I got to try out a Gen 3 Combat Troodon today. The action was as easy as my very broken-in Gen 2 Ultratech, possibly better. I also noticed how little play it had. I really, really liked it. I don’t think I liked it enough to drop $700 on one, though. Tony Marfione has been huffing his own farts.

A friend loaned me his Gen 2 Combat Troodon for the last few days and so really found no issue with the action that some of you mention, but it is not clear to me what is in issue. I see some Gen 3s in stock at one dealer including this one at $1,050. Really like it!

MICROTECH COMBAT TROODON OTF AUTOMATIC KNIFE DELTA FRAG DLC SHADOW 3.8" DLC DAGGER -NICKEL BORON INTERNALS 142-1CT-DSH

MICROTECH KNIVES
SKU: MCT142-1CT-DSH
In Stock

$1,050.00

quote:

Originally posted by tschiemer:
A friend loaned me his Gen 2 Combat Troodon for the last few days and so really found no issue with the action that some of you mention, but it is not clear to me what is in issue. I see some Gen 3s in stock at one dealer including this one at $1,050. Really like it!

A couple thoughts here. I have a Gen 2 Combat Troodon and the action is unreasonably heavy. I have fairly large, strong hands, and I can reliably deploy it with some difficulty, but it almost always requires me getting a second thumb on it to retract the blade. I badly need to send it to Microtech and ask them to make it not suck. My daily carry for three years now has been a Gen 2 Ultratech, so it's not like I'm not used to Microtechs. I have a Heretic Manticore X (Marfione's kid's company, and this knife is about 90% of the size of the Combat Troodon), and the action on that is not too different from my Ultratech, which is smooth and easy, never difficult for me. The Combat Troodon has a reputation for having possibly the worst action of any of the Microtech OTF's, and from where I'm sitting, it's deserved. Like any mechanical production item, some are better, some are worse. I may have one of the examples from the worse end of the spectrum, your friend may have one of the better ones.

All that said, if you like his Gen 2 Combat Troodon, you'll really like a Gen 3. I don't need one and I hate the prices they're asking for them, but that one I tried the other day? I can't get it out of my head. I prefer that size of knife in general, and I really, really liked the action on it. I may instead try and find a Manticore X in a tanto for less than half of what Microtech is asking for that knife. I'm just not a dagger grind guy and need to offload the ones I have in favor of tantos.

Thanks, good observations as always, smudge, as it is probably a good sample he has. I have multiple OTF Microtech’s over the years, Scarab 2, Ultratech full size and utx-85s, just never one this large and felt the action on this particular knife was fine. I had had it 2-3 days to try, and it sounds as if it was a great one. My friend collects these and I am thankful for knowledge here as well.

The prices are all over the place and I see some Gen 3s at $450. I will buy one and from reviews they are good. I read a couple complaining about the clip design (coming in as compared to being as the Gen 2 as others) making it less comfortable when holding the knife but that is the only thing I read adverse.

I may have to get a Strider fixed blade full size with a blade thickness of 0.25” as the BT again but am amazed how much they went up? Good days were when they were $365. There are a couple of Strider fixed blades at $875 on ACKs today.

Thanks all. Robert

The clip is definitely more substantial, but I like that they’re using the ball bearing, I think. I didn’t notice that it felt bad in the hand because the clip, but I also didn’t spend more than maybe a minute with it.

At $450, they’re still damned spendy, but that’s a lot better than the $700 this shop wanted. That one must’ve been a Marfione signature whatever series for that price. Black box. I’ve got a stack of Spyderco sprint runs I need to dump anyways, maybe I’ll do that and pick up a Gen 3 CT in stonewash and a plain color body. Some decent options at BladeHQ for that price. One thing is for certain, my Gen 2 needs to go back to Microtech and have them work it over.

$450 should be around where the regular models are priced. Anything more than that will land into Signature knives which I haven't seen yet, but haven't been looking for.