I am a huge coaster fan. I will travel a long way just to get a few seconds of zero G after a chain hill. I am very close to riding all of the coasters in NE with only four left (two at Canobie Lake Park and one each at Funtown Splashtown and Palace Playland in Maine) still being on my ride list. Of the rides in New England Boulder Dash was pretty astounding, heads and shoulders above Superman. Boulder Dash was so good that it recalled fond childhood memories of rocketing around a double helix in Mason, Ohio on one of the true classics of coasterdom—the Beast.

I was a southern Ohio boy and so my alligence ran to Kings Island, as opposed to those snooty jerks in northern Ohio that loved Cedar Point (the adult part of me concedes that this rivalry is not much of a thing anymore as Cedar Point pulled ahead definitively while I was in graduate school). The Beast, it seems to me, is the perfect ride—long, adventureous, and always seemingly seconds from careening into disaster.

The Beast, however, had a follow up—Son of the Beast—that was an abject failure. In fact, Son of the Beast is probably why Cedar Point lapped King’s Island. You see, Son of the Beast injured people. Then they fixed it. And it injured people again. It is funny that the thing that scares corporations more than delirium inducing drops is lawsuits. And so Son of the Beast was torn down. Every timber and concrete piling was removed. And with it a huge pile of cash was lit ablaze giving King’s Island no capacity to keep pace with its northern rival.

To this day, only Boulder Dash really captures that zipping-through-the-trees feel that makes the Beast so special. Its not in the same park. Its not even designed by the same company, but for my money the Beast’s true successor was not the cripplingly bad Son of the Beast, but Boulder Dash. Less mentioned about the silly Mystic Timbers the better.

So, the parallel should be obvious by now. Is the Otter Flipper the Son of the Beast or Boulder Dash? The original was great. Is this in the same ballpark (or…amusement park)?

Here is the product page. There are the traditional three variations—the titanium version, the green G10 version, and a black version. I believe they made a CF version exclusive to Prometheus Design Werx. The titanium version costs $329 and is still in stock on Terrain 365’s website as of the writing of this review. The G10 versions were $311. There are no written reviews. Here is a video review.

Finally, here is my review sample:

Twitter Review Summary: A more convenient version of an already great knife.

Design: 1

The original Otter, as a slipjoint, is pared down and as elegant folders get. This knife with the addition of a lock, a clip, and a flipper tab is not what anyone would call elegant. Perhaps it only seems clunky by comparison, but there is no denying that this knife is not as clean or visually appeal as its predecessor. This is one of the problems of modern traditionals—by merging the two forms you are essentially gluing stuff on to a traditional knife. Its possible to do that tastefully, but it is not easy. I would, for example, vastly prefer the Pena X Series Zulu Spear to this knife in terms of looks and design. Aside from looking clunky though, there is really nothing wrong with the function of the knife. Its just a bit more Subaru Baja and little less mid-90s WRX STI, if you follow.

Fit and Finish: 2

I don’t know who the OEM is for sure (rumor has it as Bestech), but the reality is this a meticulously crafted knife. Again, it slots into that tier of fit and finish just below Chris Reeve and Reate, and right in the same neighborhood as WE. Very, very clean.

As an aside, WE and Reate have received a lot of attention from the IKC as the “high end” chinese brands, but Bestech (again, assuming this is made by Bestech) makes some damn good knives. I believe, though I am not certain, that the Veros are made by Bestech. I know that the criminally underrated Adam Purvis Progeny MR is made by Bestech. They may not dabble in the same amount of bling as Reate nor are they as prolific as WE/Civivi (which is true of everyone), but they are really quite good at putting folders together.

Grip: 2

Thanks to some nicely contoured G10, an excellent pocket clip design, and the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” handle shape, the Otter Flipper is great in the hand. The Barlow handle is, like the Kephart handle on a fixed blade, is straightforward, unadorned, and still unsurpassed in terms of flexibility and utility. Translating that into a modern folder is really nice.

Carry: 2

The Otter’s slim factor, great clip, and rounded over exposed rear tang make this a great knife in the pocket, but than the slipjoint original. If you have to do an exposed rear this is the solution. See also Oz Machining Roosevelt.

