at the axis of the folding mechanism with a stainless steel metal washer.

Blade:  ? out of 5 grape sodas

What can I say?  The molting steel reminiscent of flowing water design was the reason I bought this knife.  Is it a quality steel?  Who knows.

Initial swipes on a metal file showed obvious damage to the cutting edge however not more than my $60 Spyderco Black Delica 4 which houses a VG-10 blade.

I’ll update this review once I had a chance to polish the blade surface and sharpen the edge.  It’s always easier for me to tell the quality of the metal when I sharpen it.

Conclusion:

It’s a $13 knife.  Get over it.  Once I polish this thing up it’ll probably be a shelf queen, looking pretty and pulled out kicking and screaming for a good romp on a full-moon night!

Not owning an SL3 or JM26 light, but owning several larger lights in need of a holster I purchased this holster http://intl-outdoor.com/sl3jm26-flashlight-holster-p-657.html,to see if it would serve my purpose.

The holster itself appears to be made from a very sturdy nylon material with a softer lining. Almost like a very thin layer of wet suit material. All the edges have a reinforcing piping around the edges. This will also stop fraying.

The plastic loop is made from a very hard plastic material and should last the life of the holster. All the seams are very neatly sewn with only a very few loose threads. Nothing to worry about on my sample.The velcro appears to grip very well and also should last a long time.

The name suggests that this is for 26650 sized lights but 18650 lights with a big head fit fine in this holster as well.

The only fault I have with the holster is that the flap could be about 30mm longer with a longer piece of velcro to suit so that lights with a taller a fatter head will also fit in this holster. If you look at the first picture on the website you can see what I mean. The velcro is only just gripping. A longer flap would solve this and make it far more universal.

To sum up I'm giving this holster a 9 out of 10. If it had the longer flap this would get a solid 10.

Front.

Rear.

Flap width.

Side view.

A 34mm diameter tailcap will fit through comfortable. Any bigger than 37mm will be getting tight.

Lights tested are from left to right. Defiant ArmorMax 3C without the rubber buffers fitted, Trustfire TR-3T6, C8, HD2010, and finally my all time favorite light name, Dream Trip.

First up is the C8. Can you see it?

Secondly the HD2010. 63mm bezel, 24mm tailcap. This fits real nice.

Thirdly. Wait for it, the Dream Trip. 58mm bezel, 35mm cigar grip.

Fourthly the Trustfire TR 3T6. 55mm head, 50mm heat sink. From the end of the bezel to the opposite end of the heat sink is 65mm. The flap is to short to attach with this light. Tailcap fits no problem.

And finally the Defiant AmorMax 3C. This fits fine.

Hank from IOS has just sent me a picture showing the XinTD X3 also fits comfortably in this holster.

Review: Ganzo G704

Model: Ganzo G704

Brand: Ganzo

Lock mechanism: Axis lock

Opening mechanism: Thumb studs or axis lock flip

Steel: 440C (claimed)

Scales: G10

Color: Black

Pocket clip: Tip up, left or right side carry

Vendor:FastTech

Price: $15.07

Hi everyone, this is my review of the Ganzo G704 axis lock folding knife. 

First, we have the basics. As summarized above, this is a folding knife with an axis lock (Benchmade's technology). It's size can be described as regular, but slightly shorter than the EL-01 by 0.8mm or the EL-04  by 0.3mm when folded. 

Here is the folded length:

And here is the open length:

The grip is pretty good, and the G10 scales have a nice texture that provides support, especially when your hands are slippery. The index finger nicely rests on the bump. 

Here is a close up of the scales:

The knife weighs 150. grams, is feels solid in the hand:

Here is a top view of the gimping:

The gimping is pretty aggressive and provides an impressive amount of traction against your thumb. 

However, one disadvantage is that it's pretty hard to clean since it's so rough, and as you can see, it has collected a bit of dust as well as rust due to the humid weather in Korea. 

The pocket clip is very tight, and it needs a lot of force to lift. That means it will stay secure in your pocket, but it might damage the clothing. 

It's also reversible left and right.

The blade came decently sharp out of the factory, and the manufacturer claims the steel is 440C, but there have been some comments that it's actually not. However, I'm not so sure either. I have some decent paper cutting, cardboard cutting, and letter cutting, and the blade has held its edge pretty well. 

Here are some successive shots of the process of opening the knife:

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Overall, I think this is a well designed knife. It has a minimalistic design that makes it very simple and easy to use. The axis lock is smooth and works well, and all of the small details such as the gimping and the G10 scales add to the functionality of the knife. It's not the most sleek looking tool, but it's one of the most functional folding knife. 

Thanks for looking!

This is intended to be a quick photo review with some thoughts and comments mixed in.

I’ll start by saying these are most certainly fakes, and I don’t much care for the ‘Strider’ branding on them. But they are amazing knives for 10 bucks, and I bought them planning to strip the paint off of them and maybe make a couple Kydex sheaths. I have seen a similar knockoff to one of these for about $5 on Amazon, but the sheaths that come with the Fasttech versions are almost worth $10 in their own rite.

Both versions come in a high quality sheath with lots of attachment loops and a firesteel pocket, which I have yet to test.

The sheaths are a little rough around the edges but high quality.

Yeah. Don’t like the logo on the sheath either. I have to figure out what to do about it since I may or may not keep these sheaths.

They both come wrapped fairly decently in paracord. Certainly better than I could do it, since I’m a noob.

Both these knives look to be about a quarter inch thick! The drop point version is tapered, but the Tanto version keeps its width down most of the spine. These knives look to as robust in my hands as they do in the pictures.

They look to be absolutely indestructible. These are Chinese steel, so I can only imagine what the real ones are like. In fact, I’ve been looking at buying the drop point version someday soon at about $300. But I couldn’t imagine being able to damage anything but the edge on these knockoffs.

This one is my favorite, since I’m not a huge fan of Tanto style blades. It’s got a pretty good feel—good ergonomics, even holding it choked up.

The fit and finish is decent—probably a little better than it needs to be since if this isn’t a beater knife, I don’t know what is.

Mine came with a decent edge on it—nothing special. I probably won’t sharpen them until I figure out what I’m going to do with them.

Hopefully the picture does the knife justice for what an amazing value it is for 10 bucks. At least the same amount of the value as Fasttech’s Buck 480, which I also bought and plan on reviewing here.

It’s the width of a Becker BK2 for one fifth the price, though the Ka-Bar uses much better steel. Either way, these things are beasts.

