Ruike P801-SB Thoughts

I've heard a lot of good things about Ruike and accordingly set my standards pretty high for this P801-SB. Boy was I sorely disappointed. This is one of my least favorites knives I've tried this year. I'm glad I finally tried a Ruike but am happy it's back with its owner now.

As far as likes go, I was surprised at how great the ergos were. It's a huge knife (4.75" handle) that fits my whole hand quite comfortably. The single finger groove is perfect and then the rest of your hand just falls into place. I'm not typically a fan of metal handles due to the inevitable hotspots, but that's not a problem with this knife. The black stonewashed color combo looks cool! I do like that it's a flipper yet the action isn't the best. More on that in a bit. For a budget knife around $30 to $40, the framelock has solid lockup, and there are no quality issues. I've had good experiences with the 14C28N during my typical EDC usage. It's certainly much better than 8Cr13MoV. The slim handle width is great too. Big knives tend to be very stout, so I'm glad that wasn't the case with this one. I like the clean and simple design as well.

For dislikes, the weight and big 3.5" blade don't fit my preferences at all. In videos that I had seen, I was under the impression that it was a mid-sized knife for some reason. I very rarely need a blade over 3" in my EDC these days. I'll never be a fan of deep carry clips and would love to see companies give up on them. The action leaves a lot to be desired too. I get a lot more half-deployments than I'd like. You have to use just the right amount of pressure to get it to flip cleanly. With the full stainless steel handles, it carries like a brick (4.25 oz.). Its size and how it carries were the biggest gripes for me.

I can see why people like Ruike so much, but this particular model is not the one for me. If you want a good budget knife, the Ontario Rat 2 and Kershaw Dividend are just two of hundreds that deserve a look. If Ruike put out a scaled down version of this knife, that'd probably solve a lot of my issues. Thanks for looking!