Benchmade Narrows 748 WTF?

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I stand corrected on the Stovepipe. I guess I was holding it to a very high standard of other Spyderco releases and the Stovepipe didn’t sell out immediately and was available for months afterwards. Still, I stand corrected on that example.
 
Danny Linguini said:
I would say wait until you can get your hands on one before judging whether or not the price is warranted. If you own all those high end knives you say you do, you know there’s more that goes into them than just the materials. Besides the people who will like this knife enough to buy it regardless of the price, I guarantee you somewhere, sometime, someone is gonna buy it precisely because it’s $500.
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Agree mostly. And you’re correct , a lot of people will buy only because it’s $500 buuuuut I’m sticking with my argument and I think it will sit on shelves, they’ll have to discount it substantially to sell it.
 
So I've been looking at this knife hard simply as a curiosity. I am trying to be objective about it and leave the price tag off the table. When I look at this knife my first opinion (which is just that, an opinion) is that this knife will not be great for any prolonged use. Given its narrow (hence the name) profile, I would imagine you would get fairly sharp pressure directly where those scales meet in the palm creating a rather uncomfortable situation. I experienced this tactile feedback in the Cold Steel Code 4, which was quite unpleasant. It literally caused pain in my palm as I pushed through cuts, which is why I no longer own it. Maybe the goal here is for lighter tasks, but there are plenty of Ti framed/scaled folders that do some serious work.

To take a more subjective approach, the overall design is rather ho-hum to me. Ti scales with blue anodized hardware is rather... I dunno, over done? Kizer has done that for several years on a lot of their standard offerings. And the milled parts of the scales are rectangles. That's it, rectangles. Spyderco did the Military in fluted Ti that was a fair bit less and twice as much knife.

This is a real head scratcher for me.
 
Just think of this; if someone buys the narrows and a g10 s45 taggedout, they just spent 800.00 for 2 knives. That is just stupid and i cannot see doing that.Throw in 1 other Benchmade from 2023 and your over 1000.00 for 3 factory folders.It just does not add up for me at all.For every Narrows Benchmade sells, think of how many knives We,for example, or their Civivi and Setcut offerings will sell.
 
I get your point. Back 20 years ago I couldn't wrap my head around a Sebenza. What amazes me is how they not only retain value but there prices have not raised very much over the YEARS. So I have to see what these knives tolerances and quality are first. The Chinese make some fantastic knives with great machining at half the price.....but it's not made here.

Salaries go up, material costs go up. Prices go up.
 
goldie said:
Just think of this; if someone buys the narrows and a g10 s45 taggedout, they just spent 800.00 for 2 knives. That is just stupid and i cannot see doing that.Throw in 1 other Benchmade from 2023 and your over 1000.00 for 3 factory folders.It just does not add up for me at all.For every Narrows Benchmade sells, think of how many knives We,for example, or their Civivi and Setcut offerings will sell.
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I wish there was an American company that could produce a good sub $100 folder. Kershaw did once but those days seem long gone.
 
John Phillips said:
Just left St. Nicks Knives and they had 61 Benchmade models out for sale and absolutely zero in M390. I’m not saying they haven’t used M390 but it hasn’t been their go to super steel. Also, about half of them are s30v if you can believe that.
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One retailer does not represent all of benchmade. You can probably buy most of their folders in m390
 
DMG said:
One retailer does not represent all of benchmade. You can probably buy most of their folders in m390
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You’re correct that one retailer doesn’t represent all of Benchmade but I was trying to make a quick point that out of 61 Benchmades in total, there were 0 in M390. But you spurred me to go look further and I sorted through Knife Center and BladeHQ and guess what, there are a total 2 models available in M390, the Bugout and the Narrows.
 
Just so no one thinks I’m a Benchmade hater or stupid troll. Here’s my modest list of Benchmades

1. 940-1 CF S90V daily user
2. 940-1 CF S90V NIB back up
3. 940bk-2001 NIB
4. 940bk-2001 like new
5. 940bk-2003 like new
6. Freek regular NIB
7. Anthem like new
8. 940bk-2004 NIB
9. 940bk-2003 NIB
10. Contego NIB
11. Contego Blue and Black G10 NIB
12. Altitude CF NIB
13. Leuku 202 First Production NIB
14. Puukko user
15. Freek Serrated NIB
16. Bugout NIB
 
Much like the Bugout, they’re hitting an unseen combination of size and pocketability for those who prefer thin carries. To do that, they’re using a new variety crossbar/Axis lock to get that thinness. I suspect they realize the market will be enthusiasts who don’t balk at Sebenza or Zaan prices, and buy what they want.

For me, I often carry a Slim Praetorian or Slim Midi - both of which retail higher than this one. We’ll see if the quality compares.

It may hurt feelings for some reason, but the knife market is pretty diverse.
 
John Phillips said:
Alright, I’ve been a life long user and an overall fan of a lot of Benchmades, my 940-1 is still one of my all time favorites. However, they have lost their literal fking minds with the release of the Narrows 748 at a completely and utterly shocking price of $522. This beats the disaster release and disaster pricing of the Spyderco Stovepipe(and I love Spyderco but the Stovepipe was a total flop), I’m not comparing the Stovepipe to the Narrows in terms of knife design, only comparing these 2 based on the ridiculous pricing they were released at. The 748 is not a limited run, it’s thin and it’s titanium(so what), and they think because they finally FINALLY got around to using M390 after everyone else has been using M390 for the last 5-7 years, they think that’s worth $522??? Total and complete alternate universe reality from their decision makers.

Do they know understand who and what they are competing with at this price???? CRK, Hinderer, Medford, Demko, SHF, Sharp by Design, McNees…. oh yeah, I can place a custom order with Arno Bernard for an IMamba with Mammoth inlays or exotic wood, premium materials everywhere and a hand rubbed blade for around this price I believe.

This has the potential of being the greatest flop of all time for Benchmade at this price point combined with the already falling prices in the knife market. I might have considered this at $249 or so, but $522….. $522? Are they starting at $522 so they can actually start selling them at 50% off when people think they’re getting a tremendous discount?

Maybe they are pricing these based on the secondary market for the Anthem($400-$600)?

I’d bet a very very large amount of money that these sit on the shelves of all online and brick and mortar retailers. Furthermore, I’d bet that they’ll still sit on the shelves once they have to discount them to $399. What in gods name Benchmade.
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I back this 100% I can afford it, and I would never buy it. That's just plain dumb. Would I rather have a sebenza, inkosi, zaan, imamba, Demko, Hinderer, etc., or a skinny benchmade? Tough decision.
DMG said:
Even at a discounted street price that is high. I just paid $17 for takeout chinese that was $9 a couple of years ago so I suspect that we are going to be shocked by prices on everythingfor a while now.
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Been that way for roughly 3 years, going to be that way for at least one more..... wonder why?🤔
jjg6319 said:
I quit considering Benchmade when they went against 2A and I have not looked back.
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Damn straight. Moved my business right over to Hogue (out benchmades benchmade). #ComeAndTakeIt
 
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