Cold Steel Lucky Dragon Walking Stick (39.5 Inches Overall) Red Super Tough Polypropylene 91PDRRZ

The value of a cane depends on your needs. This cane can meet some needs very well and other needs maybe not so well. Here are my thoughts.

If you are looking for a purely decorative cane that is just "cool" to have, this one fits. No one will ever confuse this cane with one having a head of finely carved cinnabar, but as a decorative walking stick with a dragon motif at a price where one isn't going to be afraid of theft of breakage, this cane is great. The advertising pictures give a pretty good idea of how the cane looks in real life. The back and side scales are as they appear in the photos, and the belly scales extend across the entire belly as a snake's belly scales do. You'll stand out a bit walking down the street with a bright red cane/walking stick, but that's the point of this kind of product. People who think that looks silly will just have to think that way. Others will find it cool.

As a weapon, this stick has mixed value. Like most Cold Steel products, this cane is solid. Few people are going to be strong enough to hit another person hard enough to break the cane. Hitting the cane against the ground or a solid brick wall might break the cane, but hitting those objects will break any impact tool. On the other hand, the head geometry isn't going to be very effective at the hook techniques employed as part of many cane defense systems. Someone with enough skill can use anything solid and angled to apply a lock to the wrist or arm, but the techniques of hooking a neck or ankle that would allow a lesser practitioner to escape an attacker won't be as effective with this device. The wavy shaft of the cane looks neat, but most techniques seem to incorporate at least some hand movement up and down a straight shaft. I think most techniques would suffer a little with the wavy shaft.

As a true, load-bearing walking cane, the Lucky Dragon walking stick has some strengths and weaknesses. The polypropylene tip of the cane does not hold well on any indoor, hard floors. A rubber tip is necessary for good grip and to avoid scuffing floors. I had a one-inch diameter rubber cane tip at home, and it fit well on this cane. The rubber cane tip will also prevent excessive wear on the cane when walking outside. At the grip, the dragon's head is about an inch and a half wide. Most canes are an inch or smaller in width at the grip. The wider grip makes this cane feel very stable when applying weight. I have a condition that they haven't diagnosed, but I use a cane fairly often for balance. This one fills that need very well and feels as stable as any cane I've tried. On that point, this cane is excellent for walking. The weakness of this cane as a load-bearing walking aid is that the decorations on the head of the dragon are rough against the palm and heel of my hand. Someone wanting to use this cane to walk longer distances will need a glove or will need to file the head smooth. I haven't done that yet, but I can't image that doing so will be all that difficult.

The old fashioned cane with a long, curving handle has an advantage that I never considered until I started using canes regularly. Being able to hook the cane over objects, over my forearm, over my belt or waistband, or over anything else can be very convenient at times. If you're buying a cane because you need a cane for mobility, that kind of cane could be easier to use. On the other hand, you could put a little hook in the dragon's mouth and use that hook to hold this one when necessary.

I'm pleased that I bought this one. I'll probably smooth the head a little bit where my hand rests, but otherwise, this cane is a nice support cane that will be useful and durable for a long time.