Microtech Dirac Delta OTF Automatic Knife - Overview and Review

hey guys if you're shopping for knives and gear make sure you check out the description of the video you're watching right now for links to some great online retailers there's also individual links for knives that i personally recommend thanks what's going on youtube middle complex here and today i've got a really cool knife review slash knife overview to share with you guys this is the microtech dirac delta this is the larger of the two directs that are available through microtech let me start this off real quick let me just say this there will be links for this knife down in the description you can pick this up right now in my opinion this is the very best otf design that has ever graced the knife world i have handled so many otfs all of the otfs that are super popular i've handled the benchmades the other microtechs right some of the protects or one of the pro tec single action ones i've handled so many i've got a pretty good foundation of what i expect from an otf my idea of value in an otf is all pretty well laid out and solidified this is the best otf design that exists i know i don't normally start off a review by saying that but i think i should say that right off the bat so that people who don't want to sit through a typical 20 minute ramble for metal complex don't have to i'll link this down below you can absolutely pick this up and they're starting to come out in a bunch of different flavors so if this plain jane one isn't your cup of tea there might be one that suits your interest a little bit better i'm gonna talk all about exactly why i think this one is the best i will give a fair review i purchased this knife for myself and uh i have very much been enjoying it thank you so much to my generous patrons who are supporting me right now if you'd like to get your hands on some cool stickers and some other exclusive benefits there are a lot of perks please feel free to check out the patreon link in my description and also don't forget to follow me on instagram at metal underscore complex all right let's get a measurement of the sky like i said there's a smaller one this one is much larger the overall length of the dirac delta is actually coming in at if you want to go by the back of the handle which i think is a more fair measurement it's about nine inches if you want to go to the glass breaker it's about nine and a quarter blade length is coming in at about 3.75 cutting edge is coming in at about 3.4 inches overall let's go ahead and do some size comparisons you know what i'm going to start off the size comparisons with the combat troadon um but i think that's probably a better idea the combat troodon is coming in at almost exactly the same length which is crazy i just didn't realize how big this guy was going to be about nine inches nine and a quarter if you want to go by the glass breaker so fans of microtech will get a good uh idea of how big that is you know because of the kind of trodon how about up against the ontario rat model one the ontario rat model one coming in shorter at eight point six inches overall how about up against the spyderco pm2 spyderco pm2 is coming in at nine i'm sorry 8.3 inches overall how about up against the benchmade griptilian or in this case the ritter hoe ritter hogue is coming in at eight inches overall and uh actually i'm going to do another extra one here because i've got this one on me the comp i'm sorry the microtech troodon just the standard smaller version i can't remember exactly what this one comes in at i know there's going to be a lot of microtech people watching this video about seven and a quarter inches overall to the back of the handle there you go and also coming in at seven and a quarter inches overall is the uh spyderco para three the pair of three like i said seven and a quarter how's the action this guy this is a microtech if you have never handled a microtech they are above and beyond in terms of firing action i've handled plenty of the lower end chinese otfs and they're fine you know i've handled the lightning about 27 times in my life they're fine if you don't want to spend a ton of money on a microtech there are plenty of good options out there but i'm going to tell you guys that somebody who has handled all of those and plenty of high-end otfs there's nothing quite like the feeling that you get from a microtech that click and that just the the feeling of power the feeling of the spring tension um is uh it just there's a much more satisfying feeling involved and what i love about this one is that unlike the combat troodon uh which has the switch on the spine this guy actually has the switch on the face um now for me i think it's a comfort thing i mean and that's gonna be different for everybody but for anybody wanting to count the milliseconds between you know pull from your pocket and deployment you know technically like if you think about where this is attached to your person when you go to pull it you're going to go like this usually i don't know many people who pull like it's going to be pinned up against the up against your leg and this is going to be on the outside of the pocket so your thumb is already going to be here so it's just turn and fire with this guy you're going to pull adjust and then fire right so it's just this tiny little thing but i found that coming out of the pocket this feels substantially more organic i've talked about this uh you know with the benchmade infidel the benchmade infidel was the first high-end otf i had ever laid eyes on and this was years ago that thing has been around for a long time i lusted over that thing for so long and then i finally got it in hand where i finally got to handle one at a local retailer and i was impressed because i had never handled