Guardian Tactical Recon 35 - Overview and Review

what's going on YouTube middle complex here and today I have a very exciting knife review slash knife overview to talk with you guys about this is the Guardian tactical recon 35 this is an OT F or out the front automatic knife and I feel compelled to say right at the beginning of the video this knife is just flat-out illegal in a lot of places for a multitude of reasons number one it's an automatic knife that's something that some states and areas don't like also it's over three inches the blade is about 3.3 3.4 inches and in this case it's also a dagger ground blade which is another reason it might be illegal not every recon 35 is dagger ground but just to let you know you know if you are interested in this knife you know after the review or whenever you do have to of course check you know make sure you know your local knife laws you know before you pick up something like this anyways though this is actually mine it's very rare that I buy a knife for myself anymore because I have so much coming across my table all the time you guys know if you're new to my channel I upload every single day which means you know the reason I'm able to do that is because I've got tons of stuff coming in all the time hence all the unboxings so with the acquisition of my recent mini Crooked River I realized that that was gonna you know permanently kick my bug-out out of my pocket and I had spent a bunch of money customizing this bug out to get it exactly what I wanted so I decided you know what if I'm not gonna carry the bug out I'll sell it and get what I really want which is hey I live in Kansas I wanted a dedicated EDC OTF and I had been very you know very intrigued by the Recon 35 for a long time but they were unavailable up until very recently and so I took the opportunity sold my custom bug out and purchased this and I have a lot to say about it whether you're new to my channel or you've been around for a long time I do have patreon so if you'd like to get your hands on one of these cool stickers and help support my channel at the same time just follow the link down in the description and have a look around I also have once a week patron exclusive content available to everybody who joins any tier even the $1 tier so if that sounds good to you you know that like I said the support would absolutely the world to me anyways let's go ahead and get a measurement of this guy overall length of the Recon 35 is they list it as 7.75 but it is clearly longer than that it's it's like seven point eight five almost eight inches not quite eight inches it's almost there right how about blade length we didn't do that totally ignored it from tip to scale you're looking at exactly I mean my measure it's listed as 3.3 3.4 but it it's like almost exactly three point five between three point four and three point five the actual cutting edge is probably about three and a quarter so that's why I mean even by what the measurements that I saw online I was like seems like a really good size especially having after having handled the the UTX eighty-five and realizing that it was bigger than I thought so yeah fantastic measurements there this is the smaller one by the way there is a recon forty which is very large it's about the size of a combat shrew it on which I do have and I'm going to do a comparison here in a moment let's do some regular folding knife comparisons up against the ontario rat model one the route one is coming in at eight point six inches overall how about up against the Spyderco pm to Spyderco p.m. two is coming in at eight point three inches overall have it up against the benchmade reptilian or in this case the ritter Hoge order hoagies coming in at eight inches overall so you can see there what I mean when I say it's very close to eight inches it's very very very close how about I begin to Spyderco pair of three Spyderco para three it's coming in at seven and a quarter inches overall let's do some size comparisons with other OTS because I have a few here here it is up against the micro tech combat true it on this is roughly the exact same size of its bigger brother the Recon forty so for any of you who are wondering you know should I go with the forty or should I go with the with the thirty-five so but - but absolutely but - but here you go this is the site now remember we're at a slight here but this is essentially the difference in size between the Recon 35 and the Recon 40 how about up against the benchmade infidel benchmade infidel I believe coming in at like 9 inches on the dot I think the comments rune on by the way is like 9 and a quarter how about the UTX 85 spoiler alert there's gonna be a vs. video between these two I'll show you what I mean about how the angle kind of changes how close these are so there you go you TX 85 and the Guardian tactical recon similar but the Recon is both longer and taller I am going to be doing a battle video between these two because I think a lot of people would be curious consider they're very close in price very close in size anyways how's the action on this well most people know by now that the big you know their claim to fame Guardian tactical and I've never even heard of them apparently they do up until like when the first run of these came out what was it like a year ago or longer than that I don't know I had never heard of them and