Knives you wanted to dislike but ended up loving

[Enactive]

Now I'm wishing for a K390 blade in the original drop point shape.

Me, too.

Me three! I have repeatedly supported and asked for a K390 drop point variant.

[mikey177]

Spyopera, because I didn't like how it looked in the closed position.

Also, the Hanan, because I am not used to sharpening recurves.

[Josh1973]

For me I would have to pick my Cold Steel Pro Lite clip point. I never had a Spydie I disliked. I bought it and being 4116 Krupp steel. Along with plastic washers, cheap handle. I tried my best to hate it. Well 2 months has went by and I ended up loving this knife.
Reasons being:
Easy to sharpen
unlikely to get stolen
If stolen it is around $20 to $25
Does not draw negative attention or cops easily
Strong handle and lock
Help up to hard work use
And the Tri Ad on mine is easy to disengage and not sticky.

I am still looking for a reason to hate it. But I cannot find one.

[vivi]

Cold Steel makes some nice stuff. All of my machetes and 1/3 of my fixed blades are Cold Steel. The Kopis machete, Cutlass Saber machete, SRK, SRKC and Recon Tanto are all really nice, and none are over $50.

The large Voyager is one of the best budget folders on the market too, but I like the spydiehole too much to carry it.

[Josh1973]

Cold Steel makes some nice stuff. All of my machetes and 1/3 of my fixed blades are Cold Steel. The Kopis machete, Cutlass Saber machete, SRK, SRKC and Recon Tanto are all really nice, and none are over $50.

The large Voyager is one of the best budget folders on the market too, but I like the spydiehole too much to carry it.

This is gonna sound crazy. But I like the Pro Lite better than the Voyager. I like the handle grip and styling better for my hand. Remind you. That I usually shun linerless knives. With the exception of my REX 45 Native Chief. And yes the Native Chief is a better built knife. But also cost me $245. Where the Pro Lite cost me $21. I own 2 Pro Lites and I cannot find fault even though I want to.And have been a part of my EDC more than any other knife I own.

[vivi]

Cold Steel makes some nice stuff. All of my machetes and 1/3 of my fixed blades are Cold Steel. The Kopis machete, Cutlass Saber machete, SRK, SRKC and Recon Tanto are all really nice, and none are over $50.

The large Voyager is one of the best budget folders on the market too, but I like the spydiehole too much to carry it.

This is gonna sound crazy. But I like the Pro Lite better than the Voyager. I like the handle grip and styling better for my hand. Remind you. That I usually shun linerless knives. With the exception of my REX 45 Native Chief. And yes the Native Chief is a better built knife. But also cost me $245. Where the Pro Lite cost me $21. I own 2 Pro Lites and I cannot find fault even though I want to.And have been a part of my EDC more than any other knife I own.

For the price I'll order one sometime soon. For some reason I was thinking of the tuff-lite when you mentioned the pro lite, but their handles are quite different. Looks like they even come in opening hole versions too!

[Josh1973]

Cold Steel makes some nice stuff. All of my machetes and 1/3 of my fixed blades are Cold Steel. The Kopis machete, Cutlass Saber machete, SRK, SRKC and Recon Tanto are all really nice, and none are over $50.

The large Voyager is one of the best budget folders on the market too, but I like the spydiehole too much to carry it.

This is gonna sound crazy. But I like the Pro Lite better than the Voyager. I like the handle grip and styling better for my hand. Remind you. That I usually shun linerless knives. With the exception of my REX 45 Native Chief. And yes the Native Chief is a better built knife. But also cost me $245. Where the Pro Lite cost me $21. I own 2 Pro Lites and I cannot find fault even though I want to.And have been a part of my EDC more than any other knife I own.

For the price I'll order one sometime soon. For some reason I was thinking of the tuff-lite when you mentioned the pro lite, but their handles are quite different. Looks like they even come in opening hole versions too!

I cannot recommend the Pro Lite opening hole style. It is misplaced and hard to use for one handed opening. I tried one and returned it for the standard thumb stud. It does look cool though. Your experiences may be more fruitful.

[Nate]

-Other honorable mentions from bargain hunting include the Pingo...

There was a 2015 graphic Elmax Pingo in a B&M store near me for nearly 2 years, when they were clearing it out they marked it down to $120. I regret not picking it up. I would love a real Voxnaes someday.