anything else like it and then i handled a microtech and realized wow there are otfs out there in roughly the same price range that are much more solid feeling much more powerful you know and those things can be in some ways trivial in some ways more important but microtech in my opinion in general feels head and shoulders over uh the benchmade infidel in terms of quality the problem was i didn't like the placement of the switch well on the dye rack they actually put it on the face i'm going to say this right now this knife in every way other than the fact that it's using proprietary hardware is a better knife than the benchmade infidel the infidel is fine it's got plenty of a great track record in terms of people using it and it's standing up but in terms of the design and the overall profile the materials uh you know the look of it everything this is better than the benchmade infidel and it costs way less way less so i'm so happy that the switch is there for people who are like me and you have a weird thing about symmetry this thing is perfectly symmetrical from the butt up to now i understand you people go well the blade's off center because of the chassis well okay but from this uh direction it is symmetrical and that is oh man that is good and no um you know the benchmade infill has the the balls down there i can't stand that this does not have that the fuller just comes to an end uh is which is how it should be uh the action is awesome the spring power is great it is uh responsive this one does not have a twing some people reported a little bit of a twang which i think is you know something that is potential for any otf that's not necessarily a bad thing uh they use some sort of sound deadening goop that they put on the inside of the springs and if yours is twangy it just means the goop is not as plentiful that's my understanding anyway it if yours is going bling and kind of ringing it does not change anything in terms of utility you know if you're hiding in the shadows and not wanting to hear somebody not wanting somebody to hear you deploy your otf then that might give you a way but for the other 99.99999 of the population who is never going to be in that situation and it is inconceivable to them the twang isn't going to affect anything um all right let's go ahead and talk about carry profile so thickness up against the spyderco para 3 you can see there it is definitely thicker but it is not unbelievably thick in fact uh just for microtech people will put it up against the combat troodon you can see that it is actually just a little bit thinner this is an aluminum frame which is generally the case with an otf i would love to see these in titanium but they will undoubtedly weigh a lot more this isn't necessarily an ultra lightweight knife let's go ahead and put it up against the spyderco pm2 and para 3 for height and length two knives that are a bit awkward in the pocket and nobody ever really seems to complain about you can see there it's definitely longer but it is super slim it's not tall at all this thing is i guess kind of long in the pocket for people who have pants with short pockets or if you're wearing you know your athletic shorts or skinny jeans i don't know skinny jeans that might might kind of work because of the profile athletic shorts not the most comfortable thing in the world but anything else regular pockets on regular jeans you're not even going to notice it this thing is actually pretty easy to carry elephant in the room this thing is going to be illegal in a lot of places for a lot of different reasons number one it is an automatic knife that's going to get you in a lot of places number two it is dagger ground which is also definitely going to be a problem in some areas meaning it is sharp on both sides and number three it is uh over uh three inches long in blade it's actually over three and a half inches i mean it's right on the line there well actually no it's three point seven five inches so it's definitely over the three and a half inch mark yeah there's not going to be a lot of places where this where the law is going to be super friendly with this so if you're considering picking this up for the love of all things that are good be careful about where you live it this might get you in trouble in kansas it's not a problem but in a lot of places it still is i'm not saying i think those laws are fair but it might still be a thing um blade stock thickness let's go ahead and measure that here real quick get out my calipers uh on i think this is pretty thin i'm gonna say it's 125 thousandths at max we'll try to get it right down there on the middle yeah 125 000 since 124 but 125 is probably what it is that's fine uh let's go ahead and do weight weight on this guy four point four four ounces what is the combat troodon weigh the combat trodon weighs 5.64 ounces so this weighs over an ounce less it's not quite on that ounce an inch mark but honestly for the size of otf and what you're getting it's another reason i like it more than the infidel the profile and weight for the amount of usable blade on this otf is excellent excellent 125 thousands isn't a lot on the um well i'm not going to call it the spine down the center there's not a lot of room to drop towards the cutting edge so as you could imagine it is somewhat thick behind the edge which is the case with most uh dagger ground otfs it is plenty sharp the edge was done perfectly um it's definitely going to do what it was designed to do which is cut and cut conveniently the benefit even though the edge isn't ultra thin the benefit to a dagger ground blade is that you have two full edges so you can dedicate your cutting tasks entirely to one side until it goes dull and then you can start using the other side so you technically have double the