American Knife of the Year - Benchmade Narrows

Floatingby said:
Much less? The msrp on that one is 20 buck higher than the narrow...(I'll probably have my throat cut for saying this, but it's gigantically worst value imo, I mean, a regular, made in Taiwan linerlock for 600 buck? Talk about a spider tax).
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Map on the Subvert sprint is $100 < Narrows.
 
Floatingby said:
Much less? The msrp on that one is 20 buck higher than the narrow...(I'll probably have my throat cut for saying this, but it's gigantically worst value imo, I mean, a regular, made in Taiwan linerlock for 600 buck? Talk about a spider tax).
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Subvert is $420, narrows is $522. I don’t care what msrp is, it’s the retail cost that impacts our wallets.
 
King of the Cheese said:
Subvert is $420, narrows is $522. I don’t care what msrp is, it’s the retail cost that impacts our wallets.
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The dealer I was at had a sticker of 495 on the Narrow( tax included)and that's a Louisianna small town knife dealer, I'm sure you can find lower still.
Why I use msrp as reference point, because street price vary.
 
Floatingby said:
Hermphh, I can see, plain as day, on your own photo, without even reading glasses msrp: $600.00

Street price is meaningless as a comparison, because they vary too much. I just ordered a Boker, was 219 dollar on Amazon, I paid 79 dollars on smoky mountain. Same knife.
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MSRP is meaningless a comparison, because no one has ever paid MSRP for a knife.
 
Reswob said:
MSRP is meaningless a comparison, because no one has ever paid MSRP for a knife.
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I have definitely paid OVER MSRP for a few of my knives, and I know others do too (damn near everyday) from watching the exchange.
And for those saying $500 isn’t a lot of money, it absolutely is a lot of money for a pocket knife lol…ask any “normal” person in “real life”, as in people not on this forum, if $500 sounds normal for an EDC lol… and then you gotta tell em it’s just a Benchmade! D’oh!
Same price as a Project X, AD-20, CRK, a base Herman, 2 MSIs, and approaching base Shirogorov $$ territory! All of those options would be preferable to ME, that’s not to say Benchmade doesn’t have its fans…BUT… they should’ve probably made this a Gold Class model or something. I don’t see it being competitive
with anything I’ve mentioned, for the price they’re asking. And I don’t see them selling many.
 
King of the Cheese said:
I saw the price on the narrows and went “yikes..”. Then went and saw the Spyderco Subvert sprint run in cf and 20cv for much less and thought “ahhhh that’s refreshing. Hope isn’t lost.”
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Doesn’t the Subvert sprint have ti liners as well? It’s caught my attention a few times but it’s a large knife. I’ll probably continue to hem and haw until it’s gone, then I’ll just buy another CRK. Still lazily looking for a tanto zaan…
 
tony281sc2 said:
I have definitely paid OVER MSRP for a few of my knives, and I know others do too (damn near everyday) from watching the exchange.
And for those saying $500 isn’t a lot of money, it absolutely is a lot of money for a pocket knife lol…ask any “normal” person in “real life”, as in people not on this forum, if $500 sounds normal for an EDC lol… and then you gotta tell em it’s just a Benchmade! D’oh!
Same price as a Project X, AD-20, CRK, a base Herman, 2 MSIs, and approaching base Shirogorov $$ territory! All of those options would be preferable to ME, that’s not to say Benchmade doesn’t have its fans…BUT… they should’ve probably made this a Gold Class model or something. I don’t see it being competitive
with anything I’ve mentioned, for the price they’re asking. And I don’t see them selling many.
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Value is in the eye of the beholder. I wouldn't pay 500 buck for any of those knives you mentionned, in fact I would pay nothing because I find them totally uninteresting and boring, except for the AD-20 which I do find interesting, but ugly so not that one either.
The Narrow is at least interesting, and I'm happy I got to play with one. Is it overpriced? Quite possibly, yes, but the futur will tell on that one, and so far they aren't flying off of the shelves apparently. But there are many thing which are grossly overpriced, like an 1100 dollar, boring, grey, generic looking framelock flipper made, of all places, in Russia to name just one. But that's my opinion, of course.
 