The paracord wrap looks good, but again, I’m no expert. I wonder what someone like Stormdrane would have to say about it. But it looks good to me, and it’s not too loose or anything. And the paracord looks to be of decent quality.


I do not like the ‘Strider’ logo one bit, and if I didn’t think I stood a good chance of stripping it off wouldn’t have bought it. I’m totally OK with copies, but I don’t like seeing another company’s name if there’s pretty much no chance they can be authentic, unlike the Buck 480 which may or may not be authentic.

My wife thinks the tiger stripe paint looks cool, but I think it would look much better stripped and either polished or maybe with a forced patina on it.

The Tanto version is nice, too. It’s a little more compact but a little heavier since it’s not tapered as much as the drop point version. It came with a decent edge as well, and the same fit and finish.


The Tanto version feels even more robust. I wonder what it would take to kill one! Other than maybe breaking off the tip or possibly rolling the edge both of these are effectively indestructible pry-bars.

These are both amazing values for $10, though I’m hesitant to buy more of them until I figure out how to de-badge them. If having the Strider logo doesn’t bother you, then these look to be top notch survival knives in the same ballpark as their made in the USA counterparts like the Ka-Bar Becker series.

I’ve been on this mission to buy all the fixed blades I like at Fasttech, and these three finish off the list for me. Unlike the Strider copies, I’m not so sure that some are all of these are fakes.

Both the 480 and 009 at the top have passable sheaths except for the fact that they have loose straps, rendering the sheaths almost completely useless. The good news is that the straps can be fixed with some needlework, though they wouldn’t look good afterward. I still plan on someday making my own Kydex sheaths, and when that day comes, I’ll have a box full of knives to practice on!

The 860 on the bottom has a plastic sheath with a whistle on the end. The sheath fits well except for being a little loose. It rattles a little when I carry in my pocket, which is a deal breaker for carrying stuff in my pocket.

The 009 on the top is beautiful but poorly constructed. I would only use it for light duty, such as food prep for camping. The 480 below it is the gem of the bunch. And the 860 on the bottom is a neat little knife.

When you hand this 480 to someone, they will see it’s a quality knife. Well, if it doesn’t fall out of the sheath and stick into their foot. But seriously, all things considered, this is about the most knife you can get for 9 dollars.

Taking it out of the sheath, it looks beautiful. Did I mention this was the gem of my FT purchase?

Not much to criticize as far as fit and finish goes. Here you can see a small flaw in the wood where the screw holes were drilled. But I didn’t notice it until I saw it in the pictures. Other than that, it looks and feels like a much more expensive knife.

I really like the shape of the drop point blade, and it appears to be well constructed.

Here you can see the full tang construction. Again, very impressive for the price point.

Here is last flaw I could find: Some flaws in the way the jimping is cut. It looks like they did a poor job of it with a rotary tool by hand— who knows.

The handle is beautiful polished wood-looking substance which fooled me into thinking it was real wood.

This shot shows a good example of the level of fit and finish on this knife. Again, and at the risk of repeating myself, very impressive.

I really like the big belly on this drop point blade.

Blade thickness is close to ideal for a camp knife I plan on abusing.

Certain aspects of the fit and finish are just fantastic.

The fit and finish on the sheath is very good too, except for being useless with the loose strap.

The 009 is a good looking knife. I didn’t realize how poorly constructed it was until somebody here at BLF pointed it out to me, but oh well, it looks nice. And I still say it would make a fine light duty camp knife. It has what I can only call a “no tang construction” where there’s a metal hook between the blade and butt of the knife.

The handle is awesome on this knife. It has almost perfect ergonomics, which makes it a shame that that the design is so flawed.

The blade is also an ideal shape for a camp knife.

Here’s the problem. As you can see, the blade does not go contiguously into the handle.

This knife has a great look and feel. If someone wouldn’t have pointed out how much it sucks, I might have continued to believe that this was a nice knife. I guess I should just stick to knives which are obviously full tang, like the 480.

Below is the 860. Notice that it says “USA” on it. Yeah, doubt it. It’s got a decent sheath, too, other than the little bit of rattle. It comes with a split ring and mini-carabiner, which I took off.

Overall it’s not a bad little knife, if you can get past some of what I doubt are truthful words on it like “USA” and “S30V”. What’s funny is that Buck does make a cheaper version of this knife, which is also stamped “USA” even though most of their cheaper knives are stamped with “China”. I don’t know where it’s made, but just some food for thought.

It’s a decently constructed little neck knife. If it didn’t rattle in my pocket, I’d try to EDC it for a week. So it’ll probably go in my glove box.

Well that’s it for the FT Bucks! I’m glad I found the 480 which is the gem of the bunch. I will probably give a few away as gifts for the holidays. Hope you enjoy the photos, and sorry, I forgot to crop the last two.

Ok folks this is my first budget (or any) knife review. Gearbest sent me this sample for review, and it’s my first experience with a Sanrenmu knife. While I understand that steel is a big part of the allure of nicer knives, this Sanrenmu Plus 4077 with it’s “stainless steel” blade made me realize that budget stainless steel knife still can be made with a lot of care and quality. Oh and the blade length is 1.65in according to the specs or 1.75 according to my measurements.

I have paid much more for a stainless steel blade CRKT and Gerber, when really it seems the price premium in those knives really wasn’t worth it. Sometimes one needs a knife for beating up, and real EDC use- and this knife is really a no-brainer for the price. Great for warehouse work, or corporate show production work like I do. You can’t beat the value really.

http://goo.gl/zQHzRh

Anyway check out my video review. It’s shot like my flashlight videos- so no table top stuff- but it’s still about as exciting as a video about a knife can be. I kept right at 5 minutes and there’s no crappy music. It’s fast paced with many many nice super macro shots of the detail found in this cool little knife. Watch it in full screen 1080p to experience all it’s detail. I get no kickback from this whatsoever- other than I got to keep my review sample- which at $8 I would have easily purchased it.

So subscribe to my channel to help me out! If you think this knife looks cool, buy it and gearbest might send me another. If you think it’s not for you- I still appreciate your support. Any constructive feedback is welcome- as always. I watched several knife reviews before doing this, so I tried to include relevant info. If there’s something missing, please let me know so I consider it for my next review. Ok, I’m done rambling.

