Great Knife, But...
"I owned this knife for about 10 months, and I have to say, it's a great knife. If this one is in fact the original, not the 1212 version (look it up if you're interested), I recommend it. The assisted opening works great once you get the feel for it, and the thumb plunge is a great feature. The one thing that really killed this knife for me was the pocket clip. Due to its design, it is very weak at two points because there is a hole for one of the two screws that the pocket clip is fastened with. This lead to excessive outward bending of the pocket clip on several occasions. Unfortunately once the clip becomes loose enough, the knife will simply fall out of your pocket. This happened to me more times than I would like to remember, and ultimately led to me losing this knife. You can unscrew and re-bend the pocket clip if you want, but it becomes a hassle after a while. Besides the crappy pocket clip, this knife is excellent for the price, and a good all-around tool to have."
— Gage (4/5)
Design defeats the purpose of assisted opening
"This is a redesign of the original Instant you see reviewed in many videos online (it's the 1212 version). See: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1022689-New-Gerber-Instant-odd-numbers-on-blade-extremely-hard-to-open
The problem with this design, as stated in the discussion thread linked above, is that the blade requires a lot of force to open, much more than video reviews (presumably of the original design) would lead you to believe. A quick inspection of the assisted opening mechanism on the back of the blade reveals the issue: there is a sharp corner that the lever needs to climb over before it hits the curve that allows it to push the blade out with ease. This may be the result of a recall that Gerber issued due to a risk of laceration in case the blade popped open by accident (although there appear to be no reported cases of people getting hurt this way, there are reports online of the blade popping open when dropped; apparently someone at Gerber deemed this too easy to open). Their redesign, however, all but defeats the purpose of having assisted opening in the first place, as the sharp corner mentioned above requires enough force to climb over that it is not uncommon for my thumb to slip past the knob several times before I am finally able to open the blade. This happens at least 25% of the time, and can take it's toll on the top of my thumb.
I've tried disassembling the blade with my torx screwdriver, thinking that I could maybe round the aforementioned corner a bit. However, the larger screw is so tight that it started to strip, so I left it alone and screwed the two smaller ones back on tight. I've found that a drop off gun oil right on the spot where the lever meets the back of the blade helps somewhat, though not a great deal. The estimated 25% fail rate I mentioned above is *after * applying gun oil.
The blade is sharp, the handle is excellent, the weight and balance feel great, but the assisted opening has been impaired by what I consider an overly cautious redesign of an otherwise awesome technology."
— Alfonso (2/5)