Zelite Infinity Utility Knife 6 inch >> Alpha-Royal Series German Steel - Razor Sharp, Superb Edge Retention, Stain & Corrosion Resistant Petty Knives, Ultra-Premium Leather Sheath

Not used it yet.

So I decided to take a chance on this as I needed another utility knife. Most of my knives are Shun or Wustof. So I am going to compare them, but recognize that I am not faulting the knife for not being equal to knives more than double its price. I am simply pointing out differences so people know what to anticipate if they purchase this knife.First impressions -The box it comes in is very nice, even if unnecessary as you will likely never use it again. That said I am a big fan of a quality presentation and this knife comes packaged in a very nice box, in a fitted foam cutout and a silk wiping cloth. Now I'm completely unsure of what the cloth is supposed to be for as that is something that typically comes with sunglasses, but it is still a nice touch. So if you are planning on gifting this knife, you can pretty much just wrap the box as it comes and it presents very nicely.The leather sheath is well constructed a nice. I don't personally find it useful as I have a nice knife block, but for someone who does not, this is a great way to keep the knife protected in a drawer.The fit and finish of the knife is fairly nice, but there are a couple of flaws that need to be pointed out. The handle is the first thing that jumps out. It is quite comfortable in the hand, but the finish isn't as polished as some of your finer knives. You can feel the transition from the wood to the rivets and tang. It isn't a sharp transition, it is simply there. The heel of the knife doesn't have the same transition so it feels like a case of the manufacturer using a single finishing process for the handle instead of a couple of stages to really polish it. Again it is important to note that I am not knocking the knife for this as this is a $40 knife, not a $100+ knife.The spine of the knife is where I have my first real complaint as one side is sharp. It isn't cut your hand sharp, but it is sharp enough that I feel the manufacturer could have done a much better job here. Basically what I am dealing with here is a burr that didn't get properly polished off as you only feel it rubbing your finger from the edge to the top. I have the stones and stroppes to polish it out so it isn't that big of a deal to me, but it is something that needs pointing out. This is one of the reasons why I dinged the knife some points when rating. This is where I feel the manufacturer could have and should have done a much better job finishing the knife as you will almost never find this kind of flaw even on cheap $20 knives.The edge is as sharp as expected. It handles the paper test with a smooth effortless cut from tang to tip with no obvious catches. It is carbon steel so I do expect the edge to hold up, but only time will tell. Right now the overall build quality is such that I wouldn't expect it to fail my expectations.Lastly the balance. This knife is balanced on the first rivet. While this may not mean much to most, there are some that will find this useful. Overall the knife feels good in the hand and outside the issue I mentioned, is a well built knife for the money. If you have someone who is a budding amateur chef and trying to make the transition from cheap knives to more expensive ones, this will make a good transitional utility knife without breaking the bank. It would also make a good knife for those looking to get more experience sharpening the harder carbon steel knives without risking their more expensive knives. Actually this was one of my primary reasons in purchasing this as I wanted a reasonably good quality carbon steel knife that I wouldn't be as worried about making a mistake while polishing my sharpening skills on.

Having read the enthusiastic reviews, I had high expectations of this knife, however, my overwhelming feeling in the end was one of disappointment.I was looking for a knife that looked like a premium item and felt good in the hand, but, above all it had to be super sharp, and hold its edge well.For a knife that claims it is "Hand Finished using the Traditional 3-Step Honbazuke Method this 6" Gyuto has a Ruthless pro razor edge, Mirror Polished Cutting Angle Ensuring Maximum Sharpness" it was simply not sharp enough when it came. The fact that I was quickly able to improve on the initial sharpness myself (but still not to the level I would expect from a top quality new knife) really made me question all the other claims made for the product.Sure the knife looks decent and is comfortable and easy enough to use, but its edge retention is not great and I do get some impression of style over substance. Its OK, but in the end it does not fully deliver on the claims made for it, and frankly I have bought knives for less that still look great and have proved much better in use.

Crazy value for money for what I paid for it, in my opinion. A Wüsthof would set you back a lot more for not that much less.The steel seems nice, but doesn't hold an edge as long as my Wüsthof Classic Ikon does.One complaint, I guess, is that the knife didn't come as sharp as a more expensive, earlier Zelite utility knife that I bought (the ones that come in the white box and have no sheathe) - I found that I had to sharpen the knife before use, whereas my previous Zelite was shaving-sharp out of the box. I guess you get more when you pay more - that was certainly my experience.Would give it 4 stars as a Zelite product, as I've had better, but I'll give 5 because for the price I paid it's great.

Fits nicely in my hand nicely as well as my husband’s and came in nice packaging suitable for gift giving but bought for myself. It just came today & I immediately tossed my old Henckel knife that I bought this to replace. Used to cut veggies for dinner - blade seems very sharp and quality seems great. Comes with sheath-hate to waste anything but am putting the knife in the knife block w/other knives so won’t use it. The blade does seem to get water spots easily even when hand washed and dried immediately. Came with a cloth- not sure if is the intended use but wiped off blade with it after drying the knife and all spots easily disappeared. Very pleased.