Very nice, and sharp out of the box

Beautiful exclusive pyrite - light yet sturdy feeling

This is one of the best knives that I have purchased under $75. Came razor sharp right out of the box, great ergos, and super slicey. My only complaint is that there was a little bit of lock stick, but that went away after playing around with the button for an hour or so.

Prior to getting this model, my only experience with the AR-RPM9 blade steel came from owning the Ruffian. The latter was a dud: blade was hard to sharpen - not because it was hard, but due to what seemed to be a coarse or irregular grain structure resulting from what I surmised to be a poor heat treat. The frag Pyrite, on the other hand, offers outstanding blade performance, especially for a budget knife: the steel seems very fine-grained and gets a screaming sharp edge. Moreover, the edge retention is quite respectable. I just broke down 6 or 7 cardboard boxes of varying sizes into smaller than necessary pieces (for recycling) and the blade kept a nice sharp edge at the end of this process, easily slicing paper; one swipe on each side of the edge with a Spyderco extra fine rod then brought back that screaming edge. I assume that corrosion resistance of this blade steel would also be good given its high chromium content. Therefore to me this blade steel is well suited to EDC needs. The action of the frag model is also very good and, despite the detent not being overly strong, it is hard to shake the blade out of the handle, giving some peace of mind to pocket carrying this knife. It’s very easy to middle finger flick the blade out but a thumb flick requires more concentration because my thumb doesn’t fit the opening slot in the blade very well. This model is still pretty fidget friendly though because, aside from the finger flicks, you can easily deploy the blade by pressing the button and using a light wrist fling. I like the aesthetics of the frag model, as it seems to combine a utility look with a touch of elegance. The pocket clip is quite tight and, against the frag pattern, doesn’t allow the knife to slip into or out of the pocket easily but, the flip side is that the knife will carry pretty securely in the pocket. My only question - not really a criticism - is whys steel liners are needed in the frag model since the scales are aluminum (the Qubit, for example, doesn’t have liners). If the aluminum is of decent quality, it would obviate the need for the liners which would facilitate cleaning and drying of the inside areas of the knife.