I own Zelite's 6 inch Japanese Steel knife and it is a wonderful kitchen tool - sharp, easy to handle, with a terrific handle and great balance. When I first got it, I was almost afraid to use it - it is so beautiful. But I quickly learned it not just a "drawer queen" and regular use does not mar its beauty. I was looking for a smaller knife when I saw this 5 inch German Steel knife. Its very attractive price and my wonderful buying experience with Zelite made the purchase a "no-brainer." It comes with a great edge and, like the 6 inch knife, has great balance. This knife is all business. I own Global and Shun knives, as well, and my niece, a professional chef, taught me how to keep them honed to a sharp edge. The Zelites are easy to sharpen and a pleasure to use. I hope to own the full line as time goes by. I would just add that Zelite's followup is great and a tip of the proverbial cap to Sam, their Customer Service Manager. I wish every company was as interested in their customers' thoughts and suggestions. Highly recommended.

Purchased two of these knives about a year ago to replace our old Victorinox and Forschner knives that were in our kitchen for well over twenty years and were finally becoming too difficult to sharpen keenly enough for extended daily use. Both my wife and I find the design and weighted balance to be excellent. These knives have proven to be durable and have retained their sharpness for quite some some. Using them as much as we do on a daily basis, they are only now beginning to need a proper sharpening. I was so impressed with the overall performance within the first month that I also wound up purchasing an 8" chef knife and later a 7" cleaver from the same series. I can highly recommend this Comfort-Pro Series to anyone who spends a decent amount of time in their kitchen at their cutting board chopping/slicing/dicing. These knives are worth three times their price! We're so very pleased to help support this family run business.

I am very pleased with my purchase. Feels great in my hand and is really razor sharp. I'm in with the thousand of others. Top notch quality!!!

Just ordered this knife last week. I work in the kitchen A LOT and have some arthritis. This knife is wonderful. Super sharp, well balanced, easy to hold, and big! As you can see from the last picture it is on the left. So really big :). I thought it was going to be too big but I really rather like it! It is not heavy or cumbersome and slices through everything like butter. You won't be disappointed! As with other reviewers I was also blown away by the amazing packaging. You can tell they really take pride in their knives! I will most likely purchase other sizes as well. The rounded grip (which is why I originally ordered it) is perfect. I have smaller hands and have no trouble getting my hand around the knife.

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.