REVIEW – For me, the epitome of all the every day carry items out there is a pocketknife. For a substantial chunk of my life I’ve carried a pocketknife in one form or another. Today’s review, the Roxon S502U, checks out an unusual feature that you don’t see in many knives. Dive in to see if it makes the cut!
What is it?
The Roxon S502U is a pocketknife with the ability to quickly interchange the blade.
What’s included?
- Roxon S502U pocketknife
- Allen wrench
- User Manual
- Carry bag
Tech specs
- Stock blade: Drop point blade
- Closed Size: 107.5×27.7×16.9 mm
- Open Length: 179.2 mm
- Weight: 88.4 g
- Blade Material: 8Cr13MoV
Design and features
The overall design of this knife was intriguing to me at first. It has two quick release latches that allow you to open the pocketknife and change out the blade inside.
Roxon sells a pack of 17 optional blade inserts that you can purchase separately. I didn’t get the insert pack, but I was able to swap out the drop point blade for an American Tanto blade from the S802 Phantom multitool that I also am reviewing.
The quick release latches, while useful to change out the blade, are kind of problematic to me. In wearing this knife around for a few weeks, there were a couple of occasions when I was working and one of the latches came open. I didn’t have a full release in my pocket, but that is a danger I could see happen over time, especially as the latches loosen with wear.
The blade on the knife has a slot for a one-handed open, but another problem came up quickly. The slot is not easily accessible with my thumb and it is difficult to open one-handed. That is a huge deal for me because I use the one-hand open a ton. You can see in the picture below how shallow that slot sits.
Closing the knife one-handed is easy to do as the lock is easily thumb-accessible.
Performance
I can easily say that this is one of the sharpest knives I currently own. That’s great, but the lack of an easy one-handed open makes this a little problematic because it takes additional effort to open in awkward circumstances.
I was able to shave the hairs off my arm both when I opened the box as well as several weeks later after using it for a while. The edge retention of the 8Cr13MoV steel is excellent. It slices through cardboard easily and I haven’t seen any significant wear in that time.
What I like about the Roxon S502U Pocketknife
- Extremely sharp blade
- Great edge retention
- Different blade options
What needs to be improved?
- One-handed open capability
- More secure cover latches
Final thoughts
A super-sharp knife like this is a joy to use. It cuts things easily and also demands that you give it some respect because it will cut you. The biggest downside of this knife for me is the one-handed open. I need a pocketknife that I can open quickly and easily and this doesn’t quite meet the mark. The interchangeability of different blades is fun and interesting, but I don’t see myself changing them out that frequently. The price point and blade quality is very nice, but for me, that useability factor outweighs the rest. With a little redesign it could probably get there, so I’m curious to see what future iterations bring.
Price: $23.99
Where to buy: Roxon and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Roxon. Roxon did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