Hi, BLF. This is my third knife review- but the 1st time I’ve reviewed a dedicated Ganzo Pocket Knife. This is a pretty new model and here is one of the first full reviews for it. The basics: It uses the usual budget 440C stee, has a FRN handle, a full liner, and an axis lock. It’s a little shorter than my Endura 4 and has a deep pocket clip- which you can easily see in the review. In fact had I purchased a budget folder before my Endura 4, I might be a bit disappointed. But it really comes down to blade steel really, 44C vs VG-10.

So I carried it, played with it, tested it, and shot a bunch of footage with my camera- like usual. It’s super sharp right out of the box, and it the edge held up well during my testing. It’s a slightly larger folder, with a 3.2 inch blade, so keep that in mind. Long term testing will see how well the edge holds up to abuse and daily cutting activities. The review is about 5 minutes and shot with my Black Magic Pocket Cinema camera, in crystal clear 1080p. Make sure you choose the option on YouTube.

Gearbest provided me 3 Ganzo folders for review. I have the 722 and 7212 coming up, and have coupon codes for all of them. This one works out to be 10.59 with the code with is “GBG724M”. I don’t know if you have to use the link they gave me, but here it is. It’s not affiliate.

http://goo.gl/URdaax

If you’d like codes for the other two knives just PM me- otherwise they’ll be released with my reviews in a week or two. I think the 722 is about 16.99 after coupon and the 7212 is 13.99.

Thanks everyone- hit me up with any questions.

Ok folks- I apologize if you’re getting Ganzo fatigue. I think I might be too. I only have one more coming up for a while, the 7212. For now check out the Ganzo G722 frame locking folder. Ganzo uses 440C stainless in this fine specimen (like the others I’ve reviewed). It’s by far my heaviest pocket knife, and I was pretty impressed with it’s size and weight when I first opened the box.

Surely there’s something that needs to be hacked up to put it through the paces? Fear not- I forgo-ed the paper and card board stuff this time and wailed on a small shrub growing up against my fence. While an axe or machete would have made much shorter work of it- I wanted to see how well it held an edge. Spoiler alert: it’s still hair shaving sharp afterward.

Anyway the video is short, and there’s some nice macros of the blade AFTER I chopped the bush and cut up some sticks. Ganzo doesn’t state what the blade profile is, but looking at the close-ups, is it a flat ground? I think so, but correct me if I’m wrong. Anyway the blade is still razor sharp and won’t need to be sharpened for some time, in fact I used it as a steak knife last night. I think a few other people already have this knife, and it seems like it’s a winner all around. Feel free to chime in if you have it. Ganzo says the 440C has an HRC 58, which I think I forgot to mention in my review.

Anyway this was provided by review from Gear Best, and the knife is available for $16.99 until September 30th with the coupon code: GBG722. They provided me with the following link to use. I have no idea if it’s necessary or not. http://goo.gl/cRxr90 But it’s not affiliate with me, and I get no monetary compensation from it.

As most of my reviews, I shot this with my Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera, which shoots amazing video, and is easy to use. Most of my lenses are cheap 35mm vintage MF lenses, and some C-Mount lenses too. Without further ado, check out this beast of a knife and visit my blog if you’re bored.

Hey BLF. I promise not to bug anyone with more Ganzo reviews for a while. This is my 4th Ganzo knife review in about 2 weeks, and I’m finally done. This is for the nice Ganzo G7212 stainless steel blade folder.

I don’t have much experience with this style of knife, other than I’ve held a few gas station cheapies in my life and none come close to the quality of the G7212. It has a nice solid action, and it’s made from top notch materials. It’s not as sharp as the G724M or the G722 out of the box, but it’s still serviceable.

Like the other Ganzo blades I’ve reviewed, this one is a flat ground and made from the usual 440C heat treated steel with rated at an HRC 58. The review is short and sweet at right under 4 minutes- making it super duper easy to watch. It’s done in the same style as all of my other reviews and it was shot with my Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera.

Anyway, here you go.

If you didn’t see them, check out my reviews for the G203, G722, and G724M. This knife is available from Gear Best for $13.99 with the coupon code: GBG7212 This knife was provided by review from Gear Best. Thanks for watching!

A couple months ago, a shady company I no longer have dealings with sent me a box of knives, and lately I’ve been trying to work through my review backlog, so this is a review for the Ganzo G720. You can find the full review here on my blog.

Description: This is a very large EDC pocket knife, one of the largest and heaviest I’ve held in my hands. It ticks all the check boxes: G10 scales, axis style lock, tip-up deep carry clip, and even what looks like a glass breaker on the butt of the knife which also serves as the mounting screw for the clip. The steel is 440C Chinese steel, with a slightly harder steel than 8Cr13MoV. And this model has steel in abundance at over 7 ounces!

Below you can see this is a large knife. I’ve always thought the Spyderco Tenacious was big, but this dwarfs even the Tenacious and even the G704, which is also a large knife.

Construction: This is a well built knife, though my sample came with an edge that wasn’t ground very well, which contributed to the nick my friend put in the edge. But other than that, this knife is well constructed—it’s a tank. It’s a good design and good implementation. The G10 material is well done and everything about this sample looks solid.

Blade: My friend is a martial artist, and he took an instant liking to this knife. But after a few minutes of playing with it, he had already taken a nick out of the blade with a knife strike to a wood post. Chinese steel is a bit soft for that level of abuse, but if the edge was ground right, it might not have rolled the edge and made a nick, and I would be reporting how much abuse it stood up to. But I can’t really fault the knife for the ridiculous abuse my friend put it through.

Notice below that the blade on my review sample is perfectly centered. This is one of my pet peeves, so I appreciate their attention to detail.

Clip: Ganzo really gets clips. The G720 has a deep carry clip that is configured tip-up right out of the box. They understand what enthusiasts want. But it gets even better, because the clip and screws look to be of decent quality, which is even rare on knives costing several times more. Though it can’t be configured for tip-down carry due to the clip being mounted to the end of the handle, it can be moved to left-hand carry at least.

Lock: This model features an axis-style lock. It’s well made and solid, but it’s a little too solid. It’s very stiff to move the lock to open or close the knife. I’ve been told by a couple people that it takes some time to break in, but it still seems a little excessive. But other than that, it locks up fine.

Conclusions: Did I mention this thing is huge? It’s almost a half pound, as you can see below. It’s way to big for me to EDC, but my friend really likes it. It was hard getting it back from him long enough to take photos of. He said the lock is getting a little easier. All I know is that it hurt my hand after a few minutes of playing with the lock. But I know lots of guys that like heavier knives, like the Kershaw Swerve.

All things considered, this seems to be a very good value for 17 bucks, as long as you like your pocket knives on the gigantic side. If you do, then you will like this knife.

