Vosteed Raccoon 2.0 Review: A Brand That Keeps Earning It

There is a trap in the EDC hobby that nobody talks about honestly enough. You find a few things that work and you just keep buying them. My personal defaults are a Spyderco PM3 Lightweight, a Victorinox Alox Cadet, and a Streamlight MicroStream.

Those three things cover nearly everything I need and I could carry them for the rest of my life without complaint.

But then you stumble across a brand while trolling Amazon or falling down a YouTube rabbit hole and something catches your eye.

That is how I found Vosteed a few years back. Mid-tier, semi-budget, and consistently putting out knives that punch above their price. I have reviewed a few of them and kept coming back. The Raccoon 2.0 is the latest, and this review is long overdue.

Read my review of the original Vosteed Raccoon here.

I paid for this knife myself. Vosteed also regularly runs coupons on Amazon, so check the listing before you buy because you can often save a few bucks off the already reasonable price.

Specs

The version I am reviewing is the gray G10 Bowie, model A2918. Blade length is 3.25 inches, Bowie style, 14C28N Sandvik steel, flat grind, blade thickness of 0.118 inches, hardness at HRC 59 plus or minus 1.

Overall length is 7.60 inches. Handle length is 4.35 inches. Weight is 3.97 ounces. Gray G10 handle with blue aluminum backspacer and accents. Caged ceramic ball bearing pivot. Top liner lock with button operation.

Reversible stainless steel clip, tip-up carry. Thumb stud deployment, ambidextrous. Street price is $65 to $69 depending on colorway, often less with Amazon coupons.

Feature	Details (Model A2918)
Blade Length	3.25 inches
Blade Profile	Clip-Point Bowie (Flat Grind)
Blade Steel	Sandvik 14C28N (HRC 59 ± 1)
Blade Thickness	0.118 inches
Overall Length	7.60 inches
Closed Length	4.35 inches
Weight	3.97 ounces
Handle Material	Gray G10 with Blue Aluminum Accents
Pivot Assembly	Caged Ceramic Ball Bearings
Lock Type	Button-Operated Top Liner Lock (TLL)
Pocket Clip	Reversible Stainless Steel (Tip-Up)

About the Brand

Vosteed is not a household name outside of the knife community but they have been quietly building a reputation for solid execution at prices that make sense. They are not trying to compete with Benchmade or Spyderco on prestige.

They are competing on value, and they usually win that fight. Their fit and finish runs better than the price suggests, their heat treating on 14C28N is consistently good, and they offer more configuration options on their lineup than most brands at this price point.

The Raccoon alone comes in Bowie, drop point, and modified sheepfoot blade styles across multiple handle materials and colorways. If you find one you do not like aesthetically there is almost certainly another version that will work for you.

The Top Liner Lock and Why It Matters

Before I get into the knife itself I want to spend some time on the lock because it is the most interesting thing about the Raccoon 2.0 and the reason I was drawn to it.

I despise traditional liner locks. That is not an exaggeration. The motion of sliding your thumb across to disengage the liner while the blade is coming down puts your thumb directly in the path of the edge. Technically it is fine. I have never cut myself on a liner lock. But I do not love the geometry and I have never been fully comfortable with it.

The Raccoon 2.0 solves this with what Vosteed calls a Top Liner Lock, also referred to as a TLL. The lock itself is essentially a compression lock concept, similar to what Spyderco pioneered, where the liner contacts the top of the blade tang rather than the bottom.

To disengage it, instead of sliding your thumb across the blade’s path, you press a button on the side of the handle. The button pushes the liner over and the blade drops shut on its own.

The result is a closer, safer, and more satisfying motion than a traditional liner lock. You push the button, the blade falls.

No thumb anywhere near the edge. No awkward lateral thumb slide. It works cleanly and confidently and it is the kind of design decision that makes you wonder why more brands have not done this.

Lock strength is excellent. The top liner contact is widely considered stronger than a traditional bottom liner lock, and the 2.0 added larger dual stop pins over the previous version which gives the lockup an even more solid feel. Zero blade play in any direction on my knife.

The 2.0 Upgrades

The “2.0” designation is not marketing. Vosteed made meaningful changes from the original TLL Raccoon.

The liners moved from internally milled to exposed, which increases rigidity and gives the knife a more confidence-inspiring frame feel. The standoffs were replaced with a full aluminum backspacer, which adds structural rigidity and keeps debris out of the interior.

The dual stop pins are larger and thicker than the previous version.

Dual jimping zones were added to the blade and front handle area for better grip in multiple positions. The button platform is now recessed to reduce accidental activation. The edges of the handle received additional chamfering to clean up the grip and reduce hotspots.

None of these are cosmetic changes. They are structural improvements that make the Raccoon 2.0 meaningfully better than what came before.

The Bowie Blade

Full disclosure: Bowie is not my favorite blade shape. I tend toward drop points and sheepfoots for everyday tasks. But I picked the Bowie version intentionally to try something different and it has grown on me.

The 3.25 inch Bowie has a sweeping clip point tip that gives you real piercing capability, a long curved belly that tracks well through material, and a false top edge that adds some visual drama without adding complexity.

The flat grind is executed well, thin behind the edge, which is what actually determines cutting performance more than the blade shape itself.

Where the Bowie falls short for me is flat surface work. The pronounced belly means your knuckles hit the cutting board before the heel of the blade does.

