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My older 110v/12v Rapala has trigger issues as you described..blade release works fine .. my buddy has the same knife as me with no issues on either points. May be you can convince Cabelas to let you return it with a free shipping label ...and either try again or just get your money back and go with a differnt option Who knows how long those R12 were sitting on the shelf ..that could be why the battery issue is present .
Yeah, I might just bite the bullet and drive back to Cabelas and return it and try one more time. Bummer is that it cut great and I really want to love it. The battery has plenty of juice, but it just doesn't show on the meter and the LED doesn't work.
Ralph, if you decide to bag the R12, The Bubba Pro is a really nice knife. I got my son one for Christmas. It cuts like Buttah. DN