their claim to fame was is that they had built like the smoothest or at least people were saying that this was like the smoothest OTF you guys watched me unbox this and use it my very first deployment I freaked out and I was like oh my gosh it's awesome there is still like I mean some people I'm sure wondering like you know is it like too easy to push no it still takes like a child would not be able to pick this up a small child but not be able to pick this up and accidentally deploy it also bumping into something in your pocket would also not make it unintentionally deployed they've got a non-magnetic steel plate underneath here on a normal HF it's just the steel or sometimes titanium on anodized aluminum interaction and that creates a little bit excess friction and on you know especially on the case of that but let's use the let's use this guy right not not quite as much pressure this is a little more gritty feels a little bit more clunky and on top of that this is a little more biting right so you're fighting it a little more and it's also more friction and the buttons got a little more bite to it there's it's not I'm not saying it's bad but this is much more rounded you're able to get traction because of the shape right it's non symmetrical so this this area right here when you're pushing up plenty of room to gain traction and then because it's raised right here pulling backwards is very easy it's nice and rounded I mean I can do this all day and my fingers do not get tired underneath the button are three ceramic ball bearings which makes that so smooth the reason that this plate apparently is non-magnetic is so that they can put a steel plate in there but it doesn't untracked like metallic debris over time that's awesome right I mean like arguably one of the most technologically advanced knives is the OTF and Guardian tactical managed to take it a step further by doing that the the chassis and the internal parts also make it to where the blade does not rub at all in and out right friction over time can cause deployment issues and other than the hearkens or weight is no it's that it's the hawk the G&G Hawk deadlock is that what it is other than that one which is in a league of its own all th a little bit of play and a little bit of friction coming in and out of the handle I tend to enjoy the performance of micro techs over bench maids but even they have a little bit of rub a little bit this guy no he doesn't and that's really really cool I'm sure people want to know they're like how's the play you know if you were to compare the play in a bench made infidel versus the play in The Guardian tactical and the play in a micro tech right so for anybody who doesn't know there's always a little bit of wiggle in an OTF there just is that's part of it unless it's the G&G deadlock right now if you're watching this video 5 years from now and somebody has Ellucian eyes the you know how OTS work and that how they do that the price you know it doesn't cost a lot of money then maybe ot EPS in the future won't wiggle right but as far as right now you know this is we're just starting out January 2020 you know high-end production OTS they wiggle a little bit they don't wiggle nearly as much as some of the low-end stuff right some of your junk like your hyper junk OTF or some of your better budget OTS like the lightning like I consider you know if you've got if you're on a budget and you want an OTF get a lightning don't don't get don't get the brands that's that are based on animals want one is a bird and one is a reptile let's steer clear of those those are junk but the lightning OTF is a good one but those all those low-end ones they rattle like crazy they play there's so much play there's nowhere near the same amount of play the benchmade infidel now this version is the old law enforcement and military leader dition but I checked with my local shop and compared it with a brand new one they all have you know a decent amount of play this is more this is the most play right still functional is fine it's just got the most play between these two and I guess I'll put the put the combat Truitt on in here truthfully the one that has the least play of any of them is my comment troodon but it does have a little it's just like extremely minimal there's almost no play in that this one's got a little tiny bit more right a little tiny bit more and then this one has about the same as the utx 85 so the utx 85 and the Guardian tactical have about the same amount of play but it's extremely minimal right this is almost nothing this is minimal there's a small difference between this and these two and then there's quite a bit there's a jump in the amount of play when you go to the benchmade infidel so yeah um there's there's very minimal play it feels very solid I don't have an issue with that I'm gonna move these other OTS off the table so we get back to it because we are 10 minutes in so anyways different the actions in credit this thing has yet to fail and I have been carrying this I have been in fact I've actually dropped it one it's already got a battle scar not a big one where is it right there dropped it dropped it in the bathroom no big deal and I think actually the pocket clips got a little pocket clips got somewhere yeah I bumped into some stuff with the pocket clip but it's it's very new I fully plan to continue to use this that