Not two weeks ago, I traded one of my fixed blades to a co-worker for his Dejavoo, for the duration of the day. Now, this was not the mini-Dejavoo, but I will say I was very impressed. I'm biased, of course, when it comes to Benchmade's blue or black class knives, but I'm sincere when I say I wouldn;t hesitate to buy one. My mind was prevously made up and committed: my next folder would be the BM mini-Skirmish, but playing with that Dejavoo put the Skirmish committment in serious jeopardy....seriously.
I played with it alot but I didn;t cut much (I cut some nylon handcuffs laying around and I shaved a little rubber from an old pair of binoculars), because I was trying to be respectful of this guy's knife. He, on the other hand, cut a bunch of cardboard, tape, and other stuff with my Bark River and I had to sharpen it starting at 800 grit when I got home. That was ok - he was impressed!
When I first saw the Dejavoo, I didn;t like the looks of it. It looked to me like....well, like "hype", with its drooping tail-end and thick (height) blade, but that day changed my opinion entirely. The fit and finish is of typical BM standard: nearly flawless. I really liked the feel of it in my hand (ha! What's new when it comes to knives?). For a non-Axis liner-lock knife, I like the Dejavoo alot and I would have to expect the mini-Dejavoo to be every bit as nice.
The mini has the same S30V steel and, according to BM's catalog, it's 7-5/8" long open, with a 3-1/4" blade. Blade thickness is 1/8" and overall thickness (with G-10 scales) is 5/8".
I know from experience the S30V is a good knife steel...as good as any and better than some. I can sharpen it razor sharp on the SHarpmaker std ceramic rods, something I can't do very well with D2 steel.
If you get it I think you'll fall in love with it.
ON EDIT: Oh. Is it durable? Well, as I said I didn;t try to "test" the knife, but it's a Benchmade...expect it to be well-made. THe liner locked up nice and tight, no side-to-side play that I could feel, and the liner was fully locked against the blade with just mild, one-handed opening. I didn;t do any "spine whack" tests...I don;t do those on any knife, but suffice it to say I felt comfortable with the lock-up each time I opened it (maybe 50 or 60 times). The blade is 1/8" steel, more than adequate for a folder this size, but still you wouldn;t expect this knife to stab holes in concrete or truck bumpers....but you knew that. The G10 scales should last a lifetime, I see no difference in them than any other G10 I have, and I can;t seem to hurt them any no matter what I do. Yeah, it should be pretty sturdy and more than able to handle any daily tasks and beyond.
One more thing: the knife carries tip-down. That really swayed me, thinking back on it now. Alot of guys like to carry tip-up, but I'm the opposite. BM's clips suffer alot of verbal abuse, with people claiming they're either too stiff on some blades or, more often, too flimsy. I liked the clip on the Dejavoo...maybe I was blinded because it allowed me to carry it tip-down in my waistband, but I would remember if there had been something wrong with the clip. I liked it.
Edited by Stretch (10/22/07 08:09 PM)
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DON'T BE SCARED
-Stretch