If you like cool knives, then you’ll love this Ultratech Gen III ZBP review. This out the front knife is one of the coolest pieces of gear I’ve reviewed in some time. Not only does it perform very well as an every day carry item, it can also handle some heavy duty use. Keep reading for all the details.
Now, I must admit I’m an occasional knife nerd, meaning I don’t have a huge collection, and I still have normal friends. However, even the most ignorant knife guy knows that out the front knifes are cool. The problem is they have complex mechanisms that can fail, when poorly engineered. Let me tell you that isn’t the case with the Microtech Ultratech ZBP.
They spend a lot of time and attention designing these knifes to make sure they’re reliable in a all conditions. They’ve also pioneered their Zero Blade Play (ZBP) technology that nearly eliminates any blade movement, when locked into place. Check out the overview below.
Overview: Microtech Ultratech Gen III ZBP
- Current Flagship OTF knife
- Extremely rugged construction and design
- Slim profile featuring a 3.55 inch blade length
- Overall length of 8.54 inches
- Upgraded Glass breaker built into handle
- Dual-fuel Drive Train, one handed deployment / retraction
If you’re the kind of guy that likes to get their info from a video then check out this quick review I did below. You’ll find all the same info here, with more detail on the numerous changes to this ZBP generation knife.
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Microtech Ultratech Gen III ZBP Review
If you’re new to Microtech, they’ve been making OTF knives for decades. As such they have a lot of experience with this type of deployment mechanism. Historically out the front knives have had a lot of movement in the blade, when deployed. This is why I usually prefer liner locks, like my favorite Zero Tolerance ZT 350.
Microtech heard these complaints loud and clear. The created a new Zero Blade Play internal mechanism that eliminates 99% of movement. My experience with this knife has been that it feels just as solid as my Benchmade or Zero Tolerance folding knives. Here are some of the key specs for this knife.
Ultratech Gen III ZBP Specs
The knife itself has a 3.55 inch blade, and a 8.54 inch overall length, leaving a generously sized handle. The blade is made of M390MK steel, which is DLC coated. The handle is 6161-T6 aluminum, secured with Torx screws. The overall weight of this Gen III Ultratech is 3.61 ounces.
I found it particularly interesting that the M390 MK steel is exclusive to Microtech. It’s a custom blend of higher carbon steel, compared to regular M390 blade steel. This high carbon content gives you an increased hardness of 61-62 HRC. This means you get a very tough steel, with exceptional edge retention compared to other softer knife blades.
The knife has some additional features that are quite useful as well. First, there is an integrated glass breaker, on the bottom of the handle. This can be quite useful for tactical professionals, law enforcement officers, and folks that like to keep a glass breaker in their vehicles for emergencies.
The pocket clip is very strong aluminum, with a ceramic ball that helps slide over clothing very easily. The ZBP Ultratech really is over engineered down to the smallest detail.
The firing mechanism that deploys the blade has an interesting design called the Crud Kutter, which channels lint, dirt, and other debris away from the switch channel. This keeps it from becoming jammed, and unable to deploy like other production knives. Now let’s talk about my experience with this knife for daily carry.
Ultratech Gen III ZBP Every Day Carry Experiences
I must admit my first concern with an OTF knife was the likely hood of the knife deploying in my pocket. After talking to some other guys that have carried Microtechs for a while, it seemed like this wasn’t an issue. Now that I’ve had this knife in my pocket for over 3 months, I can say that it’s only opened when I’ve wanted it to.
The switch on the spine of the knife has a nice machined texture, that adds plenty of friction, when deploying the blade. The spring pressure on the switch is also fairly significant. I can’t foresee a situation where it get’s bumped hard enough to deploy the blade.
Even if that were to happen, the mechanism does not fully deploy when it hits an obstruction, prior to the blade locking into place. If that happens you have to manually pull the blade into lockout. It then fires backwards into the handle, like normal.
As you can see in the photos I chose the dual edge blade variant, which certainly looks cool, but I’m not sure if I’d do that again. A single edged blade allows you to use your thumb on the spine of the blade to control cutting pressure. I’ve found myself wanting to do this several times, and have had to stop myself.
This blade is very tough, and it’s great at cutting everything from zip ties to plastic, and everything in between. Moreover, the DLC coating hasn’t shown any signs of wear. This is one of the main reasons I prefer DLC on hard use tools. It wears incredibly well. Let’s get to my final thoughts on this Ultratech Gen III ZBP Review.
Final Thoughts
I found it very interesting that Microtech has released their new generation Ultratech (Gen IV) knives recently. This latest version of these Microtech knives are actually cheaper, because they don’t have the ZBP feature. To me the Zero Blade Play’s rock-solid stability makes this knife feel very high quality.
The other nice thing about this knife is that you have a nice long blade that is stored in a slim package, when the blade is retracted. It takes up less space in the pocket which is nice.
As of this writing you can purchase the Microtech Ultratech Gen III ZBP for a little over $400. However, if you’re a GovX member, which many of you reading likely are, you can pick this knife up for about $350, depending on sales, etc.
Is this a lot for a knife, you bet. Is it reasonable for the amount of engineering you get from Microtech? I think so, but you’ll have to make that call for yourself. If you like this review then share it with a friend. Now get out there and get training.
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