The Best CIVIVI Knives: High Quality, High Value
CIVIVI knives launched as a budget-friendly alternative to its premium sister brand, WE Knives. By combining WE’s expertise in precision manufacturing with a focus on simpler designs and more affordable materials, CIVIVI has quickly become an industry leader when it comes to value. They offer smart choices for just about every user, from hard-use and tactical knives to everyday carry and pocket knives, and they now offer a growing selection of fixed blades, too. Impeccable quality control ensures that every CIVIVI knife operates perfectly, but some designs stand above the rest. These are the best CIVIVI knives:
Elementum
The Elementum isn’t just CIVIVI’s best-selling design, it’s one of the best-selling folding knives of all time! It is a deceptively simple knife that packs all the right elements (get it—Elementum?) to make a perfect all-rounder: quality materials, broadly appealing design, and a great price.
The first Elementum featured D2 steel blade steel with a keen hollow grind—offering great edge retention and high-performance slicing ability—but what really made it a hit was its reassuring ergonomics and exceptionally satisfying deployment action. The flipper tab doubles as a finger guard when the knife is open, and the use of ceramic ball bearings in the pivot makes for a consistently smooth, snappy feel.
Over the years, CIVIVI has expanded the line to include a huge variety of handle scales and more blade shapes including Wharncliffe and tanto versions. Starting at less that $50, the Elementum is an irresistible everyday carry proposition.
Elementum II
How do you improve on one of the most popular pocket knives of all time? Give it a button lock! Swapping out the original liner lock for a button lock makes the Elementum II even easier to use. In addition to its intuitive operation, a button lock is also finger-safe for the user since unlocking it does not require one’s fingers to intersect the path of the closing blade. Once you get the hang of it, few knives can match the speed and satisfaction of a button lock flipper—those who enjoy a fidget-friendly experience will find it downright addicting.
The other differences that set the Elementum II apart from the original are more subtle. While the silhouette and blade length of both models are identical, the handle of the Elementum II is slightly thicker, so you can enjoy the same great cutting performance with a little extra volume in the handle for a grip you can really bear down on. The base model blade steel is Nitro-V for improved stainlessness, or you can upgrade to premium S35VN powder-metallurgy steel with the red-and-black edition pictured above.
Vision FG
The Vision FG is a rare combination: bold, innovative, affordable, and excellent. You can tell just by looking at it that this is no ordinary knife. Luckily, it’s different for good reasons. Designed by Snecx Tan, the CIVIVI Vision FG is built around three central design requirements: strong lockup, ambidextrous access, and ease of use on a cutting board.
Snecx, dissatisfied with any of the locking mechanisms on the market, decided to design a new one from scratch to meet his requirements. What he came up with he dubbed the Superlock, a strong-yet-simple mechanism that is unlocked by pulling back on the tab that rises out of the top of the handle. In addition to its strength, it also has the advantage of being finger-safe to operate.
The design of the lock is naturally ambidextrous, and a reversible pocket clip ensures that left- or right-handed people can have the exact same experience with the knife.
In use, you’ll notice right away how well the Vision FG works when cutting against a surface. Whether you’re doing a bit of quick food prep on a cutting board or doing some utility cutting on a work bench, its unique ergonomics allow the entire length of the edge to make contact with the surface. It may not sound like a big deal but if you’ve ever struggled to complete a difficult cut, you know what a difference being able to use the whole edge can make!
Standard versions of the CIVIVI Vision FG come with Nitro-V stainless or Damascus steel, but we were impressed enough with the knife that we commissioned an exclusive version with carbon fiber handles and upgraded S35VN steel. Embrace its oddness and you’ll begin to see the Vision clearly.
Brazen
As one of the few knives in CIVIVI’s catalog to debut with a tanto blade, the Brazen offers a tougher, more tactical approach with its design. The full-sized 3.5-inch blade is big enough for the mission, and is backed up by a grippy handle with a well-considered traction plan. Multiple deployment methods—flipper and ambidextrous thumb studs—ensure the blade will be ready to go when you are, and the discreet deep-carry clip is reversible to fit any pocket. Following the success of the original liner lock version, CIVIVI recently added a button lock version to the lineup, too.
