Is it just me or is Benchmade really falling behind.

microtech85 said:
Also, i wouldnt be surprised if benchmade begins to slightly cut into spydercos market share. In other words, i think benchmade may just be beginning to give spyderco a run for its money. I think the bugout is going to be a new top seller for benchmade. spyderco went the way of highly specialized and collector type knives the last few years and i think thag has maybe hurt them a little.
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Spyderco does offer sprint runs with different steels, but they also continue to produce their "normal" knives as well. Take the PM2 for example. There have been lots of specialized sprint runs, but they continue to make the standard models as well. In other words, they can offer specialized knives for collectors AND regular knives for folks who use them. They can do it all without any detriment to one side of the business or the other.
 
I concur, i was mostly thinking of the taiwan knives. They design them, then fet the manufacturing going then soon after sre discontinued. Look towards the nirvana. But i just recently saw a video with Mr. Glesser and he said that theh have to keep a certain amount of business at one of the factories. But it does cost money to design and manufacture knives and it ca not be good for bottom line when you release a bunch of new ones and they do not sell. And then benchmade has come in with some really nice stuff the last 18 months and knife buyers with some extra moneymight put it into a new bench,ade this year instead of a spyderco. That is kind of what i was thinking with my post
 
Well the Nirvana is targeting the same type of consumer that would purchase a gold class knife. Not your average knife buyer by any means. I would think the average knife buyer would be looking at knives that are well under $200.00.

Personally I look for different things when I decide on purchase a knife from either Benchmade or Spyderco.

If I’m interested in cutting edge materials I look at Spyderco. If I am looking for customer support I look at Benchmade for that. Neither is better or worse just different.

Also, my tastes can be fickle.
 
I always find something I don't like with every BM I've had and ultimately end up selling them lol. The quality has been good so far. 90% of BM's I've owned came sharp, centered and working with good action. There's only been 1 Grip that came with a loose axis lock and a 940 that kept unscrewing at the pivot after only a few times opening.

Grips - great knives but I hate how cheap and hollow the scales feel. The minis feel more solid because of the full liners but they're too small...they cut my palm when closing them one handed.(but that has more to do with me having large hands) I've yet to get my hands on the -1 versions so I can't speak on those.

Presidio line - I've had the 527, 522 and 5000sbk. I actually liked them more than the Grips but I hated how rough they were to my pockets so I ended up selling them.

940 - love the blade shape, hate the purple back spacer. I just couldn't get over it :/

950 - only thing I didn't like about this one was the thumb studs. They always got caught in the pocket when trying to take out. Everything else about it was great though.

Barrage - I've had the mini Barrage and the 581. I loved the 581, tank of a knife and felt great in hand. The mini I ended up de assisting and selling and wished I hadn't. I think I'll give this one another shot though.

So far I guess the Mini Barrage and Mini Reflex are the ones I regret letting go. I think a 940-2 would be great. The rest of the BM lineup is just out of my price range.
 
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Not all things are for all people. I no longer equate weight and rigidity with strength or quality. But that comes from two careers where weight for weight's sake were generally a sign of poor design. The fact that a product of any sort doesn't make your wallet dance doesn't really have any relation to how good the quality of the overall product is, or if its going to be the sort of thing that goes the distance, or is a flash in the pan. I'm terrible at gauging which thing will be a long term idea, and what is going to get supplanted next week. Just gotta enjoy what works for you and not worry so much about what everyone else is doing.
 
I find it interesting when people say "benchmade is over priced". I remember an economics professor once saying if people are purchasing the product, then it is not over priced. If it were over priced it wouldnt be purchased. Also, the axis lock is a complex knife locking mechanism which has more parts and a more time consuming assembly process than most others i can think of. Plus, i am not sure if they pay any royalties to the inventor. Either way, look at the sage 3. It is more expensive than the sage 1 and 5 which are the same materials. It just shows that this particular kind of lock is more complicated and more costly but worth it to many because of its ease of use, and safety and strength and ambidextrious nature.
 
