Extrema Ratio DMP Tactical Medium sized Drop Point Superb!

 Extrema Ratio DMP Tactical Medium sized Drop Point Superb!

I know, many will be saying: "At last, Extrema Ratio has released a medium sized multi-purpose Drop point, about time"!

Certain forums have had access to drop point knives made specifically for them but the general public as a whole have not. This much recapitulated knife design is such because it simply works however, it is possible to get it wrong in designing a drop point and the DMP is far from that! The Extrema Ratio DMP features a useful sized finger guard to prevent accidental hand slippage onto the blade during "vigorous" activities; and even sports a small amount of gimping! This Extrema Ratio DMP, like many of the more recent releases from Extrema Ratio also features an absolutely no nonsense thumb gimping, of which the edge finish is just ever so slightly rounded so as not to destroy ones fingers/thumb and provide a superb grip under wet or slimy conditions.

The Extrema Ratio DMP is a full flat grind with a small shallow blood groove/fuller on both sides of the blade. Clearly designed with tactical applications in mind, the Extrema Ratio DMP knife will, I believe also satisfy the wants/needs/desires of the outdoor's persons who want a drop point but until now have not had this on offer from Extrema before. There are many advantages of this tactical knife for the outdoors persons, namely:

1/ Easy to keep clean, uncoated stainless steel blade with good corrosion resistance upon continual immersion.

2/ Scabbard is unaffected by moisture and high humidity

3/ Proven usefulness of a drop point blade for hunting and Camping activities.

4/ Easily carried/transported

5/ Beefy construction, one fixing bolt but not too heavy.

6/ All weather use without gloves.

7/ Can be carried whilst hunting as the scabbard is silent and the retention system will prevent accidental knife loss if stalking/crawling (nearly lost my Puma like that on several occasions!).

The Extrema Ratio DMP could be the camp knife you have been waiting for from them :)!

There is a full sized "full tang". ie no holes or milling except for the fixing bolt (same arrangement as seen in the Giant Mamba). Ok maybe many will argue this isn't a "full tang" so i will clarify what i define as a full tang. No milling holes or slots within the tang, wider than 1cm, protruding to the end of the handle and either as wide as the knife blade itself or almost as wide as the knife blade (in this case).The definitions are rife on the internet because one could have a tang which is as wide as the handle but for obvious reasons is not as wide as the blade itself. In fact, most useable knives are constructed as such. Some ay this is a "concealed tang"; it really doesn't matter too much this classification as the current dimensions of the DMP tang is such that it is more than strong enough and whilst i would never recommend the following I reckon one could hang off this tang like a piton for climbing, so there!

The spine/tang thickness will satisfy many at 6.3mm, no need to be paranoid about tangs, this is more than strong enough. No tools are required to strip this knife in case it requires a full clean (eg immersion in sea water/prolonged use in dirty freshwater/contaminated liquids etc.).

You can see from the image below that the full spine thickness is almost from the hilt to the tip. Whilst the tip of the spine has been thinned down, the "beefiness" can be seen in the next image.

Extrema Ratio are calling this a "reinforced tip", in other words the swedge does not end in a "false edge" as seen on so many "military" type products.

There is also no upper guard which can be restrictive for use outside of the military arena, hence the knife is correctly deemed "Multipurpose".

Made in Italy and serial numbered, quality construction we have know to be synonymous with the ER branding. Individually inspected before leaving the factory and a full warranty.

If you are already an Extrema Ratio owner, then you will not need any introduction to their superb, truly ergonomic Forprene grips. If however, this is the first time for you, these grips  can appear somewhat crazy in their design however rest assured, there is NOTHIN crazy in this design. The grip is super comfortable in wet or dry hands, gloves on or off. Cold (sub zero) or the boiling hot Australian desert !**

Able to effectively absorb shock from impact, resist a plethora of chemicals and UV radiation, Forprene in this design simply works. The grip also resists a twisting motion within the hands and of course like all ergonomically thought out grips; tapers towards the back end because as i have said a million times, that's how the human hand closes.

The carry system

The carry system is almost the same as seen in the Giant Mamba; ie a glass reinforced Nylon no nonsense, impossible to get clogged with dirt (free draining) and prevent extraction in a hurry, scabbard, rigid and providing good safety features.

The Extrema Ratio DMP knife comes with an elasticised  leg strap, which can be removed for a "bare bones" carry, although upon doing so the press stud strap feature is lost however, this allows for strapping the molle compatible sheath to a vest or pack.

The Extrema Ratio DMP has been designed with versatility in mind.

There is a lever actuated quick release and it provides a sure locking mechanism for the knife and we also see a nylon webbing double snap press stud handle retention strap fitted for extra security when one is on the run. The scabbard is also anti rattle by introducing a small rubber shock absorber (for want of a better word) into the sheath (see above image-upper righthand side).

The release lever can be ordered for either right of left handed people.

Of course it goes to say the Böhler N690 stainless Cobalt steel business end of the knife was deadly sharp out of the box.

**

The Extrema Ratio DMP knife and scabbard comes in a range of colors, such as: Ranger Green (my model), Desert, Wolf Grey, Black and HCS; enough to suit all users/end uses, whether military or civilian. Clearly a knife design which is begging to be used and not looked at on a shelf.

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Just a final note here, remember with this knife/scabbard system, if one removes the pommel whilst the knife is in the scabbard, then the knife can come out of the scabbard very easily as the handle plays an integral part in the retention of this blade within the sheath, just like the Giant Mamba.

