Pro-Tech Grows Strider Series with PT Auto

Pro-Tech is following up its popular Strider SnG automatic with their rendition of the smaller, more EDC-friendly Strider PT. The company is hoping this latest collaboration will help it continue to gain ground with the Strider fan base and add another automatic with established recognition into their catalog. Pro-Tech also says they haven’t ruled out bringing the plus-sized Strider SMF into an automatic format.

“Strider tells us the PT is always one of the fastest sell-throughs,” says Pro-Tech President Dave Wattenberg. The smallest member of the SnG family, the PT is prized for its pocketable size and wide capabilities. It’s a perfect fit into Pro-Tech’s growing stable of small, friendly automatics like the new Calmigo.

The PT Auto has a 2.75” blade made from Pro-Tech’s signature 154CM blade steel, and weighs 2.6 oz – just a tenth of an ounce heavier than Strider’s original despite the addition of an automatic mechanism. Pro-Tech swapped out the standard Strider clip for a deep carry clip (shown below) that bares a resemblance to the Calmigo and Half Breed. The chassis is aluminum instead of Strider’s G-10/titanium construction, a cost-saving measure that allows the PT Auto to come in at an attractive $165 price point – about half the cost of a Strider PT. “If we built an auto with those materials and construction, it would hit a similar price point to the originals,” Wattenberg explains.

Pro-Tech PT

Wattenberg doesn’t see the price gap as a problem for either collaborator. He anticipates a lot of cross-pollination, with customers from Pro-Tech looking at Strider products and vice versa. “It’s a complimentary piece. Strider guys will want it because it’s the only automatic variant, and automatic guys will get interested in Strider knives,” he says.


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The reveal of the PT Auto begs the question: is an SMF automatic going to follow? The SMF is the big brother the SnG, and although Pro-Tech has been catering to the EDC crowd lately, a large tactical design like the SMF would be an appropriate cap to the Strider series. Though he didn’t offer any specifics, Wattenberg told us that a Pro-Tech/Strider SMF collaboration could come to pass eventually. “I’m sure it’ll happen someday.”


Knife featured in image: Pro-Tech Strider PT Auto