Two opening methods on a $29 knife is normally a sign that a company could not decide. On the Submarine it reads as redundancy done deliberately: a flipper tab for the fast deployment and a thumb hole for the slow, quiet one. Kizer lists the L3005A1 at $28.80, and both methods feed the same 3.19-inch 9Cr18MoV drop point.
Overall it measures 7.4 inches with a 4.21-inch G10 handle, 0.11-inch blade stock, a single-sided liner lock, a reversible deep-carry clip, and 3.25 ounces on the scale. The submarine theme shows up in the blade's fuller treatment and the hull-like milling rather than in anything structural, which is the right call at this price. What you actually get is a drop point with enough belly for food prep and a tip fine enough for opening boxes without destroying the edge.
Against its stablemates, the Submarine sits between the Seahorse at $26.40 and the Ruler at $28.20. All three run 9Cr18MoV over G10 and all three weigh within a fifth of an ounce of each other. The differences are pure configuration: studs and a sheepsfoot on the Seahorse, a button lock on the Ruler, hole plus flipper and a drop point here. Choose by blade shape first, deployment second, because the steel and the build quality are not going to separate them.
Verdict: the most versatile of Kizer's sub-$30 trio, because a drop point with two ways to open it covers more chores than a sheepsfoot does. The single-sided liner lock and the pedestrian steel are the honest limits. For under thirty dollars, though, the Submarine is a lot of knife.
The deep-carry clip is interchangeable rather than merely reversible, which matters if you carry left-handed and do not want to live with a clip that only looks right on one side. The single-sided liner lock is the one place Kizer economised: a frame lock or a crossbar would have made the Submarine a much easier recommendation at thirty dollars.
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