Steel: 2

Dendritic cobalt is not steel. You can see the original Otter review for more about that. I love this blade material and nothing about the Otter Flipper changed that.

Blade Shape: 2

Again, the bulbous blade shape with a bit extra belly is both pretty people friendly and excellent in use. There is something about this particular iteration of the spearpoint that just seems less scary. The flipper, of course, negates a lot of that people friendliness, but this better than a karambit.

Grind: 2

Like the original Otter this too is ground razor thin and it, like the original, slices beautifully. Other than the added gunk-collecting spaces that a lock brings to the table, this is a great food prep folder.

Deployment Method: 2

Ah…deployment. I have to admit, I love the detent on this knife. Again, assuming it is a Bestech, it, like the Progeny MR, is an exceptional flipper, just a hair below the dream deployment of the Sharp by Designs Micro Evo. I’d put this in the same league as the American Bladeworks Model 1 and better than all of my WE/Civivi made knives. Really, really great action.

Retention Method: 2

The clip is probably the second best sculpted clip on the market in my opinion bested only by the Chris Reeve Mnandi clip in terms of the looks. It has a pleasant amount of tension, a nice solid look, a good front ramp, and an excellent taper to the rear portion of the clip making it vanish in the hand. This is a great clip.

Lock: 2

Like with the flipping action and the clip, the lock is really dialed in here, moving into place every time and still being easy to move out of the way when the time comes. I like the feel of all of the mechanisms on this knife and the lock as nice as the deployment.

Other Considerations

Fidget Factor: Very High

With a poppy, snappy detent and a great in-hand feel, the Otter Flipper is a great fidget toy that happens to make a mean salami sandwich and open packages galore.

Fett Effect: Very Low

Cobalt is all but waterproof and G10 is impervious to even more stuff. This doesn’t show wear.

Value: Low

You pay for dendritic cobalt. If you need that performance or like the material, you don’t have much of a choice, but it will cost ya.

Overall Score: 19 of 20

Aside from the tacked on flipper tab, there is really nothing about this knife I don’t like. The original slipjoint is still one of my favorites, but this knife is a bit more practical (though less conceptually pure). I like it a lot. It is a knife you can carry regardless of setting or task and not worry about it. The cobalt just makes for a sweet slicing experience. Over and over again, it cut well after it seemed like it shouldn’t and it never looked worse for wear. Gun to my head, I would probably choose the slipjoint because of the aesthete in me, but the guy that takes a knife with him everyday would opt for the convenience of a clip, a lock, and one-handed deployment.

To answer the question posed at the beginning, I think the Otter Flipper is an excellent follow up to the original, however garish the tacked on flipper tab looks. This is inescapably a good knife with a great steel. There are a few things I would change, but it is not Son of the Beast territory. This is pretty clearly a Boulder Dash-level follow up. And heck, even a ride as good as Boulder Dash got changed—they removed the final element—a back smashing triple up. Having ridden it after the triple up was deleted I can hardly imagine how painful and fun that triple up would have been.

Competition

Its competition comes in two forms—other Terrain 365 knives and other highly corrosion resistant knives. I have mentioned already that I think this knife is not as elegant as its slipjoint brother, but elegance and convenience are often in equipoise with each other (see e.g. a Ford 150 and a Ferrari). In that arena, I don’t think there is a wrong choice, but I do think most people in the IKC today would be happier with this knife over the original Otter. I have no idea how the double detent non-locking flipper would stack up.

The more interesting competition is from the Quiet Carry Drift and the Spyderco Spydiechef (or if you wanted to go more basic the Spyderco Native 5 in LC 200N). In this race, the competition is so different it is a real challenge to compare. To that end, I am going to cop out and tell you that instead of deciding here, I am going to do a Shootout between the three. Shootouts are more difficult than normal articles, so it might be a while (like end of the year), but I am going to try it. I think, looking at the scores, you can see that none are disappointing. But if you only have shelf or draw space for one ultra-corrosion resistant folder, hang on.

Amazon Links

You can support the blog and keep it independent by purchasing items through the Amazon links below:

Spyderco Spydiechef

Spyderco Native 5 in LC 200N