SOGPhantom Strike Machete/HQ Edition

Arrives with a sharp edge. It is a very capable machete and with a cool Roman gladius look.

It;s super cool and it is very functional. cuts through 2' scrub trees with ease.

Had a decent edge and very sturdy. Functional and cut 3” in diameter tree limbs with ease.

Cool blade shaped to a fine tip very cool mashite will cut and kill

The SOG Machete itself is excellent sharp, solid and well finished. OTOH, the scabbard is okay, but on mine the retainer strap was put on upside down, and was therefore USELESS. So, I took a sharp knife to it and cut it loose, turned it over, and the snap button was too far back on the strap to reach the snap itself. Still USELESS, but not a deal breaker.SOG always builds quality edged tools, and I own several of them. The retention strap is essentially a "feel good" item, because the sheath fits like a glove, and is tight enough to hold the machete in place even if you are hanging upside down from something. Strongly recommend this machete and vendor!

I'm lucky enough to have the Cold Steel version of this that was still made in South Africa (IMHO, higher quality than the ones currently made in China, and also cheaper than the Chinese CS). This one is shorter (slightly), and has a double edged-edge. In other words, the edge angle is changed as if it was pulled through a sharpener (For this reason, it is MUCH sharper than the CS, but I'm not sure if that makes it weaker with longer term usage. Of course, it also has a large CHINA stamp on it in contrasting white whereas the CS South Africa one was actually punched into the blade, but the color wasn't changed so it actually stands out less.The sheath is the biggest disappointment. I had to really try to get the tip into the opening of the sheath without cutting through the actually case, and it is an effort to get the tip all the way to the bottom. The tip protector on the sheath is also about 30% of the size as the CS version. And the the final insult-- the keeper meant to hold the handle into the sheath is cut too short AND installed upside down, so it does not capture the handle, nor retain the machete at all. This means that it would not be practical to actually use this machete as it can not be securely sheathed between use.Bottom line: if you want mass produced, but looks like the sword Maximus carried, this is neat, but not the quality you used to get.

The machete is good to go but the sheath sucks. The retaining strap is stitched on backwards and to short to fit around the handle to hold it in. Also the belt loop is to narrow to fit an average size belt. However the Machete seems fine.

This thing is sharp, lightweight and bad a**