If tanto blades aren’t your style you can still enjoy the Brazen’s locked-in ergonomics, reliable action, and impeccable build quality with a drop point blade instead. Even with its slightly more precise tip, the high saber grind of the drop point blade is still plenty strong enough to tackle harder use, and the 14C28N stainless steel has the toughness to back it up. Whatever blade shape or lock type you prefer, as a budget-conscious modern tactical folder the Brazen is tough to beat.
Conspirator
Don’t let its monolithic look fool you: the CIVIVI Conspirator is an extremely comfortable and capable knife. When it comes to knives, simpler is often better, which is why the stark handle and basic drop point blade make for such a hard-working and well-rounded pocket knife package.
Like a well-shaped bushcraft knife, the handle of the Conspirator just seems to adapt itself to the task at hand. It is perfectly proportioned and subtly curved to fill the hand in all sort of grip positions. Different scale materials really transform the character of the knife—you can either give it an inviting natural feel with canvas Micarta and wood, highlight the cool skeletonized liners with see-through Ultem, or upgrade to the solid aluminum pictured above for an even sturdier feel.
The Conspirator’s drop point blade does it all, with a sturdy high flat grind for strength that is broad enough for efficient slicing. And while the fuller does add a bit of personality to its looks, it’s not just for show; you can actually use it to thumb or flick open the blade. Plus, there’s aways the flipper! No matter how you open it, the button lock operates perfectly, sending the blade open with a satisfying snap, disengaging with a simple press, and sliding closed with a silky-smooth feel. It’s a highly refined mechanism that just about everyone can use and appreciate, which helps make the steadfast Conspirator a great pick for jaded collectors and knife newbies alike.
Qubit
It works as a bottle opener when closed. It comes in bright colors. But believe it or not, behind its fun and cheerful exterior the Qubit is secretly one of the most elite slicers in CIVIVI’s entire catalog!
Coming in at just 0.091? thick (2.3mm), the Qubit’s blade stock is noticeably thinner than all but one other knife on this list. When you factor in its broad blade, full-flat grind, and keen edge, it demonstrates insane cutting ability for its price point. Production companies rarely make knives this slicey but CIVIVI has the manufacturing chops to pull it off and we applaud them for it.
The Qubit would be a ideal office EDC: carving through mail and packages with ease, pulling overtime as a a paring knife, and cracking open a refreshing beverage after hours. It also makes a great gift for anyone who has yet to experience the joy that a true high-performance cutting tool can bring.
Baby Banter
Designed by Ben Petersen, the Baby Banter is the ultra-compact EDC for everyone. This approachable little pocket knife features a finger choil to lengthen its effective handle length, which allows hands large and small alike to use the 2.3-inch blade with the confidence of a full grip. When open it’s eager to work hard; closed, it’s downright dainty. Fold it up, put it in your pocket, and its tiny footprint and light weight makes it practically disappear.
Available in Nitro-V or upgraded S35VN (pictured), these take the utilitarian charm of the full-size Banter and shrink it down into an even more pocket-friendly package.
Badlands Vagabond
In a word: underrated. Although the Elementum wins the CIVIVI popularity contest, the humble Badlands Vagabond is undoubtably a better EDC pocket knife.
Because the handles are injection molded from FRN instead of milled, they can have a sophisticated contoured shape without any extra machine time inflating the manufacturing cost. The result is a supremely comfortable folding knife that melts into your hand without burning a hole in your pocketbook. Plus, the clean white color makes a perfect blank slate for your custom dye or decoration.
Even better, the budget saved on the handle went straight into the blade steel: these feature upgraded S35VN to take advantage of the keen hollow grind for an edge that just keeps on cutting.