I've been carrying the Drop/Quiet Carry iQ and Shorty for a couple of weeks now. The iQ is brilliantly designed as a capable light EDC, all the details are perfectly executed and the Shorty is a great little key organizer too. They make an excellent team.
The action is smooth and reliable, lively on the opening and decent closing swing too considering the beautiful thin blade. The flipper tab is intuitive and the lockup feels secure, while the skinny blade glides through materials nicely. The iQ is a kwaiken style straight design with a reverse tanto blade in Bohler Elmax steel. Elmax is a great all around stainless steel in a folding knife, somewhere between S35VN and M390 in terms of edge retention and wear resistance, good corrosion resistance, it is another interesting choice for the iQ.
Everything about the iQ shows thoughtfulness in pursuit of making a purpose-built low key daily carry knife. The knurled pattern on the presentation scale is evenly milled and feels great, while the smooth stonewashed lock scale with an internal lockbar cutout is perfect for smoothly going in and out of pockets. The pocket clip is outstanding as well, the placement and style provides lots of retention and tolerance for different fabric types. As light as the knife is, it goes well in slacks or athletic shorts, and the generous spaced clip works well on jeans too.
The iQ is a beautiful break from a recent fixation on larger knives, and I think anyone with no Elmax or an interest in a no-nonsense but feature filled cutting tool would be happy with it. The knurling plus contoured lock side is exquisite and it's nice just as a tactile object when closed.
DougFLA123I want to say it was $200 even, I feel like it was pretty competitive with the other versions of the IQ considering all the milling.
I wish they'd bring back the non-Amazon outlet here :(