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
For me, a big one is the manufacturer not telling you the type of steel used (which means its likely 440A (I'm looking at you CUTCO)) or some other cheapo stainless from the bargain bin that won't hold an edge worth crap).
Next on my list is that it's not dishwasher safe. I don't put my knives in there, but in the unlikely event that someone else puts one of my knives in the dishwasher, I want to know the handle won't separate or something like that, which can be a problem with some of the less treated wooden handles.
Some other things I've come to avoid is stamped steel, not that I wouldn't recommend the Fibrox or a Dexter to someone, I just don't like the feel and lack of depth.