American Knife of the Year - Benchmade Narrows

Floatingby said:
I don't know, but I do know they'll sell a tons of a lot less than if they priced it more sensibly.

Everybody I've shown that knife to so far has burst out laughing when shown the price(including me).

And, reading this thread it's obvious that pricing is the major talking point, and this is on a knife forum for crying out loud.

I'm guessing, at this point, that BM is making a marketing experiment with that model, because anything else doesn't make sense to me.
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I don't think the price is justified but I do think some of it is the r&d.

Also, a neat little marketing trick is to use price as a market differentiator without any (or little) corresponding benefit. Think iPhones and Lexus.
 
King of the Cheese said:
I don't think the price is justified but I do think some of it is the r&d.

Also, a neat little marketing trick is to use price as a market differentiator without any (or little) corresponding benefit. Think iPhones and Lexus.
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Sure, but normally you apply this to a brand, not a model within a brand. And BM as a brand is already established as expensive; I mean, talk to most people here about the "butterfly tax" and they'll know what you're talking about I'm sure.
 
I agree with everyone who says it does not provide a good value compared to alternatives, and I suspect the manufacturing of such thin titanium handles is mostly to blame for the excessive price. That said, I picked one up because it seems to combine the qualities of my two favorite edc blades (BM 530 and Bradley Alias) and I have the money. I want to support US companies when I am buying stuff for fun.

Also, the more polarizing knives can become highly collectable later. :cool:
 
Floatingby said:
Sure, but normally you apply this to a brand, not a model within a brand. And BM as a brand is already established as expensive; I mean, talk to most people here about the "butterfly tax" and they'll know what you're talking about I'm sure.
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Pricing as a differentiator isn’t mandated as “brand specific”. They could be pricing this knife high because they want it to compete with Reate and CRK.
 
I got to handle one of these today. It had very good smooth action which is common with benchmade and their axis lock. The knife was too narrow for me and almost felt sharp in the hand especially if you were using a heavey grip for serious cutting.

I was curious how tight the blade was inbetween the scales when closed. I was impressed. It's almost as tight as a Sebenza but not quite. It's a neat knife all around but I don't think its for me.
 
King of the Cheese said:
I don’t know and I doubt they’ll tell us but there would be tooling costs, design, trial and error with prototypes.. it can be fairly expensive.
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Fair enough, but does that not apply to any new knife by any company?

How is it, then, that other medium-to-large volume companies manage to bring to market new knives well below the $500+ mark? (yes, sarcasm, sorry)

And to preempt accusations of BM-hating: I have nothing against BM. I just think they're a $100-dollar-knife company, inflation-adjusted from 20+ years ago... and that doesn't nearly reach current pricing. Or does it? .... OK, to answer my own question, 100 "2000" $$$ are ~180 "2023" $$$ per CPI.
 
TC said:
Fair enough, but does that not apply to any new knife by any company?

How is it, then, that other medium-to-large volume companies manage to bring to market new knives well below the $500+ mark? (yes, sarcasm, sorry)

And to preempt accusations of BM-hating: I have nothing against BM. I just think they're a $100-dollar-knife company, inflation-adjusted from 20+ years ago... and that doesn't nearly reach current pricing. Or does it? .... OK, to answer my own question, 100 "2000" $$$ are ~180 "2023" $$$ per CPI.
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I think I‘ve had as much of a marketing and business economics discussion as I care to on this forum. If you refuse to accept the feasibility of my speculation, I don’t know what else I can do for you.
 
King of the Cheese said:
I think I‘ve had as much of a marketing and business economics discussion as I care to on this forum. If you refuse to accept the feasibility of my speculation, I don’t know what else I can do for you.
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Nothing more asked for, rethorical questions in the first place. Thanks for playing!
 
King of the Cheese said:
Pricing as a differentiator isn’t mandated as “brand specific”. They could be pricing this knife high because they want it to compete with Reate and CRK.
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I’ve wondered if that is the case but, if that was their strategy, I think they might have overplayed their hand. I also wonder if they’re trying to get more into the market Spyderco has with some of their higher end models & collaborations without getting into the gold level price range.
I don’t think R&D costs justify the price. It’s just too easy with CNC machines and computer programs that let you work out some of the kinks before you ever make a prototype. Give a decent CNC programmer and machinist a drawing and they can be cranking out prototypes in a hurry. It’s certainly not cheap to develop/market a new model but not to the point of overpricing a knife by nearly double the price of the competitors.
I think it’s a cool knife. It’s one of a few BM models that I actually find appealing. I hope it sticks around a while but the price becomes more realistic.
Maybe they’re trying to pay for the Redoubt….
 
They'll sell to the Benchade fans. Spyderco fans can easily buy 5 of he same model in a year due to dealer exclusives or sprint runs. Benchmade doesn't really do that, so their fans can prob afford one of these.

