Ganzo G710 Review

Check out the video review on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHdiKu-K89g



Hey everyone, Tim here and this is my review of the Ganzo G710. So, as you can quite clearly see this knife has been made to look like that of a Benchmade 950 Rift. Manufactured by the Ganzo knife company out of “gond-dohng” or Guandong, China, it’s no surprise that these *clears throat* homages are on the market as China has been known to counterfeit just about everything from car parts to soy sauce. But hey, at least these aren’t being marketed as “genuine” Benchmades. Now, with that elephant out of the way, let’s have a closer look at the knife itself.

The G710 features a three point five inch 440C stainless steel hollow ground blade, with an overall length of eight. Its blade shape is that of a reverse tanto with an unsharpened swedge on the spine of the blade.  The length of the cutting edge and adequate belly and strong tip allow this knife to fill the role of large EDC blade and even as a self defense blade.

The 440C stainless steel blade has good corrosion resistance, takes a great edge and holds it quite modestly depending on the severity of your cutting tasks. The knife comes razor sharp out of the box and makes quick work out of the usual cut test materials.  The G710 weighs in at a slightly beefier 5.6 oz and is by no means a lightweight knife. This is mainly due to the fact that the steel liners have not been skeletonized or milled out whatsoever.  Which is not a deal breaker, as it still carries quite nicely in the pocket without being too noticeable, depending on what you are used to carrying.

Deployment of the blade is via dual thumbstuds and the action of this knife is very smooth. Out of box it may need a bit of breaking in, but after a day of opening and closing the knife repeatedly like a knife-a-holic spaz, it wore in very nicely and despite only having Teflon bushings.

Deploying this knife with the thumbstuds does work well, but you don’t get that same satisfying snap as you would with a griptilian. This is mainly due to the thick and heavy blade stock of the G710. For this same reason the detent and in handle blade retention are not the strongest as the blade can come out of the handle when given a hard enough shake.  This however, is not a complete negative as the hefty blade allows the knife to be opened with a quick and easy flick of the wrist, which in my opinion is even easier to do than using the thumbstuds.  Lock up, as you may have already noticed is achieved through the axis lock mechanism, which by the way has good lock up and zero up/down or left/right blade play. However due to the heavily criticized strength of the omega springs in the axis lock mechanism, you may want to reserve this knife for moderate to light duty cutting tasks and avoid any heavy duty piercing or stabbing with this knife.

The handle consists of G10 scales that have been machined with the very same scalloped pattern of the 950 Rift. When compared to say the G10 of the Spyderco Tenacious, the traction of the G10 on the Ganzo is substantially much more aggressive in terms of traction. The ergonomics of the handle are somewhat comfortable, but due to some slightly sharper edges on the handle scales, a slight amount of discomfort can be experienced when gripping the handle tightly. There is also a small amount of recessed jimping on the thumb ramp, but it’s much more aesthetic than functional.  Also present is a more than large enough lanyard hole to feed 550 paracord through or anything else that you need to get in the hole. (ahem, that’s what she said). The pocket clip can be mounted for tip up left or right side carry, which combined with the axis lock, makes for a truly ambidextrous knife. The clip itself has just the right amount of strength that allows for easy extraction from the pants pocket. However, the strength of the clip feels as if it could be bent out of shape if caught on something, so do be careful.

Believe it or not the pocket clip is actually anodized not just painted. This means the black coloration has much better durability and doesn’t scratch off as easily like the painted clips of the griptilian and spyderco delica.  Considering its cost this is truly amazing. Which leads us to our next issue, at the measly twenty dollar shipped out the door price point this knife is truly a steal. However, as they do ship from Hong Kong and China, you may have to wait slightly longer to receive your purchase depending on where you live. The overall fit and finish of this knife is very good. Blade centering is only slightly off and the machining on the G10 had one small blemish on it. Also, on this particular knife, one of the handle scales has the slightest amount of movement against the liner.

However, this movement is a couple of millimeters at most and can only be felt and not seen with the naked eye. All things considered for the price you pay, it’s really difficult to genuinely complain or have any gripes about this knife. Like many other things in the consumer world, you get what you pay for, and what you don’t pay for, you don’t get. The Ganzo G710 somehow ignores this notion and delivers big value for a small price. That is not to say the original benchmade 950 rift is overpriced at all or not worth it. The whole point of this review is to simply show you the consumer that there are more affordable options out there because let’s face it not everyone has  150 dollars to spend on a knife… and again everyone is different, take it for what it’s worth, different strokes for different folks, … blah blah blah.

So, in the end if you don’t mind sporting a quote unquote… copy, replica, homage, knockoff or whatever you want to call it of a higher end knife. The Ganzo G710 could be the high value budget folder that may very well be just for you! So, thanks for watching in and in case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!