I’m currently working my way through reviewing a box of knives that a shady company I no longer have dealings with sent me a couple months ago. I’ve been really busy, and they’ve been really patient.

This review is for the Sanrenmu Plus 4077 EDC pocket knife. The full review can be found here on my blog.

Product Desription

This is a budget slip-joint pocket knife with an interesting design. I do believe this is an authentic SRM but there are clues to the contrary, or at least enough differences from other SRMs I have owned, where I was initially suspicious. It’s on the smallish side at about 2 1/2 ounces, and while I couldn’t find the type of steel used, there’s a short list of Chinese steels it could be made of.

Construction

The 4077 is constructed of a steel skeleton, with a layer of plastic, and then a layer of what looks like brass on the outside. The construction is very good overall, which is the main reason I believe it to be authentic.

The scales are/were shiny brass-like. I believe any scratches you see below are from normally carrying it.

Clip

It has a carabiner style clip hanging off the tail end of the knife. The wire clip latch (gate?) is under tension and acts as a typical carabiner. It’s functional and has a good feel, but it snapped off when I was playing with it, and went flying off. So, it’s fine to clip to a belt loop but not fine to trust your physical safety to, which should go without saying for a 7 dollar pocket knife.

(“Oops”)

Blade

It’s a typical drop point blade with the typical hollow grind, made of mystery steel. The blade is very well done. It’s very well machined, and like my other Sanrenmus, has a factory edge that puts even some USA knives to shame. Contrast this to some of the Ganzos, which are beautiful but they can’t seem to get them sharp at the factory.

The blade is everything I want and expect from Sanrenmu. It has less than 2 inches of blade surface, so this is a small blade for an EDC. I didn’t look at them side by side, but I’m guessing a Spyderco Ladybug or Manbug would have about the same size blade.

Locking Mechanism

The only locking mechanism on this knife is your imagination. There is however a detent that at least holds the knife open. Which also makes the knife a little awkward to close, but it’s no big deal.

Lanyard

I’m not sure I see the point in the lanyard attachment, since the knife has a carabiner clip that already takes up a good portion of the handle size.

It even has what looks like either machining to keep the lanyard securely in place, or a botched attempt to make a hex wrench like some of the keychain tools have. I’m not likely to use it, so it’s all the same to me. Either way, it should function fine with a paracord lanyard.

Weights and Measures

Usability

It’s a little small but feels good in my hand. The scales are polished, but that doesn’t affect the grip much. This is probably a good choice for someone living in the UK, where they can only carry a non-locking pocket knife.

I’ve carried this knife clipped to the outside of my blue jeans belt loop, and it carries well and looks good. It’s a little heavy to ride freely in my pocket, though. But all things considered, this is a decent EDC knife if the lack of lock isn’t a deal breaker for you.

Conclusions

The clip is flimsy, and I would pretty much only EDC a slip joint knife like this if I lived in the UK. But having said that, overall this knife is extremely well executed (minus the clip) and the build quality / fit and finish are on par with any Sanrenmu knife I’ve ever held in my hands. It has some of the best precision machining I’ve seen on a budget knife.

I’ve been pushing to clear a backlog of reviews, so here is a review for the Ganzo G704, provided by a shady company I no longer have dealings with.

This is such a popular knife, and there are so many good reviews out there, that my review almost seems redundant. But hey, they did send it to me for review, so I’ll do my best. You can catch my full review here on my blog. This one is $12.99 if the coupon is still good.

Product Description

This is an EDC style pocket knife that seems designed from the “ground up” to appeal to pocket knife enthusiasts like myself. It seems like everything about this knife is made to be appealing. It has striking looks, but it would be a short review if were all looks. This is a serious knife.

• Drop point blade
• 440C Chinese steel
• Axis style lock
• G10 Scales
• Tip-up deep carry clip

First Impressions

They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, but this one didn’t really speak to me at first. I thought it was a little bulky for EDC, and I wasn’t sure I liked the color. Someone told me “you can find where you drop it if it’s orange!” but I don’t drop my pocket knives.

So it sat there, unloved, last in line for review. But it started growing on me—even the color. And it carries very well for its bulk just because the clip is so good. The more time I spent with this knife, the more I appreciated it and understood why it’s so popular.

Build Quality

This is a well made knife. Ganzo hears the people. I see that with almost every aspect of this knife. I hate the case screws, but I pretty much hate all case screws on all knives. At least they are chromed, though as always, I wish they just spent the .00000001 of a cent to put decent screws in it.

Other than a few of the screws, the build quality is a fantastic execution of a good design. And they are liberal with the steel and with the G10. Sorry, I botched a couple of the photos below and the scales look off color. The orange is perfect in person. I would normally retake the bad photos but the new owner of the knife looks at it like it’s his precious, so I just said “Yeah, keep it.”

Fit And Finish

An enthusiast’s knife with a dull blade out of the box. It’s OK, I’m used to it. Enthusiasts can sharpen their knives, but it’s still a little annoying, especially given how good the rest of the knife is. And the rest of the knife is good. The machining, G10, axis style lock; it’s all there.

Blade

The blade uses the slightly harder 440C, so that’s a nice step up from the usual 8Cr13MoV, which I get tired of typing, so that’s good. Hollow grind—check. Good geometry—check. Liberal jimping on spine—check. Perfect centering—check. Uniform edge—oops. The blade also has a lot of belly, which I like for EDC.

I hold no illusions that Chinese steel is well suited for ultra-hard use, as witnessed by the martial arts knife strike to a wooden post my friend did with the G720 that rolled the edge. But I predict it will stand to just about anything short of that. That’s why I’ve been a big fan of Chinese knives: If you can tell the difference between a budget knife and one with high end steel, then most of the time you are using it wrong. This blade is very suited to EDC use. It’s “swedged” on top making it more of a spear point style. It’s probably Ok for self defense if you have an interest in that sort of thing, though I don’t personally think that knives make good self defense weapons. But it’s another plus if you do.

Handle

The orange G10 has grown on me. I think it’s beautiful. I botched a few of the photos of it, but it really comes out in a couple of the photos. It looks good, it’s cut perfectly and it has texturing similar to a couple of my classic EDC favorites like the Kearshaw Skyline. It’s about as good as I’ve seen done on a budget knife.

Locking Mechanism

This model uses an axis style lock. It’s too tight for me, but I hear it loosens up over time. It’s loosened up a little, but it’s still too tight. But they did a good job on it. The knife deploys smooth and locks up like a boss. One thing the friend I gave this knife to specifically liked was the fact that this type of lock holds the blade closed, too.

