I don’t mind either the regular compression lock, nor the dual detent; I understand why they did it.
I usually wouldn’t also mind a regular button, single detent top liner lock like what is on the Racoon and Porcupine, but some of the button compression locks being released right now are half-baked, simply driven by the trend instead of the engineering and vetting. They can quite easily be opened accidentally or have lock fails. I have the same critique with straight button plunge locks.
I'm generally not a fan of the plunge style button locks. I have a few that are good but they've mostly been disappointing and some have had issues. (I've owned, taken apart, and tinkered with a bunch of them.)
The top-liner button locks are a major step up. I have to ask though. Where are you seeing all these reports of failure? I only have a handful, namely the Vosteed Kroc, a couple of Raccoons, and Psyops; as well as the Kizer Drop Bear 2 in two different blade shapes. All are excellent.
I know there were some failures with the drop bear from what I recall, and I do remember failures with the Racoon, but I think those were with the button lock version. Vosteed have had the top li er locks pretty dialed.
I was really interested in where the Tenable Fenrir with the button top liner lock was going to land, but it seems that those have had unlocking failures as well.
The real point I was driving was actually more with the buttons. Other companies are not doing dual detents and running buttons that seem more accessible and prone to accidental opening. I’ve heard that on reports with the Fenrir, and I’m wondering if other companies, in an effort to capitalize on the popularity of this lock right now, are rushing through their R&D and due diligence to get product out the door without making sure it is safe.
I know there were some failures with the drop bear from what I recall, and I do remember failures with the Racoon, but I think those were with the button lock version. Vosteed have had the top li er locks pretty dialed.
I was really interested in where the Tenable Fenrir with the button top liner lock was going to land, but it seems that those have had unlocking failures as well.
The real point I was driving was actually more with the buttons. Other companies are not doing dual detents and running buttons that seem more accessible and prone to accidental opening. I’ve heard that on reports with the Fenrir, and I’m wondering if other companies, in an effort to capitalize on the popularity of this lock right now, are rushing through their R&D and due diligence to get product out the door without making sure it is safe.
Are any other companies doing the dual detents?
Lots of companies are doing plunge-style button locks now. I have seen a couple of reports of plunge-style button locks failing "spine whack" tests but only a couple. I've seen other lock types fail spine whack tests too. Heck, I've had liner and frame locks with stupidly early lockup that'll fail.
I've had maybe a dozen plunge-style button locks. Minor lock rock or blade play is an issue with some of them. While I don't generally do spine whacks, I do crank on the blades a bit from different angles to test lockup when I get them or when I reassemble them. They seem solid enough not to fail but I also don't implicitly trust folders with large amounts of force. The thing that really bothers me about lots of the plunge-style button locks is "soft detent" or squishy breaks. (I have the same problem with cross-bar locks.) The main exceptions are the Begleiter 2 and the WE version of the Qubit. Those are fantastic.
BTW, it looks like I've acquired nine top-liner button locks now, all from Kizer and Vosteed. They all escape the problems mentioned above.
