The Kizer Feist came in a premium package just like all its products. It had all the knife’s details right on the package, along with model number and specs.

It was carefully wrapped in a neat box that also contained its manual, warranty card, a velvet pouch and a piece of cloth for maintenance. So our first impressions of the knife were very positive. The knife came out of the box in a perfect position. It had fine finishing, razor sharp blade right out of the box without any scratches, and the handle was very smooth.

The deployment and lockup of the knife were very smooth and it opened with a single wrist flick. Its simple profile was very well-designed with attractive features and functionality. It is a relatively thin, small and lightweight knife, but all the more grippy, firm, yet soft to touch.

We also checked the blade to see if it bent, and it turned out to be in perfect alignment with the handle and the lock bar. The pocket clip had a little spring tension and hung perfectly on to a pocket. It did not slide off in another direction and was discreet enough.

The price of the knife also feels in line with its value. We did not find any significant flaw in it, except maybe the small finger choil and the absence of jimping. However, these are minor setbacks, as they do not discredit the knife. So we found the unboxing and first impressions pretty positive.

The Kizer Feist’s blade is just below 3” at 2.875”, making it legal and easy to carry in Chicago and other states. It is a suitable blade length for EDC tasks for a pocketknife – not too small and not too big. Blade thickness of 0.12” is also quite reasonable and standard. The drop point edge makes the blade a whole lot wholesome and geometrical, coupled with the high flat grind. The plunge lines on this knife are symmetrical, with a smooth radius from the spine to the ricasso.

The finger choil may look small, but it is smooth and comfortable. It enhances the grip and hold for making precise cuts. The secondary bevel slightly opens up as it approaches the tip, leading to a very thin pointed edge. The good thing about the spine is that it is completely rounded with no awkward edges, making it smooth against your thumb when you open the blade.

However, if we compare S35VN to VG-10 on Kizer Vanguard Line, then it contains more carbon, vanadium, and molybdenum. It also makes the blade more high-end. The stonewash finish further makes the knife shine. It eliminates any visible scratches and stain marks despite use.

The good thing about the scales of Kizer Fiest is that there are no awkward bumps or sharp edges. The handle is smooth and contoured titanium. There is just one decorative pivot screw for vanity. The rest of them are ordinary Torx screws that you can unscrew with the Torx driver for cleanliness and maintenance.

The handle is also very symmetrical, in line with the blade angle, perpendicular to the liners and holds the blade in a locked position perfectly. It is also ergonomically friendly as it provides a good grip, holds the knuckles and palm of the hand at just the right angle and is blemish free. The handle also has a matte finish, which further enhances the grip and makes it easy to maintain and dirt free despite use.

The Titanium handle is an excellent combination of visual appeal and practicality. You can choke up the knife, hold it by the finger choil and slide your hand up or down the handle for cutting tasks. The overtravel stop pin protects your fingers from sliding on to the blade during use, taking it a step further in safety. However, there is no flipper tab or jimping to stop your fingers from sliding on to the blade. So you’d have to be careful about that.

The Fiest also features a milled titanium pocket clip for tip-up and right-side carry. Even if you decide to replace the pocket clip, which you can, it will only be tip-up or right. It will work fine as far as the milled clips are concerned. The edges of it are also well-buffed so that it doesn’t create any hot spots. It hangs well in the pocket, even though it is not for deep pocket carry. It is still discreet when held on to jeans, work pants, shorts pocket. It only exposes about half an inch of the scales when hung. It also has some spring tension, making it a bit more flexible and doesn’t shift if you move. However, it requires both hands to clip on to the pocket of whatever garment you are wearing. But the pocket clip works well. It is lightweight, short and slim and has a nice finish that can last.

The rounded spine with six shallow grooves cut into the jimping adds more traction when holding the knife.

The front flipper deployment on Kizer knives have been a hit so far – especially as they are now modified. Unlike traditional flipper knives, front flippers do not generally have a tab for deployment. Instead, the blade’s rear tang is machined to add grip that gives the thumb enough pressure to flip open the blade.

