i have no issues with the tri-ad lock, but rather the rest of the knife (any of them). for the money you can get much better steel, with a better heat-treat, better handle material, better everything. I'm not impressed with any of the steel they use, or the way they make their knives.
i've taken A LOT of CS knives apart, that's what i do...i make and modify knives. i can give you specific examples why i say that if you like.
any well designed locking mechanism will perform well and not fail if it's executed properly. there's a lot more that goes into any liner, or frame locking mechanism than a metal on metal interface. there are specific reasons why badly designed liner and frame locks fail. one of which is the radius on the tang of the blade is wrong. that is a crucial point and a lot of consideration has to be taken into account when adding that radius. round stop-pin, flat stop-pin, thumbstud/stop-pin, thickness of the lock-bar, and where the lock-bar and tang interface.
some people get it right, and some not so right. the tri-ad lock is a good design but it's a lock-back and when comparing it to other lock-backs it out performs them. but it wouldn't out perform Spyderco's compression Ti frame-lock, or probably even their liner compression lock, or Benchmade's AXIS lock. likewise, it wouldn't out perform a well designed traditional frame-lock. and, you would get "better" steel in almost every circumstance unless you buy something from Smith&Wesson, or Fury. That is the whole reason why some of the CS knives are cheap as dirt...because you get what you pay for. Even with their $300+ dollar folders...why would you buy one when you could spend your money elsewhere and have a knife built you your specification for that price. if CS used better materials their knives would be more expensive. i would like it if they spent less time and money producing movies about how great their knives are and more money on better knives.
also, if you want absolute strength in the knife you carry everyday then carry a fixed blade...that's what i do. there's nothing to fail there, unless you snap the blade.
i personally (and everyone is different) am not a fan of lock-back knives. i don't like to use two hands with my daily carry folder, or any other folder for that matter.
i'm not out to bash CS, but i don't want anyone to get hurt either. all these videos hyping up the strength of their knives are great, but read their warranty and the fine print. they want to show you all that great stuff their knives will do but they won't back up the product if "you" try to do anything that will stress their knives to that point. all of that hype is produced in a controlled environment and CS is producing the video...seems kind of biased to me. sometimes you can believe the hype, sometimes you can't. every CS knife that i've owned, or has passed through my hands hasn't stood up to the hype. There are also models from other manufacturers that i wouldn't recommend or buy myself because of issues....like the 755. it has lock issues and that's a deal-breaker for me. that's just one example. Emerson's are another, i'm not a fan of their liner-locks. i've had more than a few fail, and i've have more than a few that were the best knives i ever owned, but it only takes one to diminish your confidence in a brand and i was always trained that you don't use a piece of gear unless you have absolute confidence in it under stress and you've tested the crap out of it to that end.
a great knife with exceptional value that i can never say enough about in the same price range is the Benchmade/HK Snody 14205. Great blade thickness (around .135"), great blade steel with a great heat-treat, and the great AXIS lock design with one handed open/close capability. the 14205 wins out over the Persidio's, the Grip's, and the other AXIS designs for me because of the blade thickness and shape. i'm not a fan of much else that BM offers other than a couple of their fixed blades and one or two other folder designs (i think the 755 would be excellent for EDC if the lock issue were resolves).
all that being said, if you spend a little more money in the ZT line you can get into the 0300 series and it's hard to find a better "hard use" production folding knife out there than that.