HX OUTDOOR ZD 005 : The Smart Thief

Hello guys,

I lately discovered the HX OUTDOOR brand through Gearbest, first i was a bit skeptical by the survival/mall ninja pictures:

but material( carbon fiber, titanium) and lines ( tanto blade) were quite interesting.

Knife comes in a very nice pouch, and as soon as i handled it, i felt like a Navy Seal ( :wink: ):

Beside, the knife is quite small with an unfold length at 17,5cm, not so ninja oriented but perfect for everyday carry.

Like the Lionsteel TRE ( Three Rapid Exchange ) the HX OUTDOOR 005 offers a system that allows the user to carry the knife with or without the Flipper feature choosing thus to screw or remove it from the blade.

The user may choose three ways to equip his knife: a simple basic version without Flipper and pin on the blade, a Thumb Stud version with the pin on the blade or adding the flipper for a quick opening action.

If you live in a place with restrictive knife laws, swappable deployment methods is an interesting feature, it’s nicely done and directly cloned from the lionsteel TRE. I won’t use those features, but it’s smart and well executed, it’s an interesting (theft) innovation.

The knife has a machined Titanium frame, pocket clip and spacer on a half and carbon fibers on the other.

The handle has two different versions: full titanium or Carbon Fiber/titanium. It is provided with ball-bearing pivot system and the titanium lockbar has a stainless steel insert.

The ZD005 costs a bit more than $100 on Gearbest website which is a lot. Let’s see how it justifies it’s price. ( actually it’s now 73$ with Gearbest flash-sale : https://www.gearbest.com/pocket-knives-and-folding-knives/pp_614294.html )

First, it’s a looker.
Everything is nicely polished, and i would dare to say: maybe a bit too much as handle is a bit slippy, nothing preventing a serious use of the knife but hey, let’s be picky. :smiley:

Handle is also a bit short for my hand with my little finger barely grabbing the tail of the knife, but that’s what it takes to get a pocketable blade.

Beside the shortness, grip is great, you cand apply a good strenght on the blade even if additionnal jimping could havae been useful on the back of the blade.
The performance ratios are good but to me, tanto blades always look a bit too short for the handle, but maybe it’s just me. :innocent:

Milling has been done on the inside portion of the titanium handle scale to reduce the weight.

It’s a carry and forget knife, put it in your pocket and you’ll forget it’s here thank to the reduced weight and short design.
Finish is great, nothing specific to notice, everything is well executed. The “Wave” effect on the titanium is perfect, surface are smooth, nothing will cut your fingers except what is designed to. :wink:

But maybe…it would have been nice to have deeper waves for a better grip…those are bit too shallow to create traction.
Steel is supposed to be VG-10: as always, i do not have the possibility to check so i will just say that it holds and edge as you would expect from VG-10 even if i did not pushed my tests very far.

Grind is symmetric, blade is well executed.
Deployment is butter smooth: with bearings and flipper, that’s the least you could expect, but nevertheless it’s great. Detent is strong but when it opens, it flies open. It won’t open in your pocket, sure thing !

Pocket clip is milled and have the right tension, it’s not too thick, just as it should be.

The lock is solid, easy to engage and disengage and displays no blade play or lock stick. on my unit lock is 30% which is perfect for me.

No vertical or horizontal bladeplay, blade is perfectly centered.

To conclude i would say that this knife offers a lot: Titanium, carbon fibers, an interesting swappable deployment method ( thank you lionsteel) and a great fit and finish.
The size is right, it’s not an useless monster knife it’s more like an high-end opinel ( calm down guys, i’m french, remember) i mean the kind of (expensive) blade that lives in your pocket and appears when you need it.
You can leave it on a shelf but i have the feeling that it’s not what it was meant for.

Ps: I tried my best with the review and the pictures, as it’s my first knife review, please be kind ! :student:

Nice review :+1:

Looks like a solid knife, can you baton with it? (just kidding :laughing: )

You will be able to baton chopsticks, no problem. :smiley:

Thank you. :wink:

Cool knife, well executed ! I like The ~17cm form factor for EDC, ideal size for me :slight_smile:

Yes, really pocketable, like the small new ganzos.

PS: BLFFF, Budget Light Forum French Forces :smiley:

I really like the new Ganzos, for 10 bucks you’ve got axis lock and sharp steel out the box !
I already bought 3 G753M1 (black, green and CF) :innocent:
First 100% French thread I see here !!!

Very nice knife, but for the price of an unknown steel and unknown name, I’d rather get a Cold Steel code 4.

By removing the flipper you can gain a little extra handle length. I did the same with my T.R.E. copy.

The Code 4 looks nice in the pictures but it feels quite slippery in the hand.

I like that knife, beautiful blade design, but expensive.

How much does the carbon fiber one weight? The product page at GearBest says between 51 and 100gr. I doubt it weighs as little as 51gr.

Thank for the advice, i’ll try. :student:

Price is high but finish is great. :wink:

I’ll weigh it when i get home, but i can confirm it’s light.

Great review mate!

It looks like an awesome knife. Do you like the Tanto style blades? I ruined a tanto blade sharpening it. Rounded of the square hahahah (only me). I fixed it after a while they are a bit tricky to sharpen.

Has any one here tried the Ganzo carbon-fiber knives? Wonder how these compare to each other.

83Grams…feels really light in hand.

Sorry for the crappy picture and the cat. :wink:

I really like the Tanto style blade, but i feel it’s somehow harder to make that kind of blade “balanced”. This one is refined enough for my taste.

The Ganzo carbon fiber knives are on only made with a layer of carbon fiber, below it’s G10:

But for the price it’s fantastic.

A cat made of carbon fiber!.
Nice!. Very good texture.