edge retention of whatever steel is on the blade which in this case is 204p which is an analog to m390 or 20cv alrighty we can't do a hardware check because this is using proprietary hardware that is a bummer believe me i agree with you i wish that i could easily take this apart but i can't you can buy the tool if you want which is an added cost and that kind of sucks i wish that they would just use like the big torx heads that you see on the socom elite that'd be great for people who are brave enough to get into this i wouldn't be personally i would just if something went wrong i'd probably send it back um for anybody who doesn't know if the action on your otf is starting to slow down or it won't deploy properly or it's misfiring the best thing you can do is take a little bit of rem oil and spray that in there that is to my knowledge what microtech uses at the factory rem oil is a dry lubricant and it leaves behind little flakes of teflon which is actually really good for moving parts a lot of times that can free things up if there's still a problem you can uh brave the frontier and take it apart yourself using the microtech tool or you can do what i would consider to be the smart thing and just send it back to microtech and let them deal with it it might take a little bit but their warranty from what i understand is pretty darn good so that's probably the best route okay let's talk about the anatomy we have this beautiful i don't know if i want it's almost like a double hour glass shape all the corners are nicely knocked down the areas where the screws fit into the handle are perfect the seam is perfect the lines meet up everywhere nothing is out of place the pocket clip is lined up perfectly the pocket clip is perfectly symmetrical that's something that they you know really need to make sure that they get right when they screw this down is lining up the pocket clip some older micro techs that i've seen don't always have the pocket clips straight and uh you know for a design that is absolutely perfectly symmetrical from the you know this perspective and from this perspective that's really satisfying the switch has no play in it in the closed position or in the open position it does not rattle the entire knife doesn't rattle at all i've noticed i noticed that after you know my comment true it on the switch moves a little bit that's fine not that doesn't bother me but this one doesn't so they've got for anybody who's ever been bothered by that with another microtech this one's totally uh solid that's that's great despite the uh screws being proprietary i do love how those um those uh tri-wing screws look and those are pretty i mean as far as screws go screws are being made in-house those are fairly expensive to create so that is something that goes into the cost of your knife even if it does create an inconvenience for you it's something that some people might be able to be aware of i love that they're using the bulb i know they've been doing this for a while but if they have to put a glass breaker on it which honestly i could just do without i think you can get the screws like you can remove this and then there's some uh you know company who makes an aftermarket screw that you can just put in there as a peg right and that that's cool if you want to do that but if they have to use a glass breaker i am happy that they're using the ball bearing and not the sharp point that they have used on some older models that's nice because when you're pushing it into your pocket i use my palm and it that would suck if it was really really sharp unfortunately the only way to unscrew this is um to take like well unless you've got this specific thing but you know you probably could use vice grips and i wouldn't apply the vice grips directly i would use like a washcloth or something really soft wrap it around there set your vice grips clamp them on there and then unscrew it that's probably a good way to do that without damaging it but i don't work for microtech that is not the official way to do that that's probably something that will get you in trouble in terms of their warranty so do that at your own risk i'm just saying that's how i would do it if you really had to take that off of there but i can't say the only time i can see that is if you are left-handed and you want to switch the pocket clip to the other side um now wait a second no you don't have to do that actually the way that it is right now it's fully ambidextrous and if you think about this if you're right-handed you're going to put it in the pocket like this if you're left-handed you're going to put it in the pocket like this it's already ready to go so there's actually no reason to take that off so that's great to say despite this being like a lot of people say oh it's not ambidextrous because the pocket clay you have to you know switch it and then it'll the pocket club be on the side of the face no you're left-handed carry it like this you're right-handed carry like this it's the same either way right other than the position no it's even the same that way so yeah fully ambidextrous that's great lefties rejoice the blade is perfect the direct me the meaning behind direct as far as i understand it it's a term or equation or it's a formula or it's a something in math or architecture or theory that i it's like infinite symmetry i guess and i that's the the uh the what's happening here with the blade is that's coming to this peak and it's perfectly symmetrical that tip is ground right down the middle which is something that i don't see on every otf that i've handled if you're going to do a dagger ground blade it better be ground perfectly down to the tip there is nothing more frustrating than seeing something that is not some it's something that's made to be symmetrical right uh