was the idea behind this knife I really wanted to know - yep that was great for EDC but anyways these knives comes they come in a variety of different colors different materials the standard version which is what you're seeing here comes in your choice of I believe OD green red and blue aluminum I've also seen some special edition ones come in a brass front scale they also have an option for a carbon fiber inlay I think I've seen grey and I would imagine just like Microtech you're gonna see a variety of different colors and things like that as far as blade shapes go they have a really interesting compound ground tanto you have a hologram front edge on the tanto and then a flat grind on a standard then they have a drop point and then they have this double edge I opted for the double edge because if I'm gonna ET cie in OTF I mean daggers are leaved at legal in Kansas automatic knives are legal in Kansas in any length so I'm gonna that's what I'm gonna carry right if I can have two edges that's what I want the disadvantages excuse me you can't put your thumb up here you can't bear down on the knife like that steel I've seen Lmax and s35vn and I believe when they first came out they were in CPM 154 I don't know if they still offer it in CPM 154 but truthfully I did take it in any of those steels CPM 154 is I've actually listed it as my very favorite user steel of all time but I also love Lmax and I also love s35vn all of these steels are reasonably easy to sharp CPMs 154 being the easiest they're all reasonably stainless I think lmax is the most stainless and they're all reasonably tough I believe s35vn is the toughest so you can see this multi-directional teeter-totter that I'm talking about there alright they're all good choices right doesn't really matter which one I end but they come in a variety of finishes this is their stonewashed finish not quite as light as the stonewashed finish is something you might see on the Spyderco pair of three or the stone wash finished on a micro tech it's much more reflective I don't understand we have a satin flat butt right here but the actual tumbled parts of this hellhound blade are not quite as subdued as on the Guardian tactical I don't really care this concrete sort of finished that's on there stone washing is fine you can also get black washed you can get dlc I don't know that they offer a satin I've seen some weird custom Rhys Whelan ground blades available on these but I mean you can tell I did a ton of research before I plot this but lots of different stuff something that I thought was really impressive with a with this blade is and it's something that I've noticed on other double ground or dagger ground OTF knives or dagger ground blades in general I think it's fairly difficult even though these are machine made to get them perfectly symmetrical and I mean getting that line to go right down the middle I have seen lots of knives that are ground this way with a line is not perfect and this blade is perfect it's a non symmetrical down here because of the shape of the handle that's unintentional but as far as the blade like from right here it's absolutely perfect it's also very handsome the way that they did the fuller this makes me think of a broadsword and it's very aesthetically pleasing here's an example of a blade that is not aesthetically pleasing those right there I don't like those so thank you Guardian tactical for doing that now the problem with this fuller is is that if you're cutting stuff that's like if you're cutting stuff that's got heavy adhesive on it or liquid or debris or whatever it can get trapped in that fuller and then sucked down into the handle so be cognizant of what you're cutting because anything that gets trapped on the inside of the handle technically could cause a failure speaking of failures that is the case we find something that second fire priority marks as is the case with all ODF sigh still feel compelled to do this if you fire this directly into a surface it will derail that's a safety feature you're not fired directly into organic or inorganic material that's not how they're designed just pull it back out market it's good to go fantastic I have zero qualms with the blade the blade is perfect the edge is crowned great it's not you know as you can imagine this is about a hundred and forty five thousandths thick which I'll do it for you guys we haven't weighted either yet let's do that blade stock thickness on this guy well it's mine saying 140 so between a hundred and hundred and forty five depending on what website you go to and then it's actually hollow ground out here so it gets pretty thin behind the edge but it's not going to be the most performance oriented slicing blade this is just it's just a short piece of metal that comes out of a handle and it's put together extremely well I'm over here with my iPad in my hand realizing that it is not my scale okay let's clear this out real quick sorry this is gonna be a long review waiting on this guy remember 6061-t6 aluminum and it's Lmax denver ground blade three point five six ounces almost an ounce an inch on the the blade to weight ratio that's fantastic this is essentially just a little rectangle now it is a fairly thick rectangle we didn't actually do thickness comparison so here it is compared up against the UT x85 about the same thickness up against the combat screwed on