Superflex wrote: ↑Tue Nov 30, 2021 8:11 pm
RamZar wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 6:04 pm
As far as the M4/Mint FRN go, the price of the Sage5 is totally ridiculous at $154.00 considering Para3 was $122.50 and now Native5 is $119.00!
Yeah but Taichung quality blows Golden's out of the water. and the cost to ship steel half way around the world and back adds a premium. A N5 is not even close to a Sage 5, especially with that mediocre Golden FRN pattern and a backlock. Sage 5 FRN is a work of art and so well finished without the Golden rough edges. The compression lock action the best I have seen out of the box.
Some say the Caribbean isn't worth $186 for LC200N. I would disagree. It's not the steel but the quality, fit and finish.
Look at the Kapara, Swayback and others. You have to pay for the best and unfortunately, Golden is not on par with Taichung IMHO.
Taichungs quality isnt better than Golden.
A lot of people on here like to say that but that doesnt make it true.
Over the last 5 years I have had a lot of models made in Taichung and Golden pass through my hands...
Theyre quality is easily equal and I prefer Golden models.
For non-frn stuff I will say Golden is better.
Solid carbon fiber vs peel ply laminate. (Exception for the kapara.)
No rattling lanyard tubes.
No rattling stop pins, stepped stop pins as well.
Ive had comp locks from Seki, Taichung, and Golden.
Golden is consistently the best.
Most of the Taichung ones Ive used are really good but why cant they use a stepped stop pin?
As far as adjusting comp locks go I have the most luck with the Golden made ones.
I prefer the bidirectional frn pattern to the fish scale pattern so in my opinion Golden and Seki have the better pattern.
If Golden had chamfered their lightweights I dont think people would have any complaints about them.
I will say this, the para 3 lightweight is about the worst example of what Golden can do and the Sage 5 lightweight is very good. So comparing these two is more of an outlier than a fair comparison of Golden models to Taichung models.
Comparing native 5 to sage 5 is preference but Golden makes probably the best backlock on the planet so I dont agree with what you said.
For the price I think Golden is the better value. Theres nothing about the construction of the Watu/Kapara/Canis that actually makes me think the quality is better than a PM2. And a pm2 is $40 cheaper.
(The only argument here is the pm2s screwed stop pin.)
But for the same price I can make the same argumemt and substitute pm2 for Shaman.
The caribbean should be better than it is for the price they charge. There are several things that it doesnt get right.
The swayback for me was a huge disappointment at its price point. Theres nothing wrong with it, it just didnt do it for me.
But I can say nothing at all about it is better than my Golden made fluted titanium Military.