I was one of the first buyers of the Narrows, and complained here that it was overpriced. It should sell for $400 or less, not $500+ if I compare it to one of my Hinderer Skinny XM18 3.5”.

But it has been a decent knife, so I did NOT return it as there are times when I appreciate having a full-size ultralight and thin knife.
 
BD_01 said:
True on both accounts.

My wife recently pointed out to me that hobbies, vacations, &etc are about the “experience” more than the “value.”

The Narrows is far from a bad knife. If someone loves it, great! As I said somewhere above, it has some unique and well executed characteristics.

But when NIB samples cant sell on the Exchange for 25% below MAP, it tells you how many people “value the experience” as much as Benchmade thinks they should.
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I am a big believer in experiences as well. We take a month or so a year to travel in a camper van every year while my son is still young. O5her hobbies involve turning mo ey into noise in the form of fast cars and shooting sports.

As for the Narrows, i like titanium knives and i like a slim knife for carry when I am not at work. I have a M4 Bailout in my pocket now. I do think the Narrows is overpriced but most knifemakers do that occasionally. It is hard to go wrong with M390 and titanium.
 
DocJekl said:
I was one of the first buyers of the Narrows, and complained here that it was overpriced. It should sell for $400 or less, not $500+ if I compare it to one of my Hinderer Skinny XM18 3.5”.

But it has been a decent knife, so I did NOT return it as there are times when I appreciate having a full-size ultralight and thin knife.
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Bingo.JPG

Like many on this forum with a dozen (or 2 or 3 dozen) options to choose from, sometimes that might just be what you're looking for that day.
 
Malty Falcon said:
I handled one, and it's a finer, ultra-sleek knife. If any of you members are poor, you should chime in and say "the Narrows is way over-priced". That way we all know you are poor and broke. If you cannot afford a tank of gas for your car, please declare loudly that gas is "SO EXPENSIVE".

Good knives cost more that Mora's.

And so many people pointing out that The Narrows isn't a hard-use folder, that it won't stand up to heavy tasks- REALLY? Like I'd take a 2 ounce knife to baton a mountain of pine? It's a lightweight gentleman's folder, of course it won't pry nails out of a railroad tie! That's what Mora's are for!
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How about you take your go be poor somewhere else back to ARFCOM. 500 bucks is CRK money not Benchmade money. You want an elegant gentleman’s knife in the $500 range buy a Mnandi.
 
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The knife is over priced, and I'm not broke. Funny, if people think the knife is overpriced they must be broke? Dude clearly doesn't know the dwellers on this forum. What an ignorant statement.

Many of us can and do drop 500 to 1500 on fixed blades regularly. Have 10 to 20k in knives bumbled together unorganized in a storage bin and yet we're broke. Some of us significantly more $ sitting in knives too.

What a joke.
 
Malty Falcon said:
I handled one, and it's a finer, ultra-sleek knife. If any of you members are poor, you should chime in and say "the Narrows is way over-priced". That way we all know you are poor and broke. If you cannot afford a tank of gas for your car, please declare loudly that gas is "SO EXPENSIVE".

Good knives cost more that Mora's.

And so many people pointing out that The Narrows isn't a hard-use folder, that it won't stand up to heavy tasks- REALLY? Like I'd take a 2 ounce knife to baton a mountain of pine? It's a lightweight gentleman's folder, of course it won't pry nails out of a railroad tie! That's what Mora's are for!
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You really found the worst argument you couldve made and went for it. The world and everyone in it is experiencing unforseen levels of inflation and the last thing anyone needs is an overpriced benchmade.
 
Reswob said:
MSRP is meaningless a comparison, because no one has ever paid MSRP for a knife.
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Yeah, it's either $100+ lower (e.g., this Benchmade) or $100+ higher (e.g., Randall Made). Hitting MSRP exactly is nigh on impossible.
 
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