which is it's actually about the same I think the combat Troodons a little fatter in the body though how about up against the Spyderco pair of three yes ever so slightly thicker now here's where here's where I love it though carry profile it's just nothing it's just it's just a little rectangle it's awesome I love that and it's just it's a three and a half ounce rectangle that just carries beautifully oh god it's so awesome I really enjoy simple aesthetics and the Guardian tactical really have it if you guys want to know what I think the most aesthetically pleasing ot F's out there are there's two of them I talked to Jeff about this the new micro tech direct and direct Delta are beautiful and then the Recon 35 and Recon 40 in their dagger blades not a big fan of their I'm not as much of fan as they of their tantor their drop point as I am the dagger ground blade but as far as an aesthetically pleasing OTF goes boy this reef I've and those die racks are just beautiful I love that I love how they did the handles here everything's nicely rounded off there are no sharp edges anywhere just a couple little traction lines you know in practice using this knife and I'm cutting on package I appreciate where they have those lines whether I'm holding it here or here it's just nice the difference between like the combat Troodon and the UT x85 is that there's this big curvature right here that's meant for both fingers and there's some traps and lines up there and you can lock in right same thing here it's nice it's it's ergonomic but this actually has two separated areas now it doesn't it doesn't like control exactly where I put my hand but it just allows me that part where I can rest there when I'm pushing up on this switch my finger is holding on to the this Ridge right here where it's it's clearly meant to be and then same thing when I'm pulling back it's my finger just locks in nicely right there and it feels very natural and very organic while still giving me freedom I can move back here and still get a full grip right or I can move up here and there's still plenty of handle room I wear an XL glove and this isn't a gigantic OTF but it still feel fills the hand a lot of you guys are probably wanting to know how does it compare with the Lightning OTF right mate let's say you have a lightning and you're like oh I want to buy a nicer OTF it's almost exactly the same size as the Lightning the lightnings eight inches this is seven point eight five seven point nine inches it's very very close in terms of cutting edges almost exactly the same the nice thing is is it weighs a little bit less so yeah and it's obviously higher quality with more pre materials so if you like the Lightning if you like the size of lightning you're gonna like the size of the Guardian tacks here's something that kind of stinks I'm gonna get out Mike we have bit selector and Driver they're down in the description you can get these as long as well as lots of the other awesome high-end American production knives that I show my channel every day and budget and I just all categorized down there so whatever your it just feel free to scratch it and check out those links this is that these are t6 these body screws are t6 and yeah TC actually are they are they t7 no way there's no way maybe they are this is it sorry this is a t7 there we go so let's try it here now t6 t6 by screws yeah I don't like it I really wish they were t8 I can't see myself needing to get inside this super often by the way if you guys want to know what what you should be spring inside here to clean it out and lubricate it Ram oil is probably the best thing Teflon based Ram oil is I believe what micro tech uses in their factory that's a that's a fantastic spray to use for OTS it's very healthy for it but I can't see myself needing to get in here often unless something happens in the blade won't deploy as or something lodged in there if I do I'm gonna have to be extra careful to make sure not strip my heads or these screws fortunately these do have a good warranty and they're made in the United States so getting extra screws shouldn't be that big of a problem there's a nice unobtrusive lanyard loop back here you're really gonna have to squeeze 550 through there to get it in there but that's fine it doesn't have that much on there something I kind of like is it just doesn't have a glass breaker like the utx 85 or the comment true now now some people really need to have a glass breaker on their OTF I don't so I don't care that it's not there I think it looks better without it so I'm happy with that the pocket clip is excellent it's excellent it cares about right here there's hardly anything sticking up it does have a bill which actually the reason that I dropped it this is why I don't like bill pocket clips and why I prefer clips like this I was wearing a long shirt I accidentally bought a two XL I wore an XL shirt actually bought a two XL I was like whatever it's a dresser and I'll just tucking into my pants and I had it I had it on tuxes I was home I had this knife in my pocket and my shirt tail somehow caught it and got lodged underneath this this area right here and then I raised my hands up near and my shirt lifted it out of my pocket and it fell down onto the floor no big deal it was totally fine to just left that tiny little mark but that's why I don't like pocket clips like this I