Anyway, this was just a quick overview from me. Stay tuned for a proper field review of this the Extrema Ratio DMP being used as I deem fit.

 You can also check it out here:

You can now watch it in action here

BCT

XTAR Tactical Flashlights: B20 1200 and the WK18 PACER Fantastic!

The key criteria I look for when choosing a flashlight,  does NOT include how powerful it is, because THE most powerful (in terms of lumens or lux or whatever one wants to use to define the brightness perceived by the human eye); goes immediately into the bin if the product can not suitably resist water ingression other than rain!

Why? Because  THE MOST expensive and powerful flashlight/torch will be ruined instantly if one drops it in the water. And you can not truly have a flashlight labelled as "Tactical" if the damn thing isn't waterproof to at least IPX8 standards, for example: 1.5-2m for 30 minutes.

The next most important criteria I look for is "burn time" or "run time" whatever you want to call it. In other words how long will it run continuously at a given illumination that can be of practical use. How do I define "practical use"? Practical use means for me I can find my way out of a cave. To do this one needs at least 10Lm of lighting. 10 lumens will not be great whatsoever for some serious technical caving but it could in a pinch save your life. All of these cosmic blinding candle power lights are useless if they can only deliver for a few minutes without overheating and shutting down and they are really actually dangerous to use. In reality one doesn't need 1000 lumens continuously (unless filming maybe inside a cave or you actually want to blind an enemy and potentially leave them sightless).

Thirdly, how easy is it to carry

4) How easy is it to charge does not contain proprietary non replaceable batteries?).

5) Doesn't way a tonne!

Here are two models from XTAR which I believe satisfy these criteria of mine:

The PACER (Model WK18) and the slightly bigger B20 1200.

Let's look at them more closely but before that, something of great importance; how to charge your batteries?

XTAR, experts in the field of lithium Ion battery charging, are now making a 2A rapid charging module (SC1) capable of accepting the following batteries:

18650

18700

20700

21700

22650

25500

and

26650 Li-ion batteries!

The SC1 is supplied as standard with the B20 1200.

The B20 1200 has the following features:

A super long run time of 80 hours! at 30 lumens (remember what I said about caving!

Waterproof to IPX8 (1.5m for 30 minutes)

Lanyard hole (I don't want to lose it!)

Tail switch

Stainless steel (removable) clip

Tactical pouch

X2 spare O rings

Included 21700 battery

Durable enough (according to the manufacturer) to be used as a weapon (eg a sort of Kubotan -use some imagination and i don't need to elaborate on this issue).

Is it worthy of taking caving??? I think so and I will indeed be doing this shortly.

 I'm not going to rehash the specs, they are great IMHO and you can see them below in some images of the packaging. I'm more interested in field testing this B20 1200 in the real world.

XTAR list some of the suggested uses of this flashlight on the side of the box. One would have to jury rig some sort of bracket for the bicycle but other than that, I'd say they all look legit to me!

The supplied tactical pouch look well-made to me. I call it tactical because it can be attached to a belt and or any sort of straps and has a plastic "D" ring also sewn into its construction. Made from rot resistance ballistic Nylon.

Now for the "Business end" of things, we have a CREE XP-L V6 LED (https://cree-led.com/media/documents/ds-XPL.pdf) capable of producing 1200 lm continuously for 3.5 hours with the supplied battery (21700 protected Li-ion battery). Its impact resistance is rated at 1.2 m. What does this mean in reality??? Well on all LEDS there are some very small wires and these wires are not indestructible, nor is the glass front port and or mechanical tail switch. Suffice it to say the light can undergo a drop of 1.2m and hence gravity actuated fall and still operate.

Stainless steel pocket/belt whatever clip (removable).

Just incase, big big cooling fins and a little reminder with the LASER engraved text.

Mmmmm? What could be done with this end????

Large parabolic reflector will provide a good beam.

B20 1200 easily stands on it's head LOL!

The B20 1200 came with 2 spare O-rings and a lanyard 

Now to the PACER (this is an old model apparently).

The key features of this light are the following;

It looks to me as if it is really the upgraded version of the now discontinued Venus. (my words not theirs).

A single 18650 battery or 2 16340's (rechargeable version of the NON-rechargeable CR123A) or 2 CR123A compatible light. that's a fairly good range of batteries. CR123A batteries came out like yonks ago but are still widely available worldwide. 18650 batteries can go the distance as far as providing a good run time and low weight.

The package includes a spare O-ring and a backend metal pocket clip, plus lanyard. (no battery included).

Note the long burn time of 47 ays at 1Lm!! Ok this is enough to read a book by in total darkness or find something inside your tent in the middle of the night.

However, a good honest 60Lm for 28 hours and waterproof to IPX8 1.5m for 30minutes, well this is good enough to take caving.

A good quality "orange peel" reflector

And a  quality CREE XM-L2U3 LED

The PACER easily fits in the palm of your hand.

Good sized lanyard holes in tail cap

Note the 28 hours run time at 60Lm! I can use this for general caving and as a backup light.

Detail of head construction, note there is a thin air gap under this head piece, maybe for better cooling???

The PACER will do 1000 lumens for 3 hr but i reckon not continuously otherwise it would just get way too hot, so this spec is really saying, ok you can get 3 hours battery life at 1000 lumens setting in total. in reality 1000 lumens is deadly bright.

I won't rehash the secs, here they are for you to read yourself.

Now time to field test the both of these lights on BCT!