Deep Carry Clip

The clip comes configured out of the box for tip-up, right-handed carry. It can be moved for lefties, but not for tip down, which is fine by me. Normally I hate every clip on every pocket knife, but this one gets my respect. Tip-up, deep carry— most have that. But this clip is well built. It’s even chromed! The shape is almost perfect. It’s a little tight, but it’s not ridiculous tight like a couple of my Kershaws that have ripped my pants taking my knife out to open a package.

Usability

It carries well, deploys smoothly and looks good. That’s pretty much a wrap for what I look for in a pocket knife. It’s a little heavy to replace my precious Delica, which weighs 2.3 ounces, or the Native at 2.6 ounces (with S30V steel!) but it carries extremely well for its weight. People who like more beefy, heavy knives will like the G704. The weight is also the price you pay for how robust it is, which is what I like about the Tenacious, in one of the above photos.

Weights And Measures

It’s not a petite knife, but it’s not ridiculous, either. The way it carries with the deep carry clip makes it feel a little lighter than it is.

Conclusions

Just like with the G720, a friend who uses a pocket knife as part of his job was instantly fixated on it and said “DUDE THAT’S MY PERFECT KNIFE” and so I gave it to him. Knives that come dull are one of my pet peeves. Yeah I can sharpen it, but that’s like giving me dishes where I have fire in kiln before using them.

But it’s hard to stay mad at Ganzo, because they seemed to be giving most enthusiasts every single thing they are looking for, from the plush G10 to the “axis” lock, to the chromed, tip-up clip. All that for thirteen bucks. See that’s the thing. I’ve got some decent knives, but there’s a couple brands like Sanrenmu and Ganzo that give you such a good value.

Sup BLF. This is not a new knife, but it is a new review. A Reddit user loaned me a knife just because he’s a chill guy, to do a review on. This knife is out of my current price range, but it was great to mess around with it for a few weeks. Very very carefully though. I EDC a Spyderco and a few Ganzos, but nothing this expensive. I loved the knife and one day might treat myself to it. Hope you like my joke filled, short film style review…

So, a few people have asked me to review this knife (in this thread about budget knives ), presumably because they are as intrigued by it as I was. I’ll do my best to keep this fairly well organized, and rambling to a minimum, but I make no promises. I’ll have some pictures in the review of areas of interest, but it’s a lot more time consuming to take high quality pictures and get them uploaded, so it’s good cell phone pics unless someone has a better reason to need higher resolution than eye candy. Both I and my cousin really gave these knives the hairy eyeball. Some things I’m going to bring up might seem like hash criticisms of a $23 knife, but just because I mention it doesn’t mean it’s a big deal to the function of the knife. I’m reporting things as I see them, and not passing judgement unless it effects the safety of the knife, or significantly effects use.

Link to Aliexpress store where I bought my 3 knives from.
Aliexpress link, non-aff

Description from Web Store:
Full length: 212mm (I measured 209.5mm)
Blade length: 84mm (I measured 82.5mm)
Handle length: 125mm (I measured 124mm)
Blade width: 31mm (I measured and average of 30.4mm before the rise above the Spyderco type hole in the blade)
Blade thickness: 3.8mm (I measured 3.86mm)
Blade material: S30v (Unlikely)
Weight: 250g (including packaging) (I measured the knife at 211g without the packaging. Really, who cares about the weight of the packaging???)
Hardness: 58HRC (Unknown, will try to test if I get a chance)
Surface: sanding (blade finish approx 220-300grit, and it appears they hit it with some polish and a buffing wheel after grinding)
Handle material: Black G10 + red G10. (My eyes measure black and orange , definitely not red)
Other: Folding (true, and flips on ball bearings)

Dis-assembled view from the manufacturer:

My take on provided specs, and other possibly useful dimensions

The dimensional accuracy of the knife to the stated specs is reasonably close, the handle material is correct if you don’t include color, but the blade steel is 99% likely to NOT be CPM S30V.

Some measurements that they don’t provide that can be useful are as follows.

Primary Grind Type: Flat Ground at approximately 4.7° per side
I measured some variation of 4.3-4.8°. A shallower angle would produce a better cutting knife, in my opinion a real S30V knife at 58Rc doesn’t need that wide of an angle in a knife like this. It’s not a pry bar, and at 58Rc edge damage should happen well before blade fracture. I think if it’s compared to a knife with 3-3.5° of bevel per side, this knife would feel a bit harder to push through the cut, making fatigue set in faster if used for long periods. The effect would become more noticeable as the material being cut gets thicker. Since I don’t think this is S30V, the girth could be useful since the steel and heat treating quality are uncertain.

Blade Tip Thickness: 0.95mm directly behind sharpened edge. Should make for a pretty tough tip. The knives I make from CPM-3V are around 0.40-0.60mm at the tip depending on intended use, and the ones from CPM-S90V run 0.40-1mm depending on use.

Usable Handle Length: 104.5mm
This is measured from the front of the index finger cutout to the back end of the knife, and gives a better idea how it will fit in your hand than the overall handle length.

Handle Thickness: 21.32mm(G10 to G10), 24.3mm (G10 to outside of clip), 22.35mm (at pivot bolt heads)

Fasteners: Pivot- T8 / Handle- T6 / Clip- T6

Pocket Clip Clearance: 2.5mm

Clip Carry: (RH) tip up

My Pictures

Differences between the 3

Slight variations in flippability. 2 are good, one is a bit sluggish. Once the sluggish one was sprayed with good lube and air it sped right up.

Tip centering between the liners, 2 very good, one slightly off center at the tip. All three are well centered on the pivot end .

Tip height closed. One knife sits lower in the handle than the other two. This knife also has less deep jimping than the other two. See the picture.

Edge deburring varied greatly along all the edges (not the cutting edge) of the various knives. Some well rounded over, some fairly sharp still.

Impressions of Build Quality

Blade
Blade grinding looks pretty good, though symmetry isn’t great. For example the point made by the intersection of the primary bevel, swedge grind, and flat face doesn’t line up from side to side. I suspect this isn’t present on the 12x(!!!!) more expensive Spyderco Rubicon. Also, the edges of the grind where the primary bevel and swedge meet the flat face doesn’t have the usual Spyderco crispness. This is, I believe, the evidence that points to being hit with a polishing wheel after the grinding was done. Personally I don’t find flaws like these to impact the performance of most knives, and in fact prefer the primary bevel to flats edge on my knives for use (as opposed to shelf queens) to be slightly rounded. The back edges of the blade have been deburred, but not aggressively so. The flipper portion is noticeably more rounded over on the edges. If I had my way, the edges on the back side of the blade would be rounded over the same amount, they are a bit sharp for my taste in a folder (and a lot sharp for my taste in a bush-craft or hard use knife). The Spyderco hole is similar to the back edge, and in that respect similar to real Spyderco’s, fairly crisp, but unlikely to maim you.

