Kershaw Natrix Thoughts

The Kershaw Natrix looked better on paper than it has in person. I thought I'd at least like some aspects of it, but it has very few redeeming qualities. If you're looking for a budget knife, there's plenty of better options out there. Big thanks to Mike for letting me borrow it from him!

As far as likes go, I do like all the color options Kershaw did. They've got a blue, olive green, and even a fancier G10/carbon fiber version. The black-on-black looks awesome! It's a cool looking design, but it doesn't translate well to the hand unfortunately. I'll get to that in the dislikes section. A 3.25" blade is a good size for a mid-sized folder. 8Cr13MoV isn't a wonder steel by any means, yet it performs just fine. For $30 though, you should get something a little nicer in my opinion. I do like the texturing of the G10 scales, and I've surprisingly had no quality issues unlike other Kershaws I've had.

Getting onto the dislikes, one of my biggest complaints is the ergos. They are absolutely awful. The hump along the back of the handle digs into my hand uncomfortably. Also the single finger groove is too big for just one of my fingers, so my middle finger always manages to hit just where the groove curves into the rest of the handle. That's one reason I hate finger grooves. If your fingers don't match up, you're going to have some of the points digging into your hand where they shouldn't. The sub-framelock has solid lockup but looks extremely ugly in my opinion. I always loved hearing Frankie from Birdshot IV talk about how ugly the lock was. It doesn't look as weird on this version, but when it's silver, it looks so tacky. I absolute hate deep carry clips, and this one is weirdly small for how big the handle is. SpeedSafe is normally hit or miss for me, and the Natrix's action is a huge miss. The action is so clunky and obnoxious. It's one of my least favorite flippers I've tried. I also don't like how wide the handle is. For waistband carry, I prefer slimmer knives so they don't dig into me. The whole handle is a failure overall that ruins the knife for me.

I think you get the gist by now. The few likes are far outnumbered by how many dislikes there are. It's one of the worst designed knives when it comes to feel in the hand and carry. I would have regretted the purchase had I bought one myself. If you want a spring assisted Kershaw, check out the Dividend instead. That knife is better in every single way. They did have a few different versions too, like a manual one and a smaller model, yet I'm not sure if either is still around. Maybe I would have liked those more, yet the design would still be the same crap. Thanks for looking!