The pre-easy open do take a good bit of force to open, but nothing crazy. the easy open ones are quite easy in my opinion. In general the triggers feel better on the early non-easy open models, so it's a trade off. I wouldn't let it stop me from picking up a good deal on one. now that SSK is making new frames I would be inclined to just get one from them. they're selling for less than you often see used frames go for online ($399) but you do have to backorder them and get on the wait list if you want one.