They don't go cheap, but have a great rep. I love all mine. Have you heard it? They 're like glass--clear, bright, simple, precise. Nothing complex about them.....marko

I have a 20" pre-serial with the Red ink marking "medium ride" on it, cymbal in very good condition and I turned down quite a few offers over $300.00 at the San Diego show.

They are very consistent.......

It's harder to find a bad 602 then an A.Zildjian......in my book anyway.

Most are very good/great!

Had a friend who was going to buy all vintage 2002's....

I told him I liked 602's better.......so,he went all 602's,and he said his band members love them!

Buy it!!!!!!

Don't be a foolMister T

Thanks! I got it together with a newish 2002 18" Crash for 372usd. Up until now I only got the chance to play with them for a few hours and I can say I love both of them separately though I'm not convinced they really get together very well. I usually like to crash my ride a lot and this one offers me great sonic satisfaction but I am a bit worried about damaging it, any tips?

Most 602's are medium weight, I'd say--not particularly thin. But I've heard they seem to crack more often than ,say, Zildjian A's. Anybody else hear this? They may be more brittle. They have a clear, glassy sound. I wouldn't crash them hard on a regular basis--there are plenty of other good but more common cymbals for that style. All my 602's do crash great, but I'm not a hard hitter....marko

Maybe you're thinking of the 2002s they're the ones that got the wrap about cracking easy, not the 602s. I think they may have cracked more often because they were used by more heavy hitters.

i have cut quite a few cymbals down , that were severely edge cracked---made some interesting oddities out of them for drummers on a budget or just looking for something different. i don't do it on a lathe ,i do it with shears and then dress the edge. the few 602s that i have done are the most crystalline and brittle cymbals that I have come across.cutting them is like cutting glass. the crystals are very large, which means that they would resist cracking more, up to a threshhold but once that threshold was crossed, the cracking would be severe.i have never seen one bent and this goes with the crystal structure. a lot of cymbals with a finer structure would dent before breaking and the break could be quite small. i have to say, that A. Zildjians have a place all to themselves in this regard because , the crystal structure is impeccable; they resist cracking and bending as well, although they do crack but I have never seen a bent A. Zildjian. just about every other cymbal other than 602s and Signatures, I have seen bent.

a lot of cymbals are damaged because of being dropped. 602's would be more vulnerable to this----so, handle with care.

Hey, thank you all for the replies and great tips! It's always very nice to see so much knowledge and experience shared. In the meantime I got the chance to play my new old cymbals some more and they really grew on me :) I have never cracked a cymbal except 1 which already had a few dings when I got it. I don't consider myself a hard hitter and I always take great care in handling my cymbals (don't remember ever dropping one) - hope things remain like this.:D