not symmetrical that's it's it's a visual slap in the face um something that really bothered me with the autocrat which was much more expensive um and uh it is not the case here the fuller it looks fantastic this version is tumbled uh the little holes look nice says 204p and usa microtech did kind of this is the only thing that makes this not perfectly symmetrical is the fact that it says direct delta de on one side honestly i could have done without that but the fact that it's there doesn't bother me it's not like the big microtech paragraph that we normally get on microtech knives so okay whatever uh the actual cutting bevel is perfect on both sides i mean on all four sides i guess um no no issue whatsoever the fuller splits that flat what is i guess what could be considered the flat it splits it perfectly right down the blade is perfect it's just i can't tell you how satisfying that is somebody who really gets perturbed when things are supposed to be symmetrical and they're not the the knife honestly is really beautiful from the back side too it's just oh it's such a clean let's see if i can deploy this from back here to get you to show you guys exactly what i mean how good that looks from the backside firing in and out it's very satisfying to deploy as is the case with all otfs i still get people i have this that video i talked about knives you shouldn't hand and not knife people i talk about otfs there are still people in that video commenting saying i would never carry an otf because you can hold them up to a surface and fire and it goes right through the surface no you can't that is not that is a movie myth um these knives it's not i've been saying they derail they actually come off of the track or the chassis um now if you if you tried to fire this especially this one that tip is super super fine not a durable tip but very very fine if you tried to hold your hand up to that and fire don't do that you'll you'll you'll be in the hospital you'll be getting stitches and you know potentially it might do more damage than just surface level stuff that you'll need stitches with for um don't do that but if you're thinking it's going to fire right through any surface no you you've been tricked by the movies that you've been watching i understand the famous scene in it is what's making people believe that right now uh no that's not what happened there um uh but uh yeah it'll uh come off the tracks and then you can it'll be kind of free moving in there and then you just pull it out and click it back into place and it's fine um these are uh substantially more durable than people think if you've never watched x-ring on youtube he has done some pretty serious hardcore testing on microtech otfs and they have surprisingly stood up to way more abuse than i ever would have guessed so i have a newfound respect for microtech knives and i love x-raying he doesn't know who i am but go subscribe to he's doing things that nobody else has attempted to do with these knives so that's cool that he we have we have him to thank for that so that's awesome these standard production versions uh you see the serial number and then uh the date that it was manufactured this was august of 2020 and then it says microtech um to my knowledge the pocket clip is steel i'm not a big fan of this bill um i'd like to see more of a swoop i'm also not a fan of this secondary pinch mark it certainly does a great job of holding it in your pocket which is nice because this is expensive and you don't want the thing to fly out of your pocket if you're running or scaling a building with the knife which okay i'm joking but you don't want the thing to fall out of your pocket maybe if you're hiking or tamping right you're moving around a lot you don't want the thing to fall out of your pocket it does attach very thoroughly many times i've found myself going to pull it and slipping or the thing comes up halfway it doesn't come all the way out because it gets pinched in that secondary position i i would just like a regular the double pinch not be there and this be more of a swoop right in use um i'll tell you where i'm going to hold this is either here or honestly because you can't bear down on this because it's it's got the double edge you're honestly going to put your in this the ergonomic lines in this thing are perfect here here here and here which just barely comes to the back and then you have a perfect bracing point right here if you have hands that are larger than maya or an xl glove you're going to find that to get that position your pinky is going to be falling off the edge right so if you've got really large hands even though this is a big knife and it's got a long handle if you're really wanting to get in this position right here you're going to find that you don't have a lot of room if you want to hold the knife like this or you want to hold the knife here right you're going to be just fine there's lots of room on the handle the lines are meant to fit the human hand they're in the right place whether you're holding it upside down or whatever the the lines are great and honestly it's really easy to lock in on a knife that looks like it might be kind of slippery there is no guard so be careful if you're using this thing really hard it's pretty easy for your finger to ride up onto the blade and be cognizant of where your thumb is the jimping right here is definitely functional it does provide some some great traction and it's not super sharp or aggressive the rest of the knife is super smooth so you don't have to worry about anything fraying up your uh pants or anything like that it's just fine um this knife is really really good downsides to this knife it's got proprietary work we know that sucks i wish that it didn't but it does um the pocket clip is not my