Benchmade 890 Torrent or Buck Vantage Pro

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nights1977

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Dec 20, 2006
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Hemming and hawing between these two knives. G10 scales on both, 154 cpm on the Torrent, S30V on the Vantage Pro. Specs wise, these two knives seem fairly equal to me. The Buck has the advantage of being half the price of the Benchmade. The Torrent is a little more elegant looking, which I like. I don't know, I really like the looks of the Benchmade, but the Buck seems like a tremendous value.

These would be used primarily for light to medium duty EDC. Is the Benchmade worth the increase in price? What say you?
 
I find it hard to justify paying 2x more for a knife with similar if not inferior materials to the Buck Vantage Pro. That being said the 890 was a great feeling knife when I handled one at a store and looked real classy. I guess the real question is if you are willing to pay a premium for aesthetic reasons. There is no question the Vantage Pro is by far the better value but there is no question that the 890 is the better looking knife imo. If I had to choose I'd go with the Vantage Pro because its just an amazing value and looks nice as well. Also I'm not a fan of assisted opening that the Torrent has.
 
I've handled a few of the Vantage series knives in some stores, including the Vantage Pro and I gotta say the quality is a subpar to me. Most had lock ups that were nearly touching the other liner. Some actually were. There was also a lot of bladeplay in them. Action was gritty when opened slowly and very difficult to flip. They were, however, very sharp.

The 890's that I have handled have been much, much better. Smooth action, sharp out of the box, and no wiggle in any direction.
 
My Vantage Pro has good lockup, not near the opposite liner, and is very smooth. The blade grind is very good, with a nice thin edge and high hollow grind.

The 890 will have better fit and finish, no question about that. It will not cut better than the Vantage Pro.

That is the real question - are you interested only in performance, or is fit and finish the more important deciding factor?
 
I too came to this crossroad. Being a Benchmade fan it wasn't easy picking the Buck. The Liner lock on the Torrent was "ify". The blade too thin (.96"). The lack of the LH thumb stud (pic in the catalogs has always shown dual thumb studs) also helped me close the deal on the Vantage Pro. I don't even like Buck but the Pro will be a keeper.
 
I like Benchmade knives but I don't have the Torrent. I do have the Vantage pro. It is one of my favorite knives. I vote Buck on this one.
 
Regarding QC on the Vantage Pro, I bought a few recently (one initially, and then a couple as backups because I liked the first so much), and they didn't have any of the problems that I had heard about on some of the earlier runs. On all three, the flipper action is very smooth (reminds me of the Kershaw JYD II for some reason), the liner lock engages where it should, and the blade doesn't rub against the liners (one of the main complaints about earlier runs). One of the three had a blade that was noticeably off-center (but still not touching the liner), but that was an extremely easy fix.

I don't have the Torrent, so I can't offer a comparison between the two. I can, however, recommend the Vantage Pro without hesitation as a fantastic EDC. :thumbup:
 
LG&M said:
I like Benchmade knives but I don't have the Torrent. I do have the Vantage pro. It is one of my favorite knives. I vote Buck on this one.
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This is the same with me. I bought a LNIB Vantage Pro on another forum for 50 bucks. At first I was a little disappointed with it but gradually warmed up to it. I like the blade design, it has good lockup and is smooth opening. It came pretty sharp as sharp if not sharper than some Benchmades I own. The Vantage Pro is a great value for a light to medium use knife.
 
Aren't these two somewhat different? Unless I got a different knife, my Buck Vantage Pro was 3 inches or less in blade length, whereas the BM Torrent is 3.6 inches. Still, not sure about BM and their liner locks. If I were to get a BM, I would go for an axis or framelock.

The Buck Vantage Pro is quite a deal, and mine has a very early lockup. The thing you have to be aware of is the actual size of it, which is pretty small. Good for EDC, but I wouldn't be cutting fruit with something so small. It could just be because I have big hands, cuz I EDC my ZT 0301 and it honestly doesn't feel like a "large" knife to me.

Still, there might be no reason to go for the Torrent. I might consider the mini-griptilian in M390 steel for that price range.
 
Noctis3880 said:
Aren't these two somewhat different? Unless I got a different knife, my Buck Vantage Pro was 3 inches or less in blade length, whereas the BM Torrent is 3.6 inches. Still, not sure about BM and their liner locks. If I were to get a BM, I would go for an axis or framelock.

The Buck Vantage Pro is quite a deal, and mine has a very early lockup. The thing you have to be aware of is the actual size of it, which is pretty small. Good for EDC, but I wouldn't be cutting fruit with something so small. It could just be because I have big hands, cuz I EDC my ZT 0301 and it honestly doesn't feel like a "large" knife to me.

Still, there might be no reason to go for the Torrent. I might consider the mini-griptilian in M390 steel for that price range.
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The Vantage Pro comes in two different sizes, small and large. It sounds like you might have the small one, which, at 2 5/8" is very small indeed. The large, though, is 3 1/4" -- still smaller than the Torrent, but large enough for most tasks/hands. (I have medium-large hands and find that it fits them perfectly.)
 
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