Guardian Knives by Fiskars

[Goatlord666]

I just got a couple of these in the mail afew days ago and was thinking if anybody else have had any experience with these very affordably priced wonders. I'll try to take some pictures and will post them shortly thereafter

[Sparky415]

 

 

[jekostas]

I've just started seeing those knives at a local outdoors store, but I've never had the chance to play with one.  Steel doesn't seem anything special (listed as 420HC) but that's fine.

Interested to see what you think.

[JAfromMn]

[Goatlord666]

Hello friends,

sorry it took me forever to put up pictures... my cheap camera needed to be disciplined back to pure. Here are some pictures of the knives in their original packaging. I guess Fiskars took the minimalist approach - this may be coincidental, but being the brand pushers that they are, I feel that they did this on purpose. Mystery begets attention - at least in my world.




For sizing reference, I have placed them with a knife that most of us are familiar with



I've carried them over a few days and I'm pretty happy with what I got back for the money I spent. I'm not going over specifics on the weight as they're barely as heavy as a Victorinox camper.



These babies have the plunge locking mechanism that was made popular (in planet Gerber) by the Instant. While I'm more confident using a knife with a liner lock, the lock up on both these knives have been adequate enough for my use. You have to treat these knives like you would any light to medium duty folder



as for the spring mechanism; I'm a lot happier with the springs on these as compared to the early versions of the Instant. The blades eject faster and lock up with a loud snap. They actually perform so well that the blades assisted opening gave my Kershaw Echelon the jitters.



As i've said, Fiskars are brand/label pushers... I wonder how much they paid for this packaging design



I've barely used these knives, but they have served quite well around the house... more pictures to come

[Jack Knife]

It's the same ao tech. as the Gerber Instant.  I didn't like the first gen. Instant too much.  I just knew it would open in my pocket.  Gerber solved the problem by grinding the choil on the knife to provide some resistance, but I can already feel it smoothing out.  Don't know about the Guardian series here.  I know Gerber had problems with the FAST mechanism opening accidently in peoples pockets and had to add the safety button.  I think Gerber should be proactive and do the same with these.  The SOG Slim Jim works off the same technology as the Instant and the Guardians, but the safety slips off as the knife enters my pocket and it has opened on accident.  I like this ao technology, but I don't trust it without a safety.  I like the colors on the Guardian knives though.

[Jack Knife]

I went for one of the linerlock versions as I stated in my last post my dislike for Gerber's button lock.  Rather, my dislike for the action that uses the button lock on the Instant most particularly. 
I grabbed the Guardian J3 from Wal-Mart for $10.

My out of the box concensus:
So far so good.  Just picked it up this morning though.  I am a maintenance director so it will see some real hard use this week. The linerlock is very tight and I am impressed.  Fit and finish, for $10, I would say is very good.  There was no blade play and the blade was centered.  Very sooth opening.  Deep riding pocket clip.  Ergos are exceptional especially if this is to be a work knife.  I like the touch of green, most especially in my line of work.  Easy to find if dropped.  Plastic handles with ss liners.  In short, for a cheap beater, you can't beat it.  I believe it could have edc potential, but we will have to see how the edge retention goes.

And I got a nice gift tin for a survival kit or first aid kit.

[thebullfrog]

Any idea how the A.O. is built in relation to the old Gerber FAST? I had one of the original FAST knives and the mechanism literally exploded after about a week. Pieces of the spring mechanism came flying out of the knife. Never touched another Gerber again. For the price these could be a decent throwaway beater, provided they don't blow up in your hand.

[jekostas]

Okay looking knives, phenomenally stupid branding.

[Goatlord666]

Any idea how the A.O. is built in relation to the old Gerber FAST? I had one of the original FAST knives and the mechanism literally exploded after about a week. Pieces of the spring mechanism came flying out of the knife. Never touched another Gerber again. For the price these could be a decent throwaway beater, provided they don't blow up in your hand.

the gerber 06 fast's quality issues still baffle me up to this point (well, I do accept the fact that Gerber has a wide gap to fill in terms of QC). I have not tried comparing them side to side since I only have the 06 Auto. I have used thes knives everyday for almost a month and they haven't fallen to pieces. there's a little bit of blade play on the deployed position but it's barely noticeable. But for the price - i'd go for these as opposed to the 06 FAST.

[Goatlord666]

I went for one of the linerlock versions as I stated in my last post my dislike for Gerber's button lock.  Rather, my dislike for the action that uses the button lock on the Instant most particularly. 
I grabbed the Guardian J3 from Wal-Mart for $10.

My out of the box concensus:
So far so good.  Just picked it up this morning though.  I am a maintenance director so it will see some real hard use this week. The linerlock is very tight and I am impressed.  Fit and finish, for $10, I would say is very good.  There was no blade play and the blade was centered.  Very sooth opening.  Deep riding pocket clip.  Ergos are exceptional especially if this is to be a work knife.  I like the touch of green, most especially in my line of work.  Easy to find if dropped.  Plastic handles with ss liners.  In short, for a cheap beater, you can't beat it.  I believe it could have edc potential, but we will have to see how the edge retention goes.

And I got a nice gift tin for a survival kit or first aid kit.

let us know how these fare. and at 10 bucks...that's a steal!