Keeping pace with Goblin X :-)

So, I'll follow up with comments, but just a few pictures as I picked up my Xio Alpha Mark 1 folder yesterday. Very impressive and a heck of deal considering the materials for the price. If it had a few distinct USA-made names on it, it would have likely been three times as much. Fit and finish is flawless and as good as most of the custom knives I've owned in this same category. It's a thick slab of S35VN, with stout titanium handles and lock bar. It also has a secondary lock pin ala Extrema Ratio RAO which his well done (threading is a little rough though compared to the RAO). Flipper is smooth and the detent provide good retention when folded. I'm not a huge fan of the blade shape, but it's growing on me.

Of the four mega folders, the Xio and Cold Steel 4-Max are really the only "pocketable" for me and I've been carrying the Xio all day today (The Benchmade Adamas auto is there for comparison as it's considered a pretty larger folder as well).

The CRKT Ruger is actually pretty decent for a $60-70 knife. The frame lock is pretty stout and it's well done overall.

The Cold Steel likely has the strongest locking mechanism (beat out the RAO in a load-bearing test, but both are ridiculously strong).

The Xio is really the best deal for the materials and I would likely rate it as strong as the Cold Steel or even stronger with the pin given the design.

A Grayman SATU would be a nice addition to the club

ROCK6

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Keeping pace with Goblin X :-)