Kizer did an excellent job on the front flipper tab of Kizer Feist as it deploys smoothly, does not accumulate gunkor snagging threads.

However, Kizer customers have complained of gritty opening and closing action of the flipper. It was reported that it was mostly because the internal stop pin did not press fit but left free-floating. It made the flipper responsible for the grit. The good news is that those customers can exchange an old version of Kizer knife with a new one. However, Fiest did not have this problem as this is an updated version.

Once the blade disengages and opens fully, it is held in place by titanium framelock. It features a stainless steel lock face that reduces the need for maintenance and makes it easier to service the knife. That prolongs the knife’s life, thus making it a good value knife.

The overtravel stop inserts minimizes chances of blade play when deploying the Kizer Feist. When holding the knife with your four fingers, you use the side of your thumb to flip on the tab and roll it backwards with a slight wrist flick top open the knife. The action is done in one swift movement.

The framelock on Kizer Fiest has also received a lot of praise from its users. There is no lock rock, blade play and engages 40% of the blade tang. Although a full engagement of the blade tang makes the lockup better, Kizer has been able to take it up a notch to perfect its framelock. There is also enough room for your thumb to access the lock, with the internal edges chamfered for comfort. The owners of previous variants of this knife had experienced stiff locks, but we did not experience any such thing. One again, Kizer brought improvements to its lockup as well.

We tested the Kizer Feist by taking it in the field, starting with slicing through thick rope. It cut through a tough piece of rope with such ease that it was impressive. It did not tire out the hand as not pressure or force was required. The blade was pretty sharp right out of the box, and it shone. The handle also turned out to be ergonomically friendly providing a good grip and did not get dirty soon.

We also found the knife’s edge retention to be exceptional, and the finger choil did its job well. The handle also had ample space for the entire hand to hold on to it. We did cut through paper in between to rid the blade of tiny pieces of rope getting stuck in it. Even in between every use, the blade’s sharpness did not give way, neither did its edge.

We cut through papers from all the blade’s angles, and it checked well from all sides.  We also sliced through wire cables to move on to slightly tougher tasks. It cut through the wire in a single slice with minimal force.

Then we also cut through tougher plastic rope. Here again, Kizer Feist performed exceptionally. It also did not deform the edge. We also held the knife at various positions to see if it would perform well. We tried choking up the knife, and it cut the rope well.

Then we moved on to slicing wood chips. It required some strength to pull off this task.

It was also easily able to punch through and open tougher packaging with ease. The drop point combined with the flat grind proved to be useful here. Even though the knife was held at an awkward angle, it did not disengage or slide off to a wrong angle.

Similarly, it was able to open small packages, envelopes and wrappers with exceptional ease. So we can say that Kizer Fiest won the field test and turned out to be an EDC winner. From light EDC tasks to tougher ones, Feist did not give up.

Kizer Feist vs Smoke TS-1

Kizer Feist and Smoke TS-1 share a lot of things. These are more or less the same knives, except the Smoke TS-1 has a 3.5” blade with 4.5” handle.

Also unlike the Fiest, The TS-1 has a thumb opening hole but s also designed as a front flipper. It is also a direct competitor to Kizer, as it is manufactured in China and is also a high-end pocketknife.

When it comes to performance, both the knives prove to be exceptional EDCs with smooth deployment and lockup. The handle of TS-1 however, has the right swedges in places where it hugs the hand whenever it is held. But Feist’s performance is just as good. So both the knives give tough competition to one another.

Kizer Feist vs Boker Plus Esxkelibur I Titan

Boker Plus made the Exskelibur as a front flipper in a larger price range than the Feist, at $130. However, there is a variant with VG-10 blade and G-10 scales at $85.

The regular high-end version of the Titan comes with a 3.5” S35VN drop point blade with a flat ground and a framelock. It looks very similar to the Feist, except with the more contoured scales. It also comes with a pocket clip of equal caliber with the same edge geometry as the Feist. However, the blade point of Titan does not stand at the perfect center of the knife as Fiest’s does. But that does not hinder in its performance. The two knives pretty much stand on the same spectrum when it comes to features and practicality.