There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
Word of advice, be patient and play the bidding game and if you don't mind waiting for China post you'll get them for like half the asking price.
Anyway, my first one just arrived today, so thought I'd start a discussion and share my impressions.
The TS35 FireAnt. 1.65" of (supposedly, i can't confirm, but *shrugs*) M390 in a titanium handle with a carbon fiber accent
Bought and shipped for $46.55
Flipped it about half a dozen times before tearing into it.... I gotta say, between the machining of the titanium, the finish on the blade, the design choices, the shape of the backspacer, and the tight tolerances....this seriously feels like Bestech all over. I know someone here was saying they believe Bestech makes them, and i pointed out that the US distributor for these knives claims they only make their own knives now....but damn if I wouldn't be convinced if you showed me this without a logo.
Size comparison next to the Rike Hummingbird
The machining of the titanium is flawless
Handles are skeletonized (as if weight is a problem in this size lol)
However, this blade is severely thick for something this size. 4mm thick on a grind that's roughly half an inch tall... I expect this won't be much of a slicer 🙄
Only a couple minor complaints on quality, materials and build :
-The detent hole it's a little larger than the ball, so there some in/out blade play when closed, but not terrible
-the washers under the bearings are too soft and cheap metal. Polishing the surface made a difference, but it's disapointing to see they cheaped out there after seeing such quality screws
-on the tail end of the knife, the body screws thread straight into the titanium backspacer, and are threaded in the body holes too instead of a clean pass through, so not only do you have to be careful not to overtighten, you also have to line up perfectly and squeeze tight together while screwing to avoid a gap there. Would've rather seen the usual threaded tube insert
-last, and most troublesome on a knife this small, the pocket clip sits over the lockbar, making it hard to find the right grip to flip it
All that said, for the price you can get these at, I'm extremely impressed.
Looking forward to trying some of their full size knives to see how they compare, or if they have the same quirks
And, you'll have to go to the titanium anodizing discussion thread to see what else I did while I had it apart ;)