Pulse on the Tropen?

[Siguy1976]

Just joined this forum yesterday. It's my first knife forum and it has been a long time coming. Been collecting and using knives for 25 years. Sold them in outdoor stores and spent way too much time and money researching them and testing them out in indoor and outdoor environments(just for personal use). This will probably be the only knife I express a genuine issue with.

Thoughts on the Tropen:
This knife had me ordering it before I knew what was happening. It really does possess almost everything I want in an EDC.
The handle is excellent, the action superb. The fit and finish is spectacular. The biggest reason I joined this forum was to express the following to people that wondered about the edge issue.

I will state that even after carrying it for just a short while, it is clear that cutting yourself while reaching into the pocket is possible. It's gonna be the side, or pad of your pinky finger. For reference I have size large hands with long fingers and as mentioned above, I did manage to cut my finger on the ZT452(the flesh of my pinky squeezed in between the scales and got sliced on the heel of the blade which comes almost flush with the scales). NOTE: If you have thick fingers, heavy callouses on your pinky, or don't use your pocket for anything other than this knife, it shouldn't be an issue.
What concerns me is that I use my pockets a lot. Change, keys, Key chain light, small multi-tool etc. If you are standing up and aware of the potential to cut yourself, this is unlikely to happen. When carried, the cut out is in the back middle of the pocket and normally easy to steer clear of. I reach into my pocket when I'm sitting down, crouched down, kneeling down, and sometimes even lying on my side. The type of pants make a big difference too. The looser soft shell pants I had on when first testing it out had roomier and less restrictive pockets than the slimmer fit Schoeller fabric pants I have on today. The likelihood of an accidental cut happening is increased by cold, numb fingers in winter, after a few drinks, or when in a hurry. Imagine a spouse or girlfriend reaching into the pocket for house or car keys when your hands are full. Running my pinky finger across the edge of the exposed blade is enough to realize the problem. I have intentionally put small, shallow, non blood producing cuts in my pinky with minimal pressure just to be sure. As an experiment, I ran the longitudinal edge of a wine cork along the exposed part and it easily produced a nick about 1 1/2 millimeters long and deep. When I pressed the perpendicular round edge onto the blade in the cut out, it resulted in a much deeper cut(although this position and circumstance would be highly unlikely to repeat with a finger in pocket). If this cuts a rigid cork, it will cut the soft flesh of a finger pressed into it more seriously. It won't ever cut to the bone, it won't ever hit an artery

Is this a deal breaker for me? No. But as someone that hammers down a nail head sticking out of the floor or door frame, or throws out a glass with a chip out of the rim, it irks me.
I own so many knives and aside from the ZT452, not one of them could EVER cut your finger when closed under ANY circumstance!

The compression lock works so well with the flipper and wave opener. The slimmer size is what I want in a waved EDC to preserve space for my hand to reach past into the pocket. Admittedly, part of why I love compression locks so much is that I enjoy depressing the lock and flipping it open and closed and this is prevented by the flipper on this knife. Not sure why they need a flipper on a waved knife with a Spydie hole. The extra guard it offers when open is nice though.

Overall I am conflicted on this knife. It does so many things so well. I just wasn't expecting to see this kind of issue.

[Siguy1976]

Thoughts on the Tropen after a few more days in the pocket:

To be honest, it feels like it was designed to be a liner lock. The cut out in front allows access to the Spydie Hole and would give space to depress a liner lock. My thumb reaches for a liner lock naturally on this knife. Switching lock types would address any issue I have with the knife.
The cut out for the compression lock exposes the blade heel(which could cut your pinky finger in pocket). The blade heel interferes with flipping the knife open using the compression lock(like can be done with the PM2). The flipper interferes with closing the blade because it pushes the depressing finger out of the way(which is good in this case otherwise the blade heel would cut your finger when closing). Although I prefer compression locks, this knife would rock more as a liner lock. Still love it. Hope to see more waved Spyderco knives in this size and smaller.

[Blades]

How is the handle? Does it feel slick?

[Siguy1976]

This is the first polished G10 I've had and it is very smooth. Similar to polished carbon fiber on the Rubicon. The shape of the handle and the ample finger guard provided by the flipper tab, make it very secure once in sabre or reversed grip. A little more care must be taken when in transition to proper holds. An example is when you first draw it using the wave, you only have half the handle gripped, and must transition to establish a proper hold. In this case the pocket clip is very helpful in maintaining grip and control.
The appearance of the scales is really very well done. Very comfortable in hand. After 20 minutes of cutting down oversized cardboard boxes(not something I would typically do with this knife) I noticed a hot spot on the forefinger where the cut out is a different size on each scale in order to access the Spydie hole from one side.
Still can't get over how smoothly it deploys!

[Blades]

This is the first polished G10 I've had and it is very smooth. Similar to polished carbon fiber on the Rubicon. The shape of the handle and the ample finger guard provided by the flipper tab, make it very secure once in sabre or reversed grip. A little more care must be taken when in transition to proper holds. An example is when you first draw it using the wave, you only have half the handle gripped, and must transition to establish a proper hold. In this case the pocket clip is very helpful in maintaining grip and control.
The appearance of the scales is really very well done. Very comfortable in hand. After 20 minutes of cutting down oversized cardboard boxes(not something I would typically do with this knife) I noticed a hot spot on the forefinger where the cut out is a different size on each scale in order to access the Spydie hole from one side.
Still can't get over how smoothly it deploys!

Thank you.

[Thunderpants]

This looks like an awesome Spyderco. I've only seen a video of it in action but it looks - and sounds! - fantastic!
The only thing putting me off is the wave feature. (And, of course, what Siguy says about its inadvertent cutting power in the closed position.)
The wave hook bothers me because I just don't like the idea of blades opening by themselves. I have never been in such a hurry that I have wanted a blade to magically deploy itself as it exits my pocket.
Hopefully they will make a wave-less version of the Tropen while retaining the best bits of this design.