Just got in my AceShaving knot from China today and put it into my EverReady "79" that I restored. Being the base was hollow I filled it completely with lead shot to give it a nice heft that I really enjoy. The knot is a 20mm x 50mm Finest Badger and it is set pretty shallow. Total Height was actually close to 60mm and final loft is 47mm. So my thoughts on it..... First thing I did was give it a sniff, and to my amazement and liking, there was no animal scent like some knots have when new. Next thing I noticed when I went to test fit it in the handle was that it has a larger solid diameter about 3mm above the glue knot. I had my hole drilled at 22mm and it was still a tight fit. Something you might want to consider when you are purchasing for a specific handle. I did a shave with it about an hour after I got it epoxied, It was just as soft tipped and felt every bit nice as my TGN Finest knots. Loads of springy backbone but still those gel like tips that everyone loves with the TGN knots. The knot is borderline fan shaped, almost like a cross between a fan and a bulb. Not a big deal to me, but something to consider. One thing I noticed that I am not overly crazy about is the shaping of the knot. It seems like on one side there is more of a "flat spot" almost. It just isn't completely uniform. From what I can tell, the hairs on that one spot are a bit shorter than the hairs at that circumference on the other sides if that makes sense. Its not a huge deal, and what can you expect from Chinese knot that was like $13 shipped!? But it is another thing to consider if you plan to put it in a brush that is meant to sell or be given to someone. All in all, I definitely feel I got more than what I paid for and will be buying more for my personal use brushes! If you look closely at the photo you can kinda see how the band slopes down on the left side and it has a bit of a flat spot on top. This stays this way no matter how I fluff it.
That's pretty typical of Chinese knots in general. You can pay more for QC, or if you order enough, you can reject the ones that don't pass your QC. I've heard good things about Ace in general, and their stuff, unlike Heaven Horse's, seems to make it to it's destination on a regular basis. Edit: that's my favorite knot shape.
