There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
The finishing on the G10 scales is great, and the action is good, but that's about it for pluses.
The pocket clip looks homemade, has sharp edges, and retention seems weak. The pivot screws also look pretty cheap. The thumb studs look and feel OK, but they're too close to the scales or too short. But the worst thing is that it has significant side to side blade play out of the box. I hope I can tighten that up without screwing up the action. #0060
Edit: I couldn't get rid of the play. I think the washers may be too small. I checked my Benchmade 940 and it's worse. My 484 has no play. Another plus though - I love the grind. It reminds me of my Spyderco Southard.
Edit: Posted this elsewhere but thought it should be here too. I did eventually get rid of all blade play, but needed to trim the pivot barrel <0.02 inch to do it (both screws were in as tight as they could go as it came). A small hidden washer between the scale and screw would have worked too. Of course, I then had to go through a break in period like most others to get the good action back.
Besides the questionable thumb stud placement, this knife is a win for me. And in all fairness, most knives I’ve purchased at this price point have needed a little setup from the factory.
However, I took out the pivot and shaved about half a millimeter off the pivot barrel with sharpening stones. I took it just a hair below scale height. That allowed me some adjustment room to tighten it up a little. Blade play is mostly gone now. It won't free drop like this, but it's not bad and should improve with break-in. I think I've gotten to where you're at with respect to the action.
I also bent the clip a touch and it doesn't twang when taking it out of my pocket anymore.
Still not real happy with the thumb studs but, like many others are saying, I tend to wrist flick axis lock knives anyway.
I normally prefer using the thumbstuds anyway. This is just too stiff even for that to work consistently. Kind of sucks that the action on a $20 Ganzo knife with axis lock is far superior to this thing. Plus, they recess the omega spring! I thought I had a burr in the liners until someone pointed out it was the spring. Have not seen that on any other Axis type lock.
EDIT: This was not meant to say that the Perpetua is a bad knife. I just meant that the Ganzo F720 is a surprisingly good axis style knife for next to nothing.
So far we only have 4 support tickets for any issues, including the pocket clip, but we'll keep an eye on that number. This knife is covered by Millit's warranty via Massdrop, so if you've gotten a unit with a manufacturing defect we will most definitely take care of you with a return or exchange. Click here to find your order record and click "Contact Support" https://www.massdrop.com/transactions