And Benchmade will probably come out with a cheaper version with less prestigious materials in the coming years. But they'll make some nice profits off their new design until that time.
 
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TC said:
Fair enough, but does that not apply to any new knife by any company?

How is it, then, that other medium-to-large volume companies manage to bring to market new knives well below the $500+ mark? (yes, sarcasm, sorry)
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Brands release "prestige" knives that are outside their normal price range all the time. How about we compare it to a recent "prestige" release from a brand that's a darling of the forum. This knife was criticized for its design when it came out, but there were no fights about its price, and these aren't made in the USA!

Spyderco Sinkevich Drunken | Frame Lock Knife | Carbon Fiber

The Spyderco Drunken represents the first ever collaboration with celebrated custom knife-maker Dimitry Sinkevich. This high performance EDC knife combines Dimitry's artistic design and craftsmanship with maximized functionality. Add a high performance folder to your collection today with the...
www.bladehq.com
 
Silent H said:
Brands release "prestige" knives that are outside their normal price range all the time. How about we compare it to a recent "prestige" release from a brand that's a darling of the forum. This knife was criticized for its design when it came out, but there were no fights about its price, and these aren't made in the USA!

Spyderco Sinkevich Drunken | Frame Lock Knife | Carbon Fiber

The Spyderco Drunken represents the first ever collaboration with celebrated custom knife-maker Dimitry Sinkevich. This high performance EDC knife combines Dimitry's artistic design and craftsmanship with maximized functionality. Add a high performance folder to your collection today with the...
www.bladehq.com
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The Taiwan Spydercos rival Reate and CRK with the F&F. Can’t say that about Benchmade.
 
I never thought a Jeep (Grand Wagoneer) would cost $100K+, I just saw one on the road this past weekend and I can say it was a nice looking vehicle.

Everything (from sugar to jet fuel) today cost more and stepping up your game will be reflected in the price-tag.
When competing against already established makers it'll be an uphill battle.

When I fist got my Umnumzaan it felt very slim in hand as compared to all my other folders, but I came to really like it a lot.
This looks like a nice knife, I'd like to hold one but I don't really need any more knives...
 
TC said:
Honest question: How much R&D does it take to make a single blade folding knife? Is there any innovative technology in that particular knife?
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I used to run a prototype department and I am now responsible for creating production strategies for new parts for a company. There are a lot of things that go into making a new product. You don't know if they bought new machines to produce these on, fixtures, tooling, heat treat ovens and quench equipment. Skilled machinists and many other factors. Plus take into account that prices have gone up on almost everything.

I'm surprised by how people are reacting about this knife. They say a production knife isn't worth the cost while saying they would rather by other expensive knives made in the same way. Also high end Chinese knives are in the upper $300 mark now and have a labor rate of around 1/5th the typical wage in the US. (Not bashing China btw)

I'm glad to see an American company do something new. It won't be long before someone steals the innovation and gets praised for it.
 
Silent H said:
Brands release "prestige" knives that are outside their normal price range all the time. How about we compare it to a recent "prestige" release from a brand that's a darling of the forum. This knife was criticized for its design when it came out, but there were no fights about its price, and these aren't made in the USA!

Spyderco Sinkevich Drunken | Frame Lock Knife | Carbon Fiber

The Spyderco Drunken represents the first ever collaboration with celebrated custom knife-maker Dimitry Sinkevich. This high performance EDC knife combines Dimitry's artistic design and craftsmanship with maximized functionality. Add a high performance folder to your collection today with the...
www.bladehq.com
Click to expand...
I understand your point but there are two main differences that I see. “Prestige“ knives have been the norm for Spyderco and others for a while. Benchmade had a fairly large gap between their normal line up and their gold line which are higher priced than Spyderco‘s stuff. I think they’re trying fill that gap but I think they should have eased into it a little. As a side note, the Drunken in particular didn’t sell well and can be had for less than what they are listed for. A local shop has a handful of them right now trying to keep a stray Stovepipe company. As a side note to the side note, the Drunken was also fairly similar to the Spydiechef which is the better knife in my opinion and only half the price. The second difference is the Drunken as well as many others were collaborations with well known, highly sought after designers. That brings an additional customer base on top of the Spyderco fans. I don’t believe that is true of the Narrows.
 
I moved away from BM about a year ago? when they removed the barrage and griptillian from the custom menu. That customize menu was a big selling point for me. I still kinda want a mini barrage, but never will get it unless they bring it back on the customize menu.

Oh, the topic here -

Too narrow for me. My hand would not feel good after using it hard. It looks ok, though. That lock looks appealing! I wonder if it uses those AXIS springs I don't like anymore. I prefer Ti over Al...

It's $580? ...M390 is nice (on paper, I've never experienced it), but it doesn't match that price tag.
 
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