Since I lost my Gerber EZ-Out, I’ve been looking for a suitable replacement. I looked far and wide but haven’t been able to find one until recently: The Benchmade Pika II. It reminds me of the Benchmade AFCK which is a knife I’ve always liked. But there’s more to it than that.
Let’s begin with the blade. It is 3.5″ long and is a modified clip-point with a partially-serrated edge. It has a big nice round ambidextrous thumb-hole. The steel is 9Cr13CoMoV from China but it’s said to be equivalent to 440C steel which has the highest strength, hardness and wear resistance of all the stainless alloys. Pretty good so far.
The handle is made of glass-filled nylon with molded “triple-grip” pattern. It was the thing I least liked about the knife as it was too intricate but it does seem to work. Polymer handles are pretty tough by themselves as I’ve experienced with my Gerber EZ-Out but Benchmade chose to further reinforce it with a steel inner lining. Nice but could be a problem when exposed to saltwater.
The locking mechanism is lockback. A lot of people don’t like lockbacks and opt for a whole bunch of new technologies like axis locks. But lockbacks seem fine to me so far. The lockback mechanism on the Pika II seems very well made with no slack or wobble whatsoever.
The clip is the one of the best thing about the Pika II. It is small, light, and very strong. But best of all, it can be relocated to 4 positions. You can carry the Pika II any way you like! There’s also a provision for a lanyard. Well-designed, indeed.
The Pika II is part of Benchmade red box line: “Best in class value”. The knives in the red box line are low-cost, well-designed, fully-functional, and made in China, Taiwan to be precise.
There’s actually nothing wrong with that. Over a decade ago, I got myself a clip-point lockback that was made in Taiwan. It had a good, sharp, stainless steel blade. The only thing wrong were some chrome plated fasteners that eventually rusted. But it did it’s job, and well. I expect the Pika II to do the same.