I have four Benchmades, three of them being bought used here on the Exchange. I was fortunate that all three were of exemplary quality, rather than a dissatisfied previous owner trying to unload flawed knives. Likewise, the one I bought new (an NRA Rant) was also great. I have bought knives that were either defective straight out of the box or would fail under the lightest of use, and count myself lucky that none were from the same price range as my Benchmades. I can only imagine how I'd feel if I had the same experience with a Benchmade as with one of those cheaper knives.
As with everything, there are parallels in other industries. I own a lot of guitars, mostly made in either the US or Japan, some bought new and others used. Based on specs, the US models should be superior to those made in Japan by the same manufacturer at a lower price point, but that hasn't proven to be the case. When I was at the height of my guitar buying, Korea was in the position that China is now, being the low-cost, mass-produced source where the established US companies had their budget lines built. I saw $300 imports with better fit and finish than $2000+ Gibson Supreme models. The Gibson was built of better materials, but the QC was atrocious and wouldn't have been acceptable on the cheaper guitar. The Gibson logo and "Made in USA" stamp didn't carry much weight, and that was on one of their flagship models. If I had bought such a guitar online without seeing it first, and unpacked it to find such awful flaws, I would have been furious . . . and many people did exactly that. Benchmade is to the knife world what Gibson is to the guitar world - with prices that have risen to a point where many buyers are justifying the cost based on reputation and specs - and can't consistently deliver the quality one would expect from a premier brand, to say nothing of value.
I now own the handful of Benchmade models I absolutely HAD to have, which is probably a good thing. They're priced out of my reach for actual users, and those I was interested in for collecting purposes are the ones I own. Still, I'd like to hear and read more reports of flawless knives, because there is bound to be a new model that I really want eventually, and I don't want to have to second-guess the quality.
Doubt I'll be buying more at the current prices.