I was lucky enough to score a Vex through a very helpful proxy. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to take pictures of my scores yet.

It is a VERY nice knife and I would honestly say one of the most usable and functional small knife designs from ANY Busse and kin division. Debatable, but IMO, top 3 or so I know of. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

However, it is NOT a pry-bar knife. This is a pure slicer/dicer with an excellent convex edge profile from the factory. The actual edge is quite good by Busse standards, but could be tuned a bit more.

I pretty much always carry a smaller 3.5" - 4.5" bladed knife and tend to use the smaller knife about 90% - 95% of the time. Actually, more often than not, I don't even bother carrying larger knives. So, I put a LOT of emphasis on 3.5" - 4.5" blades... and tend to be VERY picky about the design of smaller knives. The Vex is pretty darn good.

However, often if NOT carrying a larger knife, I tend to want a smaller knife with more toughness and versatility related to toughness. So, while this thin D2 is quite nice in it's abilities as a slicer and it's design in general, I would probably prefer SR-101 at about 0.16" - 0.1875" thick if carrying as an only knife..... But, I would still want satin! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

The handle is pretty comfortable and offers excellent control. Having your hand up close to the blade offers better detail work control than having a large guard AND a choil between your hand and blades edge. When the smaller knives have the choils, I tend to use them choked up more than not. So, I tend to feel choils on smaller knives are a waste when the choked up position is not as ideally designed as designing a grip close to the blades edge from the start.

Some people are afraid of knives without a guard. I am not. You just need to know you can't stab or jab with a knife like this. Or at least do it with extra care. I almost never need to, so it works for me.

I like the HCLE, but the HCLE's handle is just a hair too small for me in the regular grip. With the HCLE, I tend to choke up on more than not. (I feel I have to choke up on the HCLE - which makes the butt of the handle wasted to some degree) Interestingly, the Vex is a lot like a modified HCLE where they widened the choil into a natural index finger recess, chopped off the wasted butt of the handle and made the handle fit and feel good in it's one and only proper grip position. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

It is a simple, yet very functional and comfortable to use design. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />
There is no messing around with design features that are of secondary value at best, aesthetical value or similar. The design is very straight-forward, utilitarian/usable/functional and as it should, it works well.

I would like to see more Busse and kin knives take this simple, functional, comfortable, straight-forward approach to designing smaller knives. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crossfingers.gif" alt="" />

The Vex does very well (IMO) with my 3 F's: Function, fit, feel. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

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