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reswright
3850
Oct 12, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
Quick bit of background on this knife: REVO is the new budget line from Blade Runner Systems, a Chinese knife manufacturer that has some interesting designs but is known a little more for balisongs than regular folders. BRS is one of those manufacturers that IMO is still putting together the complete package -- they sell a lot of knives including several for $200-400 so they aren't jokers, but they have had quality issues in the past so I wanted to see what they did on budget knives. I have one BRS knife -- the Fragment -- and I like it a lot and I do carry it, but it had a jacked up grind when it came to me and I had to spend a couple days fixing it. So when I saw this knife looking all slick, with a compound grind and a decent budget steel that the Chinese typically do quite well with (9Cr18MoV) I figured I'd see what they'd gotten up to with the Berserk.
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So is it any good? Well, it was good enough to put a lanyard on it:
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I like it. And it all lines up very nicely. Fit and finish are good, there doesn't appear to be any quality issues, and that's a really good sign.
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The jimping and edge are consistent, the blade is centered, it locks up fine, the action is smooth, it feels relatively rugged for a nice looking, stylized knife, it has a reversible clip, and with a bit of stropping, the 9Cr18MoV blade gets shaving sharp:
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So, BRS, if you're reading this -- you got a lot of things right. Good work. That said, you're probably asking yourself 'why, if all these things are accurate, is he only rating it as a four star knife?' And I'll tell you why, straight up -- shot, no chaser. 1) The lines of the compound grind look cool and all but I didn't feel much in the way of functionality coming from the compounded grind. Just seems like it's there for looks. Don't get me wrong, it looks nice and it isn't terrible -- but I was hoping to find more of a purpose to those nice looking elements, and did not. Maybe if Revo had hollowed the belly out some, they'd have something more than a cool looking blade profile. 2) The handle design seems as busy as the compound grind -- the exact opposite of what Revo did on the Ness, which was beautiful for its simplicity. The steel scale isn't grippy, but they took the time to put a nice looking design around the pivot. Great - but make it functional, not just nice looking. The G-10 scale is grippier but like the knife, the design elements just seem there for decoration, not functionality. On a budget knife, the elements need to serve a purpose. 3) The blade is meant to flip using an aperture in the blade:
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But that bar in the middle makes it weirdly hard to get traction with your thumb, and even though the action is light on this knife, it's relatively easy to 'misfire' while opening. There are very few knives I have trouble opening, but this qualifies as one. When it flips it fires nicely but my thumb wants to slip off the aperture and the middle finger flick is equally problematic for me. 4) And while we're on the flip -- all that nice work done to make the handles look cool, but they didn't bother to scoop the handle grooves so you can easily get your thumb, or middle finger from underneath, in prime flipping position. That compounds the issue with the aperture.
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There's some nearly vertical beveling. No scoop though. The handle needs to be relieved on both sides, thinned down, like they did on the Ness, so you can get your thumb right down there:
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A little of that goes a long way, it just makes it much easier for people with average to larger size thumbs to get in and flick the knife open. Weird that they put that scoop on the Ness, which is a flipper with a tab, and not on the Berserk, which opens via a blade aperture. But that's what they did. So, yeah -- I see good things, but I also see too much design that at least from my perspective doesn't translate out into purpose, and that's bad in a budget knife because you're paying extra to put it on, but not getting anything extra out of it when you use it. Is it a bad knife? Nope, and these issues are all fixable from where I stand. If the compound grind had had a hollow to thin the width behind the edge, if the aperture and corresponding grooves were designed a bit better, if there was slightly more grip to the metal scale, this would be a five star knife. It's just a little too slick as it is to be a good budget knife, and in their next iteration of it Revo should focus a little less on the looks (bright green aluminum backspacers, slick patterns around the pivot) and a little more on the knife as it performs in the hand. The good news for them is that that the manufacturing seems to be very professional and they should have no problems getting down to brass tacks and making good budget knives where their innovations translate out into benefits to the user, not just the appearance of the knife. I expect that as Revo gets a little more budget building under their belt, these are issues that will largely go away, but right now they're impacting the overall quality of the knife. So, there you go, Drop. Four star knife. Good stuff, nice looking, mature manufacturing, but a little busy, too much design sizzle and not enough steak to make it a five star knife. But to be honest I was expecting a little less manufacturing consistency than I got -- Revo's design might not be exactly what I wanted, but the fit and finish were a pleasant surprise. Not sure if they manufacture these themselves -- if they're using an OEM I'd love to know who it is.
(Edited)
Loosey
31
Oct 14, 2020
reswrightthank you for the detailed review! I think youll see this and most all of our models evolve as we get feedback from users and knife aficionados. Im glad you like the knife and the brand, we put a lot of work into what we do and we are constantly working to refine our process and product offerings! We hope we can earn your business on more products! best- E.
reswright
3850
Oct 14, 2020
LooseyRoger that. Edward, right? Always good to see someone who gives a damn about the knives they sell :)