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71% would recommend to a friend 
Massdrop x Tashi Bharucha Heat Seeker Folding Knife
01 / 19
Massdrop x Tashi Bharucha Heat Seeker Folding Knife
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Product Description
Our second collaboration with Tashi Bharucha, the Heat Seeker is a production version of one of his most popular custom knives. From its skeletonized, aggressively angled handle to its wide trailing-point blade, it’s instantly recognizable Read More
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Customer Reviews
4.0
(27 reviews)
5star(14)
4star(5)
3star(4)
2star(3)
1star(1)
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keyboard_arrow_downSbunny
7
Sep 26, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
Great blade. Great design. Shipping was horrendous.
Love this knife. It does need some break in time. A little difficult to push the release to close. I expect that to improve over time. Horrible shipping. Took at least 2 weeks to ship after getting the shipping notice. Shipping tracker link never showed any shipping progress. Box arrived damaged and packaging was poor. The poor shipping is a deal breaker for any future purchases if it is not corrected. Knife is great though. Massdrop shipping has been traditionally good, but this time was a bust.
Recommends this product? Yes
awk
1600
Sep 10, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
Incredible knife, shipping not so great
I got bronze Z06. It looks as beautiful as I expected, and I had very high expectations.
It was shipped in a plastic bag like a $15 multimeter from Gearbest, which was disappointing. At least my box was only slightly crushed, and everything was fine inside, including the certificate of authenticity.
I definitely want to pick up another one in a different finish when they come around again. Hopefully next time it will ship in a proper box!
Recommends this product? Yes
Toucan
65
Nov 11, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
My favorite folding knife OF ALL TIME despite it's flaws
What I love
What could be better
What I hate
- - Beautiful Tashi design, very sleek, clean, elegant lines and yet still functional. Some people get hung up over not having a traditional sharpening choil but I think it is just fine the way it is. There is a very slight recurve on blade edge. Looks beautiful opened and closed. 5 stars upfront just for looks - the heart wants what the heart wants.
- - Exceptional workmanship from Reate, this thing is very well made. Perfectly centered. Hand polished satin blade is a work of art. Titanium handle is so seamless, tolerances are so fine, it feels like an integral handle even though its not.
- - I like how the flipper tab doesn't protrude much and the arched handle shape allows the hand to stay out of the way for flat cutting board type usage like a typical chef's knife.
- - Handle shape is a bit angular yet contoured and is actually comfortable and ergonomic, allowing for grip adjustment without any finger grooves/cut-outs forcing finger placement. Should fit most hands except for people with Hulk hands.
What could be better
- - I found the flipper sharp but not as bad as some reviews make it out to be (just my opinion that its tolerable, I understand why some people find it really sharp because it surprised me at first as well!). The pivot placement relative to the flipper surface angle makes opening the knife a little bit different from typical flippers. The best way I found to open it is to rotationally flick the flipper from top part of flipper tab (like spinning a sprocket wheel rather than flipping a light switch), rather than pushing into the flipper tab which makes it dig into your finger tip giving that sharp feeling. The sharp flipper tab may have actually been part of the design to give traction to finger when spinning rather than flipping the tab. Would not consider this a fun flipping toy, its more a cutting tool. You flip out when you need to use it and then put it away.
- - Takes some effort to access lock bar to close knife. Wouldn't recommending closing this knife with one hand by using technique where you rest thumb on lock bar and have your thumbnail catch flipper/unsharpened portion of blade on the way down. The flipper shape and the angle of blade when overcoming the detente in closing makes this method a low error margin/high risk endeavour. Can be done with practice but I prefer my thumb the way it is.
- - Flipping action was a touch stiff at first but after working in a bit, it was perfectly acceptable.
- - One major hotspot hitting forefinger on handle corner where lockbar cut away starts in knife. Corner was not chamfered. Not very noticeable unless gripping tightly or under prolonged use. The tip of angular pocket clip is the other hotspot.
- - My box arrived crushed too. Yeah, packaging could be better. Tracking was fine for me, shipping took 3 weeks. Shipping tracking info depends on where you live. So that's shipping, not the knife, and won't affect my rating.
What I hate
- - I said it before, I'll say it again. That Massdrop logo on the blade is like a turd cherry topping this delicious piece of metal art. Please omit in the next run. I would buy another piece just to see it gone. Minus one star for that.
- - [Edit 10 Dec 2019] They just discounted the price from $280 to $200. Previous price was a tad high in my view but I still bought. $200 is good value. But changing the pricing like this is a serious snub to the people who joined the drop in March this year, who paid $280 up front and waited ~6 months for delivery (albeit they got a $10 coupon and a serialized piece with aluminium cert.... woah!). I will have to reconsider joining any future drops at DROP since doing so has serious disadvantages (paying up front and waiting for months for delivery, possible changes from prototypes in final version, not seeing final version product reviews before buying, not getting it on discount when they can't move the product because it was priced high to begin with). Looking back, rather than joining a drop, I would have been better off waiting for the sale when it was in stock on almost every purchase I've made at DROP so far.