It never worked in a regular grip for me, but knowing voxnaes, it's probably comfortable in some less common grips. Wish we'd get another Spyderco vox/anso, but not likely - those giant mice are tempting

The Pingo grip made no sense to me until I got one in hand, but I ended up really liking it. OTOH, I’ve never warmed up to the Dragonfly, go figure.

I actually have a Giant Mouse t-shirt, but my Pingos are the only Vox/Anso design I have. Wish they would make a folder that wasn’t a righty frame/liner lock…

[mb1]

Canis. The only thing I’ve ended up disliking is a weird rattle it has when closed. Minor gripe. Awesome blade.

[Superflex]

The Native Chief
I wasn't a fan of my LW Native 5 in S90V (sold) or my Shaman in S30V (sold), but once I got the Native Chief, saw the size and realized how easy it carries in a pocket for such a big knife, I have become a fan. So much so, I just snagged a CS one in XHP.

The Shaman was just too heavy and thick and the stonewash finish wasn't to my liking. The LW Native 5 wasn't what I was expecting. For a backlock, I thought the action kinda sucked and the spydiehole placement closer to the scales wasn't as conducive for a thumb roll as say a Delica.

[DansGearAddiction]

Sorry for the super long post, but I'm going to take a different approach to this question -- for me, up until a couple years ago, this applied to ALL Spyderco knives.

I'm going to admit flat out that I had biases of what a knife should be and didn't know about steels what I know today -- when I got into knives, I saw Spyderco and immediately didn't get it:

• I didn't get the "weird" design choices.
• I didn't understand why you'd ever put a non-stainless steels on a knife.
• I didn't like the fact that so many models used FRN/FRCP which I viewed as "feeling cheap"
• I didn't get why they weren't collaborating with as many designers.
• I didn't understand the aesthetics.

A friend who is also a knife nerd kept insisting to me that I was making a huge mistake by not paying attention to completely brushing aside Spyderco. When we would go meet up, he would bring them over and while I would handle them, but I still kind of dismissed them off-hand.

I don't remember the exact reason, but one day I decided to buy a Spyderco to actually use and carry for a few days. I ended up picking up a Roadie in N690.

I was surprised since ended up largely liking the knife, but it fell into a familiar problem -- there was always some decision that I didn't like that ended up being a deal breaker -- in this case, why the "half stop" was so hard to overcome.

I even said to my friend "See, every time I handle these Spyderco knives, there is always something about it that I can't get past" and immediately mentioned that it was by design and the mark of a good slip-joint -- I ended up trading the Roadie away, but some seeds of doubt about my opinion at the time were probably planted.

I continued to have discussions with my friend about my knife opinions and at some point, someone on an EDC Buy/Sell/Trade had a Spyderco Chaparral LW up for sale at a price that I couldn't pass on, so I said that I'd give it a try with a more "standard" style knife.

When I got the Chaparral, it was like a light bulb went off and was an absolute game changer -- I didn't like the knife, I loved the knife. The ergos, the cutting geometry, the thumb hole -- everything just worked for me with the knife (to this day it is still one of three knives in my "God" tier of knives).

As time went on, I started getting more Spyderco's in-hand (including ones I had previously brushed aside) and I started to appreciate the focus on optimizing edge geometry, steel and in-hand performance. It finally clicked: what deviates Spyderco from the rest IS the heart and soul of Spyderco.

Fast forward to today, I look back and laugh at my absolute ignorance -- I have since owned 16 different Spydercos (way more than any other company) and have probably handled 30+ models with many still on the wishlist to try out. I consider myself a huge fan of the company (I am here after-all ) and continue to be excited for new releases and innovations that Spyderco brings into the knife world.

[JRinFL]

Spydercos are hard to like, but easy to love.

[Brock O Lee]

S110V UKPK. It was my first foray into the world of Spyderco slipjoints. I bought it as an experiment to check out the mechanism, but did not expect to love it, because neither FRN nor S110V are my favourites.

I was wrong, the combo works so well together in this package. It turned out to be a super light weight corrosion resistant slicer, and I didn’t miss the lock. It is a good choice for in-waistband carry for those days when you “just need a knife”.