Ganzo G7393 Folding Knife Handle G10 Blade Black 440C Lock Axis

First things first, Fantastic Value .This "off-brand" knife is a copy of a Benchmade Griptilian. Minus the butterfly and better blade steel, this is a bargain.The 440c is not bad at all, the average person, or with just average use of the knife, would never know the difference between this or a "better" steel. This is a very sturdy, well built knife. The build quality is up there with my "real" Benchmades. The action is a little stiff out of the box, but is easily worked out. My Benchmade Mini-Presidio Ultra is also 440c steel with molded handles, great knife. This Ganzo is comparable with that, only larger and with g-10 handles. You can buy about six of these for the price of that Benchmade. Seriously, if you want a good knife at a great bargain price, this is it.

I use to be a bench-made dealer and this is a perfect copy of the griptilian. Not only does it lock up better but I prefer the 440c over 154cm on the bench made which in my opinion dulls too quick. under neath the grips is a full steel lining vs sub lining on the bench made.I am an absolute knife snob and never thought I would like this. However I LOVE it as an edc. So much so I ordered 3 more one in every color.

Fit and finish are pretty good on this knife. The action is a little stiff out of the box, but Ganzos always get smoother just from repeated opening. It's never going to be BM smooth concerning the opening action as those are effortless with a tiny flick of the thumb, but these Ganzos are pretty close once you break them in. You're getting 440c steel which is in no way a bad steel. You will just have to sharpen it a bit more often than some of the fancier steels out there. Blade centering was pretty poor and nearly touching the liner, but it still functions fine. Again, QC is lacking a bit, but the knife is still completely functional.Lock-up portion on the blade tang is a little rough and could have used a bit more polish/QC to facilitate an easier close as it sometimes gets hung up if you don't pull the lock down far enough. This seems to vary significantly per Ganzo as I have another of the same model that is smoother here. The knife is also pretty heavy as it has full thick liners, but it's not that bad overall and I usually don't notice it in my pocket.The G10 handle is really where this knife punches above it's weight. It feels very good in the hand and provides great stability. It doesn't hang up on my pants either so it goes in and out the pocket easily. I would rather have this knife over the vanilla FRN handle BM Griptilian version as it just feels that much better in the hand. The BM G10 Griptilian version is going to run you over 170 bucks and this knife will get you about 80% of the way there for 20 bucks. I took off the clip and replaced it with a CRKT squid clip which fits this model nicely and allows it to be deep carry. I really wish Ganzo would start using more deep carry clips or at least offer them for purchase separately to give you a factory OEM option.In conclusion, this knife is pretty excellent not even taking the low cost into consideration. For the record, I'm a Benchmade nut and have well over a grand worth of their knives including the Griptilian models. What I've found is that the Benchmade models are definitely better overall in the blade material, fit, finish, and smoothness of opening, but these Ganzos are pretty damn close for a fraction of the cost. It's kind of shocking how good these are for 20 bucks and under. I'm not going to get into the blatant similarities of this knife compared to the BM version it emulates. That's up to you to decide if it bothers you enough to keep you from purchasing it. If you can't or don't want to spend the money for the real deal, these are going to serve you well. I wish I had known about this brand before buying a bunch of Kershaws and various other liner-lock knives as the locking mechanism here is what really makes this knife a joy to use. Ganzo in my mind is the undisputed champ of the budget EDC knife world. If the SHTF, I'm still going to reach for my Benchmade, but these are great knives for a tiny asking price.

I'm totally fine with Chinese products as long as they aren't using another companies design. This Design is copied (not exact but close enough) from another MFG which kinda sucks and i do feel guilty purchasing. But damn, its a hell of a deal on a great design from a company out of Oregon. It does have a major issue that makes this not a product i would purchase again which is the copied AXIS-LOCK system. It's way to stiff which blows, the stiffness effects the deployment and makes the closure a bad experience that i couldn't live with -So I took the knife apart and removed one of the springs and its now its getting a Pass for me to use it...Overall the Quality is good and materials used are also another positive. 440C is a solid performer and i like the G10 but wish they could have skeletonized the liners to save on some weight to make it easier to carry. Bottom line is allot of knife for the money but not without a pretty big Issue IMO. Even after fixing the AXIS-LOCK its still not the knife you'll get if you just purchase the real thing.A cool alternative that is a good original design is the Tangram Sante Fe -its worth the exrtra $10.