Laser etching is a bit of a letdown. Depth and darkness varies. Sanrenmu and Ganzo both have this down much better on all of the examples I have. It’s not a dealbreaker, but anyone who is familiar with Spyderco quality will likely be able to spot it as a fake if your example has the same variability as mine. Interestingly the blade is marked with the Spyderco logo, the Spyderco name, CPM S30V, CAREY, and TAICHUNG TAIWAN. I’m sure we’re all aware the Spyderco markings aren’t legitimate which means the CAREY and TAICHUNG TAIWAN markings aren’t either, the general wisdom of the internet (and common sense) suggests the CPM S30V isn’t either. The WWW rumor mill says it’s 440C. Since I don’t have a laser spectrometer, I’ll go with my gut that they’re probably right, it’s likely 440C or 9Cr18MoV. I’ve purchased CPM S30V, CPM S35VN, CPM S90V, and CPM S110V directly from the US distributor, I know what it costs to buy CPM steel, and there is no way that this Knife is made from S30V for $23.

The variation in the tip position between the knives, and the difference in jimping depth suggests that these are held in a fixture for final edge machining that has some play in it, or they have a guy messing with offsets who shouldn’t be.

Regardless, after a shot of lubricant all three examples flipped smoothly, so the variations of the machining don’t seem to effect the function.

Handle

The handle is the part of this knife that stands out to me. It’s well executed in almost every way, with only a few flaws. The surface texture of the G10 is superb. Grippy enough without being so aggressive that it’s going to tear up the edge of your pocket. Like the blade it suffers from some symmetry issues, but like the blade, you’re looking for them before you notice them. Quick inspection or handling generally won’t be enough to notice them. There’s a bit of fuzz around the some of the smaller screw holes on the handle sides, something I’ve noticed on many of the other budget knives with G10 or Micarta handles. The liners and the G10 sides also don’t match perfectly. There is a slight mismatch either in size or placement that leaves a few thousandths of the liner exposed on one side. It’s not enough to make it uncomfortable, or notice from more than a small distance away, but it’s another sign of less than perfect fit and finish.

I wish there was 1 more T6 screw holding the sides to the orange G10 spacer. The screws are small enough that it seems like a potential weakness to only have two on each side, even with the reasonably sized pivot holding things together on the front end. Speaking of the pivot on the front end. The center of it is a T8, so don’t be concerned by the tri-lobe design, it’s not some weird proprietary fastener.

The liners appear to be stamped stainless steel blanks which are then machined with the relief, scallops, ball detent, and tapped holes. I’m a bit unimpressed by the liners, and I can’t justify why. I could be wrong, but they don’t inspire confidence in me. After a fairly small amount of chipping away at a piece of wood with a moderate to fair amount of force the lockbar has already moved past 100% engagement, and the pivot needed to be tightened slightly. Maybe that’s just the lockbar bedding in, in which case all is well, as it still has plenty of room to wear and still engage. The slightly bigger worry is whether the pivot will continue to need tightening, as I’m already concerned about the amount of pressure on the pivot bearings.

Clip

Clip is good; strong, springy, and has enough of a curl on the end that it’s not to difficult to slip over the edge of your pants pocket, even thick pants like Carhartt’s. The edges of the clips are extremely well rounded, and the surface is polished. There’s zero possibility of cutting your finger or pants on it. As stated earlier it doesn’t have any provisions for positions besides tip up carry (RH pocket friendly). For those of us lucky enough to be righties it’s the perfect carry for quick deployment (some may disagree, that’s fine, I don’t mind them being wrong ). It sits in a recessed flat that keeps its profile low. I’ve mentioned before that often clips are an area where many cheap Chinese knives fall short in my opinion. Since this is such a critical part of the functionality of a pocket knife it’s a real letdown when everything about a knife is great except for the clip. This knife is a welcome exception, I have very little bad to say about the clip.

Sharpening, Edge Retention, and use tests

Sharpness out of the box

Requires some pressure and speed to get the knife to shave arm hair. Cuts paper ok, but grain direction of the paper has a big effect on its ability to cut cleanly. No chips, obviously rolled edges, or burn marks on the steel were visible in the three examples. The edge is slightly toothy, and should be a good place to start for general tasks, especially those that may involve fibrous materials.

On a scale of 0-10, with 0 being a butter knife, 5 being able to just start to cut arm hair, and 10 being a razor blade, this one is a 5. It is fine for general tasks, and for many people is about where most knives will spend their lives, between a 6 and a 4. For my knives I tend to try and keep them around 9-6 depending on the type of knife, again, its just a product of having been spoiled by really sharp knives and having the tools to keep mine very sharp pretty easily.

Cut Capability

Some people mistakenly associate this with edge retention, sharpness (has some effect, but not none if comparing knives of reasonably equal sharpness), or steel quality; but really it’s all about geometry. Higher quality steels will perform longer, or withstand more abuse, but when it comes to how easy (I.E. amount of force) it is to cut something thicker than paper with a knife it’s ALL about geometry. One thing that many people often overlook is the thickness of the blade and the angle of the primary grind. I mentioned above that this knife has a pretty steep (compared to what I make) 4.7° per side or so. Combined with a behind the edge thickness of 1.05mm compared to the 0.90mm of the Spyderco (which has a similar primary grind angle), and the 0.38mm of the knife I made (with approximately a 3° primary grind) in the picture, and you can see the effect that thickness behind the edge makes going from 1.05mm to 0.90mm. The real Spyderco cut a bit deeper with fewer splits in the wood it is peeling off because its a smaller wedge. Cut the thickness behind the edge in half and reduce the primary grind angle to 2/3 of the other two knives and you get what you see with the custom knife. It cuts significantly deeper with hardly any curl to the chip it’s making because of how small the wedge is compared to the other two. If you ever want to know how bad most knives are, pick up a $10-15 wood carving knife and prepare to have your mind blown for how easy it can be to cut deeply into wood with the right geometry. Unfortunately knives that are general purpose like your average folder or fixed blade compromises that cutting capability for strength so that they don’t have customers complaining about broken blades and chipped edges when they choose to use them ad a screwdriver, prybar, etc.