wanted to just sweep down and just up just a little bit here's a good example just like that there's just less room to snag because it doesn't have this final hook right there but no big deal it still carries just fine and carry just right there great I love the pocket clip no issue so yeah overall my only real complaints oh yeah um this is just a personal thing Guardian tacticals font some people are gonna like it some people aren't to me it looks a little Halloweeny but um okay whatever it's not really that big of a deal it just it's day of a Halloween font um whatever so really the only thing that I truthfully can complain about is are the t6 screws because my situation with the pocket clip was an anomaly and there are plenty of pocket clips that are shaped like that and they're just fine on top of that as far as I know Guardian tactical does have a good warranty and they can get parts to you from the United States so I think I think that's just fine this seems to be extremely durable extremely well-made it absolutely has the smoothest action of any OTF that I've ever handled there's minimal play in the blade it's beautiful from an aesthetic point of view it's a straightforward tool and I appreciate that on top of that you got going to get a or actually no that was see all these are pre-recorded so you guys actually saw however long ago my you know what's so great about OTF knives video but this is just like the bet it's such a convenient tool OTS in general are incredibly convenient and amidst all of the OTS that I've handled I've handled many that you guys have not seen on this channel before I started the channel this is just my favorite OTF that exists it's I mean it's not like it's like having shoulders over a Microtech if you want to go for a microjet go for a Microtech you know they're great but this is my favorite OTF that might as for EDC that exists not everybody's gonna be able to EDC in OTF but this is just perfect and here's the best part about this the price the base price on these are about 270 bucks now that's gonna be a lot of people are a lot of money for a lot of people and that's completely understandable but as far as us like high-end us OTS Co that's excellent that's roughly the same price as your mikrotik ultratex I think your Dyer acts are right in there a lot of your other competitor and like your bench maids got to the is it the Phaeton I don't know what bench maids newest thing is but I handled those and I have not handled a direct if there was one change if there's one thing that I truthfully enjoy more on the direct and honestly more on the bench made infidel than I do on this is the position of the switch and it's because of where my hands are are naturally lying when I pull a note CF in my pocket my fingers here and I pull and my thumb is already in position to fire this when I pull a knife like this or the combat true it on or the utx or my pocket I'm pulling then I have to readjust and then fire that's it's almost trivial the amount the additional movements I have to make to deploy the knife but had if they had made this like perfectly symmetrical and they had put the button right here just died I'm I'm very interested to see you know the thing with the die rack is the reason that I chose this and I didn't go with a die rack is because the little die rack is too small for me and the big one is number one hard to find and I think a little bit too big for EDC if they had made the die rack about the same length as this or within half an inch on the on the Lord I wouldn't want to go smaller but on the larger side I might have gone with the die rack because the switch is right there but I'm really happy that I went with this and as of this day this is my very favorite OTF that exists and I cannot recommend it enough this is an excellent product and it has already served me well and I'm sure it will continue to serve me well so I'll do a long long term report on this after I've been carrying it for a while but this is for the last light man for the last like two weeks has been like the only thing in my pocket and I'll go back and continue to carry my the other manual knives that are in my rotation but this thing has just dominated my pockets and I really really like it so anyways guys that's gonna be pretty much it for today's review if you guys enjoyed this video please leave a like if you'd like to check out my other content I do of course have lots of videos of knives are either expensive or inexpensive but I do not like so check those out and if you enjoy all my content go ahead and click on this metal complex logo right here and subscribe because there's definitely more coming thanks again for watching everybody and have a great day

Channel: Metal Complex

Views: 4,271

Rating: 4.8441558 out of 5

Keywords: guardian tactical recon 35 review, guardian tactical recon 35 reveiw, guardian tactical recon 035, guardian tactical recon 040, guardian tactical recon elite, guardian tactical recon 035 vs microtech, guardian tactical recon 035 disassembly, guardian tactical recon 035 test, guardian tactical recon vs microtech, guardian tactical recon otf, guardian tactical recon review, guardian tactical recon reveiw, leatherman surge, metal complex, lightning otf, spyderco manix 2

Id: hT6CcvrbxgI

Length: 27min 2sec (1622 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 17 2020