Buck X-Tract review in the current issue of Tactical Knives

[Grant Lamontagne]

Has anyone else read it?  I personally found it was a bit generous sounding but I'd like to hear what others thought.

Def

[J-sews]

Thank's for sending me the article scans Def. Hope it's okay for me to post them here for other folks to read.
(I shrank the scans down to 800 pixels wide. Hopefully no one has to do any side-to-side scrolling. I hate that.)

[Spoonrobot]

I too read the review and like seeing multitools in the knife mags but they never really have any depth. I will admit that Tactical Knives is much much more detailed than some of the competitiors in their reviews. When I read a review I want some serious depth. When using the can opener how long is each cut? How does the handle feel? Is it more or less tiring to use than X tool? How are the drivers ground? What length are they? Where are they in relation to the central axis of the tool? Is the flathead suitable for prying? How do the pliers work during heavy use? Does having the pliers off-axis make any difference in the use of the tool? How big is it compared to X, X, and X tools? How does the tool work with wet/slippery hands? Where is it made? (For some reason many companies seem ashamed to admit their tools/knives are made overseas. I don't care either way I would just like to know. Pertinent!) and so forth.

I guess that's why I hang around here so much. Depth! and Detail!

[665ae]

I actually thought it was a pretty good review.  I like that the author included a few mundane household tasks and how the X-tract worked doing them.

[Thargor]

Thanks for the scans J-Sews/Def...

Thats it, Im buying one, the Zilla and the Guppie are very dissapointing after looking at those size comparison shots in the other thread, if they're more awkward size-wise with less of a tool selection than a Swisstool or a Charge then what is the point reallly? Plus Ive always liked the look of the X-Tract better than the Zilla anyway.

Hmmm, just looking on Ebay there, prices seem to have gone up since the last time I was looking at them, probably because Summers on the way and people are gearing up for it, Ill keep an eye on it for a couple of days...

[J-sews]

I'm sitting on the fence here a bit. I like my X-tract (I wish I would have gotten a red one!) but the article in Tactical Knives makes it out to be better than it really is. Nowhere does the guy mention any of the X-tracts shortcomings, like the somewhat clumsy/too small pliers. The article reads more like an advertisement than a fair evaluation. 

[665ae]

Maybe he doesn't think the pliers are clumsy/too small?  I would have liked to see some pictures of him tightening the windshield wiper arm nut with it.  I tried doing one of those with my X-tract and couldn't get the torque needed to get it tight.

[Grant Lamontagne]

At the risk of getting myself sued for libel in addition to copyright infringement (in for a penny, in for a pound as my mother used to say!) I have to say that while I enjoy Tactical Knives magazine, they really only seem interested in posting good things.  While this is a fine idea, we all know that no tool/knife etc is perfect and that's why the reviews at Multitool.org (at least the ones written by me) have three pros and three cons.  It's my way of being fair to both the customer (reader) and the manufacturer, plus I don't believe on dumping on folks.

At worst all the TK writers say is what they'd like to see done to the design (ie- "I'd like to see a tanto point version" or "I wish there was a g-10 version") which I don't think does the reader any justice.  It's like going to a used car dealer who tries to convince you that every car on the lot is absolutely perfect for your needs. 

If everyone blows smoke up the manufacturer's arse, how will they know what needs to be fixed in the next generation?  And if someone doesn't point out what the drawbacks are, how are the consumers going to feel when a glaring fault is overlooked?  Quite frankly, when I surf a review site like Epinions.com, the first thing I do is scan the pros and cons listed at the beginning of each.  Anything that's mentioned several times in the cons section is obviously a problem, and I decide if it's the kind of thing that's important to me.  Often times it's something I can work around or something that isn't a huge deal to me, and sometimes I just don't consider it a liability.

Of course, this is all my opinion, and it doesn't for a moment detract from me continuing to read every issue.  In fact, their trend lately has been to take knives to certain places and use them for specific purposes, like hunting or fishing or general woodland chores.  Then they say how well the knife did, which is much better than the straight out review where the knife does the "standard" tests and performs as well as every other knife that ever went through those tests.

Def