I’d rate this knife as slightly below average for cutting capability stock. It’s not going to be much different than other knives with similar proportions, but compared to something really designed to cut easily it does fall short. If you are used to thick knives you will find it to be similar to what you are used to, but I have been spoiled on knives with very good cutting capability, so the two ends of my scale that I rate them on may be different than yours.

Edge Retention

To Be Continued…..

Sharpening Impressions

To Be Continued…..

Final thoughts, and things I’d change about it

To Be Continued……

Hey BLF, I wanted to have a bit of fun with this one. It’s sort of a companion piece to my G700 review I did a while back. It actually could have been a decent, budget fixed blade- if it hadn’t been for all the tactical styling, high riding sheath, jimping, and ridiculous artwork on the blade. The steel is nice, and should hold up well to use- so that’s a good thing I guess… Anyway, if you are offended at occasional NSFW language or like serious knife reviews, maybe sit this one out? Needless to say, the review wasn’t sanctioned by anyone… although I didn’t have to pay for the blade.

In my quest to find the ultimate, budget timepiece, I kinda went crazy and bought a few Chinese watches. I thought I would share my experiences and put together a few reviews on my findings. This is the first such review, the Naviforce NF9040M I bought from GearBest.

I posted pretty much the same review over at the watchuseek forms , but I am not known very well over there, and many of their members like the higher-end market for watches. Maybe you guys will appreciate these budget priced watch reviews more

I received this watch a few months ago, and it is currently in my EDC rotation of about 5-7 watches. I purchased it from GearBest when it was on sale for about $10 (No longer on sale, regular price about $16). I thought that was a pretty good deal, especially since a replacement Miyota movement costs more than the entire watch. Anyhow, here is the direct link to 4 different colors of the NF9040M on GearBest, as well as NaviForce’s website and direct link to this specific watch. None of these are affiliate links, and are only supplied for reference:

Gearbest Naviforce NF9040M listing
http://en.naviforcewatch.com/
http://a100407330285.oinsite1.cn/_d276809779.htm

My workplace isn’t too hard on watches, but can be occasionally as I have to go through security and a scanner. The security personnel are not always concerned about treating personal property with kid gloves.

During my budget watch quest, I have seen the explosion of what some call “Mushroom Watches” (new brands that seem to pop-up everywhere) from China. I’ve bought a few of them…some good, and some bad to absolutely horrible. I thought the Naviforce watches looked attractive…both physically and price-wise…so I selected a NF9040M with the red accents. The watch is also sold with white, gold and champagne accents. The gold and champagne versions come with a brown band, and white and red have a black band. Here are the other color choices:

^ GearBest Pic ^

^ Dial/front of Naviforce NF9040M ^

KRONOREVIEW:

There is much to like about this watch. I confirmed that it does indeed use a Miyota Quartz movement (Miyota 2305) and a Sony battery. Many watches in this price range use something cheaper, typically a Chinese movement and an ultra cheap battery that typically lasts 2-6 months. So, it is nice to see that Naviforce doesn’t embellish the internals. The watch is also pretty comfortable to wear due to the curved lugs and band. The black band is real leather that is thick, and is also nicely contrasted with red stitching.

^ Case-back removed ^

^ Nice looking leather band with red accented stitching ^

^ Yep…Miyota 2305 movement, and a Sony battery…nice! ^

The outer and inner bezel are numbered and give the watch a sporty, military look, but the bezel is non-rotating. On the dial, the hour markers consist of raised chrome with a red accented stripe in between. The red stripes are not perfectly centered on a couple markers, but perfect on the rest. The second-hand stops on the red section of the markers, but also not perfectly in the center…pretty close, though. The outer bezel has a colored ring underneath that protrudes on each side ever so slightly at about a .5mm. It appears to be red-anodized aluminum. The splash of color gives the watch a nice, contrasting halo effect which offsets the matte black case.

The case is said to be Vacuum Ion Coated. I do not know what metal is used underneath, but is magnetic, so probably some sort of steel. I do know that this black coating is somewhat susceptible to scratches. I found that out because my case-back removal tool was too small to span all the way across and reach at least two notches. Therefore, I used needle-nose pliers, which of course slipped, and proceeded to gouge the back of the case. I was exerting quite a bit of pressure, so I can’t necessarily fault the coating. But, over time, I suspect that the coating will exhibit some expected wear.

The ‘N’ logoed crown is flanked on both sides by raised portions of the case, I assume for protection. The crown adjustment has 2 positions. 1st allows for day, second for hour and date, which means you have to cycle through all dates to get to current date. The black dial is textured using an attractive, alternating circle and elongated oval pattern. The dial also contains a clean ‘N’ logo, “NAVIFORCE” name, ‘Water Resistant 30M’ and also has ‘JAPAN MOVT’ surrounding the six O’clock position.

^ Close-up of logoed crown ^

^ Another close-up of watch face ^

The metal buckle also has an ‘N’ logo, and the same matte coating as the case. The Stainless Steel case-back is a nice, 6 notch design and screws down.

^ Metal buckle with logo ^

^ SS Caseback ^

PROS:

Miyota 2305 movement.
No ‘slop’ in movement.
Sony SR626SW Battery.
Week/Day function.
Screw-down caseback.
Lume on Hour and Minute hands.
Leather band with contrasted red stitching.
Red accents also on Bezel, Hour markers and Minute hand.
Textured dial.
Comfortable, curved lugs.
Metal pin buckle.

CONS:

Non-rotatable bezel.
Durability question on black coating.
Lack of a bare SS case version.
Lume is very weak and sparse.

I will judge the watch on 5 different metrics:

Cost: 5
Looks: 4
Durability 3
Function: 4
Comfort: 5
KronoReview Overall Rating: 4.2/5

The Naviforce NF9040M watch is pretty good value!

More watch reviews to come…

Thanks!
krono

This is a review of the Megir 2002, or M2002 quartz watch. I bought the watch from GearBest. Here is their website, the Megir website, and Sunon’s website (movement mfr.):

MEGIR 2002 GearBest.com
MEGIR Watch official website (Model M2002 is not on their site).
Sunon International Group Limited

Before I begin, a word about this company/brand. Accurate information is difficult to come by on the Megir company. Internet website claims place them in London, while reality seems to place them in Guandong, China. There are also claims that they are a supplier for Citizen and Fossil watches. Current internet lore also speaks of lawsuits from Guess for claiming the same thing. Nevertheless, the internet marketplace seems to be covered up w/Megir watches. There is also talk of some Megir watches (M2713 & M3206) with higher-end Sea-Gull (Automatic 2525) movements, which might be bargains if found for low prices.

