The Rike Hummingbird is one of the tiniest knives I've tried. What intrigued me the most about it was the fact that it's a flipper, since it's very hard to find flippers in this size range. While I think the action is a bit lacking, it's a neat knife overall. It's not one that I'd recommend for EDC usage, but it fills the role of a show piece or pocket jewelry quite nicely. It's nowhere near as useful as other smaller knives I've tried.
The size alone make this more of a novelty knife than anything. It's a beautiful design by Rike with a variety of color options as well. They've done different golds, pinks, purples, greens, blues, etc. Mine's green and purple with some blue accents on the framelock and clip. The damascus blade and cool colors make it look very classy. The gold pivot is a great touch too, and it even has Rike's logo on it. The quality on mine is fine, though I have heard people have had issues with theirs.
I didn't realize how tiny this knife was until I actually got it in person. The 1.5" blade is definitely on the lower extreme of what I'd consider usable. I thought it'd be comparable to the Spyderco Ladybug (with a 1.69" blade), but boy does that missing 0.19" make a difference. The Damasteel looks beautiful and was sharp enough for the light tasks I put it through. With a knife this tiny, I only can see it being used for cutting open letters/packages. I would not even try to cut cardboard with this thing.
The hole in the blade is purely for cosmetic reasons, because the main way to open the knife is the flipper tab. Like the knife, the flipper tab is very tiny, almost too tiny to get a solid grip on. It certainly could have benefited from being a bit bigger. With the knife being so small and having titanium handles, it's already hard enough to get a good enough grasp on the knife. It's a struggle for me to consistently hit the flipper tab just right to get it to flip well. The Hummingbird does run on ceramic ball bearings but that doesn't translate to good, smooth action. It takes a decent number of crummy half flips before I can get a solid one. This is the type of action I'd expect on a sub $30 knife, not one that you're paying $75+ for. The tab is maybe just a little too sharp for me as well which means it's not one of those knives you could sit and play with all day.
The titanium handles are what you'd expect for a knife this pricey. Besides the colors, the only thing that stood out to me was the cutouts. They're mainly for aesthetics in my opinion but do give your fingers something to grip into. There's no jimping anywhere on the knife besides the flipper tab. I kind of expected this since it's a classier, sleeker knife, but it definitely could've benefited from some added texture. Again, with the tinier size and slicker handles, there's not much to grip onto, causing a lot of issues with getting it to flip well. The framelock was relatively solid and was easy to disengage too.
The handle comes in a 2.25" long so the ergos are another area that suffers. I can only manage to fit a two and a half finger grip on here comfortably which kind of surprised me. Even then, I didn't feel like I ever had solid grasp on the knife. There were no hotspots luckily. It just didn't feel as comfortable as I'd like. For those of you with larger hands, it's probably a one or two finger knife.
A huge benefit of tiny knives is how well they carry. This knife weighs a crazy light 0.6 ounces and absolutely disappeared when I carried it in the waistband. I like the inclusion of the clip, since that's not something you frequently see on these tinier knives. I'd love it if Spyderco did a clipped knife in the Ladybug size range. Something like that would never leave my side.
These go for about $135 on Blade HQ which is absolutely ridiculous for what you're getting. However, Massdrop has had some exclusive deals for $75 to $80 in the past few months. That's of course better than the $100+ price tag, though I still think it's high for a knife you'll rarely be able to seriously use. If the action was better, I wouldn't feel as bad paying the $75. That's not the case though. Unless you like tiny knives, save your money and get something else instead.
It did come in a nice tin with a neck sheath and chain in the event you wanted to wear it as a necklace. The inclusion of those makes it even more apparent to me that this is a jewelry piece opposed to an EDC knife. Since it's so slim and light, it probably would carry well as a neck knife.
Here's a comparison shot of the Hummingbird next to some of my other favorite tiny options: the Spyderco Ladybug and Victorinox Classic. It's about the same length closed as the Classic and slightly smaller than the Ladybug. Both the Classic and Ladybug offer much better ergos and more functionality for a similarly compact package.
All in all, this is not a knife that I'd recommend as a serious EDC option. I've seen much better tiny knives that are less expensive, more functional, and have better ergos/action. Unless the design really speaks to you, I say skip it. It has been neat to see more companies doing smaller knives for a change. I like the idea behind this one yet don't think the execution is 100% there. If you want a tiny flipper, maybe check out the Bestech Reticulan or CRKT Eros small instead. I don't recommend the Hummingbird at all. Thanks for looking!
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