Navy copies mostly Spyderco knives right, the Spyderco that gets it’s budget line and the stainless steel “bugs” and Kiwi3 made in China.
The Spyderco that uses nasty plasticky feeling FRN for handles on it’s higher end knives.
I have no problem with Spyderco selling for whatever price they can, Sal Glesser is a great guy and posts on many forums helping people whenever he can.
I have all the bugs plus a Spyderedge clpitool.
I used to carry a Grasshopper as my EDC knife until I bought a better made SanRenMu H03, adjustable pivot and washers that can be maintained unlike the Grasshopper. SanRenMu H03 $6.58, Spyderco Grasshopper $35.21 both 8Cr12MoV steel
Navy recognise a niche in the market and fill it - that of having knives that look like Spyderco knives but are cheaper, and made in China - just like Spyderco do with the Ambitious, Persistence, Tenacious and Resilience.
Personally I don’t own a Navy knife but I’m looking at the fake Spydercos on AliExpress just to see how poorly they are made.
But the international shipping is included in the price of the copy.
The original one with int. shipping would cost me ~ 70% more. That’s not a small difference.
The original RAT 1 is a good deal but only in the US…
I think sanrenmu and enlan have the best quality/fit/finish of chinese brands. I have ganzo, enlan, sanrenmu, inron, harnds and incomming tekut. The problem with srm is they are too small in general, and the problem with enlan is their designs, they have very goods ones in EL series but… too much time without new models, and i saw in its page new models but i don¡t know where they are. There are only old models EL in fasttech, exduct… Enlan aren’t brave with the designs like ganzo, but i think ganzo has worst quality than enlan, even design problems in some models (G714 with its rotating pivot, G711 with lock up problems, G712 with both pivot screws locked… ). It seems that the chinese brands only have good designs if the copy it. I would like if the can do some different designs and making with high quality at low price as always.
I’m tired and tired of drop points… Spyderco alike designs, recurved blades like the CS vaquero, espartan… stiletto designs like de CS ti-lite, kukris, or simply clip points and tantos with a secure handle like de CS recon 1…
I know this is an old thread but if you ever really want that, drop me a line
I don’t have this one aymore, it went to Utah, but the G-712 is really a nice knife to play with and the knife nut who got it likes it more than the much bigger original.
I like smaller EDC folder but i would dream of a ganzo with a better steel for a higher price. D2 or VG10 or even s35vn or elmax i would pay like 30-40 dollar for such a ganzo
Navy knives factory is no more. I was buying a couple of K607’s from ExDuct.com and was writing back and forth about how many they had in stock. It turned out they only had one, and refunded me the difference, great service and communication with that store. There statement to me was that the Navy knife factory was closed and after they sold out of Navy knives, there would be no more. Had the same issue at fasttech too…
I like my Ganzos and other copies, but really like the K607 as it is one of the shorter blades with a great handle for bigger hands. More copies of 3” or less blades are what I would like.
There are a lot of enlan below 15$. One of the more expensive enlan of all time was the enlan el08 and it is about 22$ or so. See enlan el17, el10, el04, el01… All of them between 10$ and 16$ and they are the biggest size that enlan makes, the EL series.
There is 2 Enlan knives above $30 that I know, being the EL-01D and the EL-02D, both with 8Cr13MoV damascus blades fpr roughly $35-
Then there’s EL-08 for $23 and the rest is well below $15 and even $10.
At least on Geabest, that’s a good place to get them cheap but you can also pay $100 for it on the bay sometimes, usually that’s just a mistake when adding the price but you can still buy it for that price.