favorite thing in the world and by the way it will become a hot spot if you're really using this knife hard but if you're just getting it out to make a quick cut here or there um then it's not really going to bother you glassbreaker doesn't need to be there but it is and it's not that big of a deal um the blade is not the thinnest thing in the worst it's not gonna be the most slicey most heavily performance oriented blade in the whole world but i don't think that's why people are buying this the tip is unbelievably fine which some people are going to find as a gigantic benefit if you do a lot of puncture tasks right but it is not a durable tip uh if you abuse that tip it will definitely snap off 100 downsides to otfs gunk can get inside of this little slot right here um so you have to be careful about that and make sure that you're not you know in a position where you're going to get a bunch of sand in there so it's sand and dirt that's definitely going to slow it down pocket lint yeah maybe right not that big of a deal um those are little things that i can complain about and honestly the biggest thing is going to be the fact that it's just going to be illegal for i would say the majority of people watching this maybe not um depends on where you live and what people are watching man if you live in i think like oklahoma and texas and play they don't i don't know i don't know for sure the only one i know for sure is kansas you live in kansas you're fine go ahead you know but you got to be careful about where you're going to pick this up despite all those really those are all really minor things um this is so excellent and if you don't like the large size go with the small ones small ones about utx 85 between utx 85 and utx 70 size right this is great such a beautiful and such a a pleasing otf design these come in at 350 which believe me is a lot of money i understand you can get the ultratech a little bit smaller a little bit thinner right for 280 or so if you want a large otf right but you're looking at the in and you want something symmetrical you're looking at the infidel you're looking at the combat troodon and you're thinking yeah dang even the troadon right even this guy pretty expensive you're looking at these guys and thinking man i want 485 for a big knife like that these are signature series so yeah they're gonna they're gonna be more but this guy 350-ish fantastic i can absolutely recommend this knife this is the best otf design on the market and it just it makes me happier than anything else that i've ever handled in the otf department if you're an otf person this is a must-have it is wonderful it's going to be dependable durable it's definitely going to bring you the satisfaction this i mean talk about like the quintessential movie otf right this looks like what we imagine the symmetrical dagger ground which you know that that's it this takes the perfect form that's why i wanted it so bad i looked at the first time i saw the picture of this i was like i have to have that the moment that a plain stone washed and black one becomes available i will buy it and that's exactly what i did i picked this up at gpknives they're excellent i i've got an affiliate program through them i'll be linking this knife through them down the description check out gpknives if you just want to shop there right it's going to be down there i'm also going to be linking microtech knives in general if you guys want to take a look at microtech knives but yeah this is going to go on my most recommended knives playlist and it's also going to go on my favorite knives of all time playlists because truthfully it is this brought me joy it hit that mark what's the mark i don't know i can't really describe it but you guys know when you lock into something and you just really really love it that's what this was for me this was excellent i have very little to complain about i can recommend this knife otf people you're going to be so happy with this and for people just venturing into the high-end world of otf knives what a fantastic first one this or the small one really really great i've also reviewed the small one as well it was a custom but the small one comes in even less i want to say it's like 280 maybe 260 something like that yeah this is great i'm expecting the price to go up honestly i i wouldn't surprise me if all of a sudden these were 400 so if you're considering this pick it up for 350 while you can i'm not saying the prices are absolutely going to increase i can just see that happening if this becomes more popular but yeah what a just of just an unbelievably great design i love this guys that's going to be pretty much it for today's overview and review uh if you enjoyed this video please follow me on instagram if you 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 that are either expensive or inexpensive that i don't like so check those out and if you enjoy all my content go ahead and click on that metal complex logo right there and subscribe and make sure your notifications are set to all because there's definitely more coming thanks again for watching everybody and have a great day

Channel: Metal Complex

Views: 3,548

Rating: 4.7919073 out of 5

Keywords: microtech dirac delta, microtech dirac vs utx 85, microtech dirac torture test, microtech dirac dagger, microtech dirac review, microtech dirac disassembly, microtech dirac delta torture test, microtech dirac delta review, microtech dirac vs dirac delta, microtech dirac delta vs ultratech, microtech dirac clone, microtech dirac vs ultratech, microtech dirac reveiw, microtech dirac delta reveiw, metal complex knife review, metal complex knife unboxing, knife reviews youtube, edc

Id: auZ-dBaxyXQ

Length: 25min 52sec (1552 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 01 2020