^ GearBest website pic ^

So, here we are with yet another mushroom brand, many hyped claims, and questionable beginnings/history. But…what are their watches like? I purchased this Megir M2002 2 months ago, and along with the Naviforce NV9040M that I reviewed earlier, it is in my current EDC rotation of between 5-7 watches.

^ My Megir M2002 ^

The first glance at GearBest website pics make this watch look pretty cool. It is a semi-Russian diver style, but the price (about $16) tells you it wouldn’t last at any depth underwater, and fortunately does not try to make that claim.

^ My Megir M2002 ^

I will start with the overall size of the watch. It is BIG…not Invicta big…but still pretty massive. I definitely felt as though I was over-compensating while wearing/testing…lol.

^ It is BIG ^

^ Yeah…BIG. Although the angle of this pic makes it look even larger ^

The crown and pushers are the major reason for that. IMHO, they extend much too far to the 3 O’clock side of the watch. The crown protector extends it even further, and requires you to wear the watch further up the arm. I’m just not comfortable doing that. Since I wear watches on my left arm, I prefer that this style watch have the stem/pushers at the 9 O’clock position. As is, with the controls located where they are, the watch can be uncomfortable when bending at the wrist, typing etc. I will say that the silicone band does an adequate job of keeping the watch from migrating toward the hand, which helps. The strap itself is interesting. It attaches normally to the 6 O’clock position. The buckle side, however, attaches to a 16mm long plate/section, and the silicone strap clamps to this plate via 2 screws. It also has a slotted/open section for pin access. There is already some wear on the plate where it swivels back & forth between the lugs. There are 2 loose silicone loops/strap keepers. The pin/buckle is stainless steel.

I like the flat black case and style, but the size, shiny pushers and orange accents say “check me out”. If you are into that, you might be interested in this watch. To me, it is a little too fashion-y…too gimmicky. The watch, however, has function to it. The pushers/dials actually work and move…a surprise at this price. Chrono sub-dials are located at 12 O’clock (1/10ths second), 6 O’clock (seconds) and 9 O’clock (minutes). The watch needed to be zeroed when it arrived, and I was able to do that w/the 1/10ths (top pusher) and seconds (bottom pusher) with the stem pulled out. However, I was unable to figure out how to reset the minutes sub-dial. If anyone knows how, please share

The dial is flat black, and doesn’t have any hour markers. Those items appear to be imprinted on a raised, inner bezel. This inner bezel is toothed like a gear, and only has Arabic numerals at 2, 4, 8 & 10 O’clock. The other hour markers are non-existent and have seconds/minutes marks on them. There are what appear to be 4 black screws that hold the inner bezel to the dial, but this might be purely for aesthetics. All numbers are in a dark orange, unfortunately. Against the matte black, they can be hard to see. The stick shaped hour, minute and second hands are also trimmed in orange, and change to black toward the center. They are squared at the ends. The date window is fairly easy to see, and is at a shallow depth below the dial, which has almost no shadow. ‘MEGIR CHRONOMETER’ logo appears to the immediate left of the date window.

The case is also matte black, some sort of coating (PVD?) over some type of metal. It looks similar to what Naviforce uses, which they call a Vacuum Ion Coating. I fully expect it to scratch and wear off over time…but perhaps I’ll be surprised. The lugs extend in an attractive, angular fashion towards the strap. However, there is not enough curvature to them to make the case wrap comfortably around the top portion of the wrist. The case-back is a SS pop-off/press-fit style, and is rather cheap looking.

Removal reveals a Chinese Sunon PE903 Chrono movement and a generic LR920 battery. The GearBest listing says this is an ‘imported’ movement. Hardly.

PROS:
Diver style.
Attractive, matte back case and dial.
Protected crown.
Working sub-dials (Chrono).
Date Window.
Pliable silicone strap.

CONS:
Huge.
Cheap feeling movement with too much ‘slop’. Also not imported like in website listing.
Pushers, crown and protector extend too far out which makes it potentially uncomfortable.
Watch has a cheap ‘tink-tink’ sound, instead of a more solid ‘thunk’.
Movement is not an import movement, as far as I can tell. It is a Chinese Sunon movement.
Dark orange numbering is somewhat hard to read.
No luminosity.
Not enough curvature of the lugs.
Cheap case-back.

DIMENSIONS:
Width: 60.5mm
Case Diameter: 47.5mm
Lug to lug: 56mm
Crystal: 37.5mm
Height (top of crystal to caseback): 16.5mm
OAL: 26mm
Weight: 124gms

RATING:
Cost: 4
Looks: 3
Durability: 2
Function: 4
Comfort: 2
Average: 3/5

In conclusion, the Megir M02 is just an OK watch with some interesting appeal and attributes. It definitely looks different than any watch I own. It seems to work fine, at least in the short time I have worn it, and has kept time as well as just about any other quartz watch. My issue is with it’s bulk, lack of comfort and little-known movement.

Thanks,
krono

Hey there BLF. Got a review here for the Ganzo G7393P-OR. I paid about $20 for this knife at Fasttech, and it seems a decent blade. It deploys super quick, the fit and finish on it was near perfect, and I like the looks of it. It’s easy to spot if you drop it on the ground out in the woods. No blade wobble, and it’s super sharp right out of the box. Shot it with a different camera this time, not that anyone pays attention to that. Thanks for watching!

Hey there BLF, got a 2nd review for you in 2 days. While I don’t think that’s a record, it’s pretty good for me. This is for the Ganzo G7371-BK, which is similar in design to the Spyderco stretch, with quite a few big differences. Expect typical Ganzo quality out of the blade… no real blade play on my sample, and it was well centered. The frame lock is kind of a minor finger pincher, and the blade has trouble staying closed if it’s jarred. Anyway it’s kind of heavy, but I still like it at $20. I bought this myself, for the sake of knife science at Gear Best.

Hola BLF. Got another knife review for you, sponsored by myself. You can get this puppy at Fasttech for around $20. It’s similar in construction to the popular G7212 in basic construction, although there are quite a few design differences. Like that last knife, this could be sharper out of the box- and maybe the button a bit more responsive… but since there’s no lock… maybe that would be a bad idea. Anyway, hope you like it and beware of a few NSFW words.