For in-hand cutting tasks, rope, cord, packaging, and general EDC use it is a non-issue. For food prep or anything requiring sustained flat surface cuts, a drop point or sheepfoot will serve you better.

The blade came sharp out of the box. 14C28N at HRC 59 is not an edge-retention champion but Vosteed consistently does a good job on heat treatment and the grind geometry keeps the edge working well for everyday tasks. Touch it up on a strop regularly and it stays in good shape.

The Handle

Gray G10 with blue aluminum accents. It looks good and I think Vosteed does a nice job of picking accent colors that add some character without going overboard. The blue backspacer and thumbstud against the gray G10 is a clean combination.

The G10 scales are smooth rather than aggressively textured, which is a reasonable choice for an everyday knife that lives in your pocket.

The edges are well chamfered throughout so there are no hotspots or pressure points under sustained grip. The choil gives you a solid choke-up position. The front handle jimping added in the 2.0 gives your index finger a real landing zone.

At just under 4 inches the handle gives you a full grip with room to spare for most hand sizes. Balance is good. The knife does not feel tip heavy or handle heavy, it just sits naturally in the hand.

Carry

At 3.97 ounces the Raccoon 2.0 is not a featherweight but it is not a burden either. The reversible stainless clip is tip-up carry on either side, which covers both right and left-hand users.

The clip is almost deep carry, not quite fully buried but close enough that the knife sits discreetly in the pocket without a lot of handle showing.

The clip tension is appropriate. It held the knife securely without being so tight that pulling it became a workout. After extended carry nothing loosened up noticeably.

What I Actually Use It For

The Raccoon 2.0 went through my standard testing rotation — heavy rope, paracord, Amazon boxes, general cutting tasks — but what tells the real story is that it stayed in my regular carry rotation for several weeks. That is the test that matters. A knife that gets used once and goes back in the drawer tells you nothing. A knife that keeps showing up in your pocket tells you something real.

I took it on a shark fishing charter, which is the kind of environment that sorts out knives quickly. Salt air, wet hands, cutting through braid and leader material under pressure. The Raccoon handled it without issue and the blade came back without any corrosion problems, which is a reasonable ask of 14C28N in a saltwater environment.

I have also gotten deep into overlanding and four-wheeling lately with a truck I picked up, and the Raccoon came along for that as well. Camp tasks, cutting cordage, utility work around the vehicle. It held up through all of it without complaint.

My oldest son is home from the Marines and stationed locally. He has been carrying the Raccoon for a stretch and took it on a field exercise. His feedback was positive. He thought it was a solid knife that performed well.

He is not a knife enthusiast so take that for what it is worth, but a Marine who uses a knife in the field and comes back saying it worked is not nothing.

Where the lock mechanism earns extra points is in daily use over time. Every time I close this knife I appreciate the button operation more. It just feels right in a way that a traditional liner lock does not.

Honest Gripes

The clip is almost deep carry. Not quite. On lighter fabric pants the handle is slightly more visible than I would prefer.

The Bowie blade shape limits flat surface cutting. That is a style choice, not a defect, but worth knowing before you buy. If you do a lot of food prep or cutting board work, order the drop point version instead.

The G10 is smooth. In wet conditions it will be less grippy than more aggressively textured scales. Not a dealbreaker for everyday carry but worth noting.

Who Should Buy This

Anyone in the $65 to $70 range who wants a genuinely thoughtful lock mechanism, solid build quality, and a knife that is clearly the product of a brand that keeps improving their lineup.

Anyone who has felt uneasy about traditional liner lock geometry will find the button-operated top liner lock a meaningful upgrade. Vosteed keeps coupons active on Amazon regularly so check the listing and you can often land this for less than the list price.

Who Should Skip It

Anyone committed to a different blade shape should just order the version they want. The Raccoon comes in enough configurations that there is almost no reason to settle. If you need a lighter carry or want to step up in steel, Vosteed has other models worth looking at.

Sharpening

One thing worth mentioning that often gets skipped in reviews at this price point: 14C28N is one of the easier steels to sharpen. It is not going to hold an edge as long as S30V or M390 but when it does dull it comes back quickly on a strop or a fine stone.

Vosteed’s heat treating on this steel is consistently good and the flat grind geometry makes touchups straightforward. For most people that trade-off is completely reasonable. You spend less time chasing an edge and more time just using the knife.

Final Thoughts

Vosteed keeps doing what made me start buying their knives in the first place. They take a solid foundation, identify what could be better, make real structural improvements, and deliver it at a price that does not require a long conversation with yourself about whether it is worth it.

The Raccoon 2.0 did not knock the PM3 Lightweight out of my front pocket. That knife has been my default for a reason and it is going to take something extraordinary to change that.

But here is what the Raccoon did do: I tied it to a piece of paracord and hung it on a hook right on my workbench. It lives there now. When I am in the garage and need a knife I do not have to dig through a drawer or run back into the house. It is just there, ready, within arm’s reach.

That is not a consolation prize. In my rotation of hundreds of knives, earning a permanent spot on the workbench hook means something. I go through knives constantly and most of them cycle in and out. This one found a home.

For sixty-five to seventy dollars, often less with a coupon on Amazon, it earns its place. The top liner lock button mechanism is the right solution to a problem I have had with liner locks for years.

The Bowie is not my preferred blade shape but the execution is clean and the cutting performance is there. The build quality reflects the 2.0 upgrades in ways you can actually feel.

It made my top ten carry rotation and it is staying there for a while.