- - [Edit 03 Jan 2020] I bought another one while they were on sale and received it today. This knife is just so damn beautiful. Perfectly centered, perfectly symmetrical blade and handle, even under a magnifying glass. I love it. Hurry up and take my money! :p
(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
Jages
18
Dec 16, 2019
I stopped buying the knives altogether because of that, I’m glad I’m not the only one. Horrible look.
Hatuletoh
850
Jan 2, 2020
ToucanYours is third review I've read on review pages for four different knives that has expressed some variation of the idea: prepaying in advance of the product drop makes no sense and I'm not likely to do so in the future. And I heartily support that. I resolved that I was done pre-paying during the simultaneous Spyderco SG2 and original Perpetua run debacles. I made an exception for the Thresher because I wanted one, and because Mike Gavac seemed like he was going to be very involved with the project, which he was.
Otherwise though, I've never bought a Drop product until it's been in-stock. And it's been just fine. I haven't had to wait any longer than people who prepaid, and if I really don't want to pay the extra $10 or $20, I just find the knife I want on EBay. In fact, I check there first now because I almost always find what I'm looking for either brand new or very nearly, and if it often isn't significantly cheaper, and it's almost always a little less expensive. And it doesn't take a month to ship.
(Edited)
Sling
53
Jan 10, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
Great design and manufacturing quality.
Yes, it shipped from China, took several weeks to arrive, and the box was squashed. Yes, it would have been nice if the length of the shipping had been clear up front.
But the knife itself is very nice. I've had a Reate Future and T-4000, and this is my favorite Tashi design as a practical user knife. It's a familiar handle shape for him, but it feels like it has been refined to a point of great ergonomic performance as well as looks, and mated with a blade shape that suits it well and is practical for a wide range of pocket knife uses. I don't have experience with the steel, but I understand it is very similar to CPM154, with is fine with me.
Manufacturing quality is excellent, as evidenced by the smooth seam along the spine. Overall, I'm very happy with it for the price I paid (I got in during the pre-Christmas sale). Some minor niggles:
- I'd prefer not to have the slight recurve in the grind, but it is so slight, that it would probably sharpen out if you use a stone.
- Some people have said that the detente is too strong and it's hard to flip. I don't find that - it has a good crisp action. However, the flipper tab is a little sharp on your finger. Not a problem for practical use, but could get sore if you're using it as a fidget-flipper.
- Aesthetically, the massdrop logo does nothing for it. I have the carbon fiber version, and I much appreciate the fact that they took the effort to remove the main screws from the titanium scale in that version. It would have been nice if they'd taken it a bit further and hidden the screws for the clip and lockbar insert, as well as darkening the handle screws on the CF side. That, along with a more subtle logos would have made it a cleaner and more attractive design, but at this price point, it's not a big issue for me.
Recommends this product? Yes
grampatom
13
Oct 29, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
Not so good
Missed pre-order. Hit "Request" months ago. Drop did not notify.
Discovered availability, via Tashi's Instagram.
23 days from order date to arrival.
Drop CS unable to provide substantive answers along the way.
5-14 day promised delivery moved as knife landed various places.
Went from China to Netherlands to Oakland (10,000 miles)
Why not China to SF? (5,000 miles)
Box crushed
Flipper tab indeed painful. What role is detent playing?
Still Massdrop logo. Still billboarding on blade.
Most of this documented here - why still shipping?
Some minor cosmetic (chipping) issues with slots in CF
$300. (CF) “value” not as good as Keen or Ferrum Forges.
Shipping individual orders from China = no backup pool in US.
No way to fix issues. Try another? Wanna wait another 3 weeks?
BHQ, KSF, DLT pricing for delayed shipping, CS reps in the dark, functional and cosmetic issues with no way to get fixed.
Tashi and Reate not complimented.
Recommends this product? No
heath3330
9
Sep 26, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
Excellent fitment. Inexcusable sharp edges.
I will start by saying that the fitment on this knife is absolutely top notch, as you would expect from a Reate produced blade. They are certainly among the very best in knife manufacturing, and it shows with this knife (I received the carbon fiber version). The centering is dead on, which is tough to pull off when the two halves of the knife are screwed directly together. If the blade is just a fraction off, you would be able to tell. It is perfection on this knife. The hand rub satin is ridiculously good and this really looks like a more expensive knife than it is. The finishing on the carbon fiber and titanium are excellent as well. They are contoured and rounded nicely to fit comfortably in the hand and provide good ergos.
