Oh Caribbean where art thou?

[george.hill11c]

I try to buy most of my spydies directly from the Golden Kingdom and I haven't seen either version of the Caribbean in stock in at least a year, is there a CQI update happening? I know it wasn't that popular but hopefully they aren't discontinuing it

[elena86]

Don't get me started ... I am so frustrated myself I am so looking forward to purchase a leafy one :eek: Bring 'em before I cave and spend my money on rubbish !

[Evil D]

Apparently there IS a CQI thing going on, the hardware is being changed to a coated version, and who knows what else.

[RandomNick]

It's good to know I'm not the only one waiting impatiently for the Caribbean to be restocked.

[prsman]

Can’t wait. I will be definitely purchasing one!

[Sumdumguy]

It's such an amazing package.

Some people don't like that it has a somewhat soft detent. Based on the detent on my wife's Watu, the CQI may fix that particular complaint.

[curlyhairedboy]

I'm hoping we see some soon!

[Dazen]

Caribbean is back!

[VooDooChild]

Caribbean is back!

Yup, for a few days now. Sirens too. Got a serrated leaf shape in the mail. Curious to see if anything has been changed.

[JuPaul]

Yep, 3 versions back in stock at DLT:

https://www.dlttrading.com/searchresults.html

[sal]

We had some issues with galvanic reaction and had to do some CQI experimenting.

sal

[ladybug93]

We had some issues with galvanic reaction and had to do some CQI experimenting.

sal

i see it’s back in stock on the spyderco website. are these the latest cqi version?

[JuPaul]

I wanted to compare the PE leaf blade to the SE and see which I like best for edc, so when I saw them in stock again I jumped. The new PE one arrived yesterday, and it is definitely a CQI version, although it is dated GS (July 2019). The changes I can see (without taking it apart):

-screws and standoffs are black coated
-the g10 inside the scales around the liners is black rather than yellow
-the ridge texturing is different. The black ridges are thicker, and therefore closer together.

[VooDooChild]

I wanted to compare the PE leaf blade to the SE and see which I like best for edc, so when I saw them in stock again I jumped. The new PE one arrived yesterday, and it is definitely a CQI version, although it is dated GS (July 2019). The changes I can see (without taking it apart):

-screws and standoffs are black coated
-the g10 inside the scales around the liners is black rather than yellow
-the ridge texturing is different. The black ridges are thicker, and therefore closer together.

So no pivot change?
I also have a new one coming so I cant wait to compare it.
Something Im curious about is the clip. I see pics online of two different clip colors. A light one and a dark one.

I also think the ridge texturing might just vary alot depending on the tooling and how they mill that out. Maybe they changed that? Im not sure but there is definitely variation. My old caribbean has much thinner ridges on the bottom half of the backside scale compared to the front.

[JuPaul]

I wanted to compare the PE leaf blade to the SE and see which I like best for edc, so when I saw them in stock again I jumped. The new PE one arrived yesterday, and it is definitely a CQI version, although it is dated GS (July 2019). The changes I can see (without taking it apart):

-screws and standoffs are black coated
-the g10 inside the scales around the liners is black rather than yellow
-the ridge texturing is different. The black ridges are thicker, and therefore closer together.

So no pivot change?
I also have a new one coming so I cant wait to compare it.
Something Im curious about is the clip. I see pics online of two different clip colors. A light one and a dark one.

I also think the ridge texturing might just vary alot depending on the tooling and how they mill that out. Maybe they changed that? Im not sure but there is definitely variation. My old caribbean has much thinner ridges on the bottom half of the backside scale compared to the front.

Interesting. Now that you mention it, there does appear to be slight variation in thickness of the ridges between the two scales on both models. But there is a BIG difference in thickness btw the cqi one and the older one. I'm curious to see if that's the case with all the newer ones.

Both my clips are an identical matte finish ti.

From the outside, I can't see any changes to the pivot beyond the black screws. The washers look the same, etc.

And just for the sake of comparison, my SE model is dated FR - June 2018.

[ladybug93]

i need the caribbean in my life. i like the slightly updated look. how is the detent? does it feel the same?

[JuPaul]

i need the caribbean in my life. i like the slightly updated look. how is the detent? does it feel the same?

The detent feels the same to me. I can pop both open with a firm shake, but it's not weak enough that I'm concerned it'll open in my pocket.

[curlyhairedboy]

Can't wait for mine to come in! Think I'll try to nab a plain edge sheepsfoot and a serrated sheepsfoot...

[Sumdumguy]

I wanted to compare the PE leaf blade to the SE and see which I like best for edc, so when I saw them in stock again I jumped. The new PE one arrived yesterday, and it is definitely a CQI version, although it is dated GS (July 2019). The changes I can see (without taking it apart):

-screws and standoffs are black coated
-the g10 inside the scales around the liners is black rather than yellow
-the ridge texturing is different. The black ridges are thicker, and therefore closer together.

In the third picture, you can see that the lockbar tab has been shaped/chamfered a bit.

The liners are noticeably smoother(to my eye) in that picture, aswell.

[curlyhairedboy]

My plain edge sheepsfoot CQI came in! It's better than ever!