I only own three Benchmades - Rant, 300SN and Adamas - and the latter two were bought used here on the forum. No quality issues on any of mine, and the two used knives could have passed for brand new, although definitely priced lower than new. That being said, had they been bought brand new, I would expect perfection or near perfection. I would expect the same from a brand new knife at half the price, but especially for a USA-made Benchmade selling for more than its competition because of the Benchmade USA logo. If someone paid half as much for a knife made of the same materials by a different company at a factory in China or Taiwan, the response from the Benchmade and/or "Buy American" crowd would be that you expect lesser quality (or at least lesser QC) from an import. What should actually happen is that a USA-made Benchmade should carry with it a guarantee of superior quality. Yes, a "dud" can slip through, but considering that the issues reported on a single forum represent only a small fraction of the total Benchmade owner base, it's a cause for concern even if the only flawed knives were the ones being reported here.
I returned a $20 CRKT to a local retailer last week because of poor centering and poorer lockup, plus a crooked thumb stud, and exchanged it for another knife of the same model with none of those issues. Even at $20, I was pissed about it, and the store immediately exchanged it, making sure that the replacement knife didn't have any issues. Being an inexpensive Chinese knife doesn't excuse the multiple issues, but my expectations were lower at $20 than they would be at $120. At no point should a reputable American manufacturer treat QC as an afterthought, and I can't imagine that it would take that much time for someone to check basic function, fit and finish on each knife before it's boxed up.