All that said, the flipping action is horrendous. The flipper tab is extremely sharp and uncomfortable, I just can't stress that enough. I have owned well over 100 flippers, from the best of the best (Shiro & CKF), to some of the worst (sorry Boker). But this knife if among the worst I have ever flipped. I already mentioned the sharp flipper tab, but there is also an insufficient channel behind the flipper tab for your finger to land. Every time I flip it, my finger hits the end of the channel, which is also sharp. It looks like some chamfering was done there, but not enough to make it not sharp. So you have the sharp flipper tab, then the sharp ends of the channel. Considering this is the only way to open the knife, it's just unacceptable at this price point. That's the reason it lost 3 stars with all of the other positives. If there was another method of opening to where I could avoid all the sharp edges, it would probably be 3 or 4 stars. I previously handled a Reate Future, which is very similar to this knife. It was also a Tashi design, obviously produced by Reate and had a similarly sized flipper tab. The flipping action on it was phenomenal, so I expected similar results with this blade. I didn't get it. I was really excited about, and okay with, the long wait on this knife. But it has honestly been a huge let down. I should have immediately returned it, but it's such a beauty that I have tried to mitigate the sharp edges (with ceramic rods & diamond files) without much luck thus far. I hate giving negative reviews, but I just want others to be aware of the huge drawback of this knife.
(Edited)
Recommends this product? No
GBrake
4
Oct 17, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
Beautiful, but...
As would be expected of a knife from Tashi and Reate, the design, fit/finish are excellent. It is a beautiful, well-made knife with a good edge out of the box. But as some others have mentioned, the flipping action is beyond difficult. This is not a matter of breaking in, it is just far too tight, and is almost impossible to open with one hand. I have a couple of the Kirby Lambert's from Reate, and they did not have this problem, they were ready to go out of the box. Unfortunately, the quality control on this heat seeker is lacking and there is no way this knife should have left the factory in this condition. Either the flipping tab should be slightly more prominent to provide greater leverage, or the action should be looser; both would probably be advisable. Also, the edges on the flipper are far too sharp.
On an unrelated note, the shipping process from start to finish was total crap, with misinformation at every step from Drop. Ultimately it took three weeks for the knife to be delivered by the time it was supposedly shipped. Initially I was told it was coming from New Jersey, but it actually came from China via the Netherlands. Drop needs to do a better job on shipping and communicating with customers, especially with shipments that are international.
*Update: Spent about an hour doing a bit of filing on the flipper tab to smooth out the sharp edges which helped a little. Also removed the pivot screw on the carbon fiber side to add a little lubricant. It is still a nightmare to open via the index finger as the detent is ridiculously strong, though changing the grip and using the thumb makes opening with one hand more manageable. As the remediation was not successful, I'm knocking it down to one star because a knife that you cannot or will not use, is not much good, regardless of how beautiful it is.
It really pains me to give this knife one star as I very much wanted to like it, (the combination of carbon fiber and titanium is SO beautiful), but I would not recommend it, particularly given it was $300; what a shame.
(Edited)
Recommends this product? No
ChocoMufn
1
Mar 16, 2020
GBrakeI'm no knife expert and I have not tried this knife out myself, but I've found frame lock knifes to be tight in general. Cause without the tension, the locking mechanism would fail. Again I haven't tried this knife out.
(Edited)
cjpowers
4
Sep 26, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
An attractive knife that has lots of hot spots (sharp edges other than the blade). The unforgivable one is on the flipper tab, which makes the blade uncomfortable and difficult to deploy. The detent is quite strong and contributes to the trouble with flipping. I expect this will break in. The blade finish is beautiful. The pocket clip is adequately springy and leaves room for thicker pocket fabrics, but it is not ramped gradually enough, thus making removal from the pocket less smooth. I will not carry it until I have removed the hot spots. This is not ideal.
RBnumber3
112
Sep 10, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
Perfect knife, less than perfect shipping
I ordered this knife as soon as it was released as a big fan of the custom model and Tashi's work in general. The knife itself is a flawless execution of the design as I'd expect from Reate, great action, perfect centering, every surface well finished. The condition of the box on arrival was another matter (see pics). The knife box was simply loose inside a plastic shipping bag with no other protective packaging, and was pretty badly beat up. Not a big deal in itself since I'm not too attached to the box, but it had been crushed to the point where the aluminum certificate of authenticity inside the box was bent out of shape, not great. I've received two previous Massdrop knives and this wasn't an issue. This is the first I've had that has shipped from a warehouse outside the US using post.nl though. Maybe a box around the box is in order, luckily the knife itself seems undamaged. As a release I fully recommend it, but as someone with another knife still on order, some improvement in shipping packaging would be appreciated. Pictured with my Liong Mah Eraser, look forward to using it.
Recommends this product? Yes
Zerousen
6
Sep 14, 2019
Yeah it's noticeably more difficult for me to flip compared to some of my zt knives but I'll just have to get used to it haha. I still would really love to swap with you and would be willing to add a bit more on top of that for the trouble. If you are ever interested do contact me at zerousen@gmail.com!
Rasta42pasta
4
Nov 9, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
Its nice
Decent knife. Action could be better.
Recommends this product? Yes
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