Something I always liked, I mean besides the axis and design of the knives, was that Benchmade stands behind their product. I love my paramilitary 2 but I dislike having to worry about the tip of the knife. If it were to break I would be unable to get it replaced. I have sent two knives to Benchmade for blade replacements and the knives came back with new blades and cleaned and tuned as well, for a very reasonable price on those replacements. Customer service has sent me several pocket clips at no cost to me and the several people I spoke with through these things were all really nice.

So, I don't buy a lot of knives, but Benchmade has made me pretty happy with their customer support. I can use my knives hard and if something happens, I know I can send it in and in a couple of weeks it'll be back in my hand.

That comes at a price higher than average, and there are some of their knives I've wanted and haven't bought but will when I can for that reason.

I do agree with some of the things in this thread like the slight lack of innovation for a couple of years. For a little while it seemed like they were discontinuing more models than they were keeping. But several of the new ones are really awesome. I got the 535, have or had several griptilians, I'd certainly like a Crooked River, and I've wanted a 943 for a while. And I hope they keep those models around a while longer as long as they're selling well.
 
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Yo Mama said:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bought-new-benchmade-otf-dull-blade.1529532/

Another dull Benchmade? Come on guys, this is sad. Spend the time on getting it right the first time.
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Meh. I don't expect perfect edges from large knife makers. That takes time that comes at the cost of volume. I am not endorsing it by any means, I just think it is par for the course these days. As long as they don't flub it up and take too much metal off I will put my own edge on and be much happier once I've got the edge profile I want.

The other corners cut are more annoying IMO. Looking at my old dejavoo and new griptilians it seems nonfunctional fit and finish is much less polished. Granted it wasn't perfect before, it just seems more corners are cut on the finish polish-wise to make a product that functions more or less the same. They make a decent knife to use, but lack the refinement one would ideally want to have on a knife in a collection that is admired and fondled more than it is used.
 
Chalet said:
Something I always liked, I mean besides the axis and design of the knives, was that Benchmade stands behind their product. I love my paramilitary 2 but I dislike having to worry about the tip of the knife. If it were to break I would be unable to get it replaced. I have sent two knives to Benchmade for blade replacements and the knives came back with new blades and cleaned and tuned as well, for a very reasonable price on those replacements. Customer service has sent me several pocket clips at no cost to me and the several people I spoke with through these things were all really nice.

So, I don't buy a lot of knives, but Benchmade has made me pretty happy with their customer support. I can use my knives hard and if something happens, I know I can send it in and in a couple of weeks it'll be back in my hand.

That comes at a price higher than average, and there are some of their knives I've wanted and haven't bought but will when I can for that reason.

I do agree with some of the things in this thread like the slight lack of innovation for a couple of years. For a little while it seemed like they were discontinuing more models than they were keeping. But several of the new ones are really awesome. I got the 535, have or had several griptilians, I'd certainly like a Crooked River, and I've wanted a 943 for a while. And I hope they keep those models around a while longer as long as they're selling well.
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6 in one hand, half dozen in the other...
To word your post differently, I would paraphrase it as; some (few?) folks will use their knives hard enough to warrant repair and potential replacement by Benchmade, and I am glad that it is available.
It is not free since the 80% of the customers pay full ring, but don't require the full coverage afforded by the price tag of each knife. The coverage you get, is factored into the cost of every knife out there, it is not "free".

It could also be said that this business practice could result in lower QC standards, promote customer abuse (or at least mis-care) of the knives, and the viewing of the customer service in a better light than it should be.

If customers were held liable for some of the costs of their knife repair, the cost of the knives could be lowered, customers may not be as abusive to their knives, and QC might have to be held to a slightly higher standard since customers would voice their opinions more than they already do...

I will quote and reply to you again with my post from earlier in a quote, as I feel it directly relates to what you posted.
 
NJBillK said:
I have posted the text below in the "Benchmade Blem" thread, but I feel that this thread is probably a bit more suited to the posts content. So I am posting it here and removing it from th "Blem" thread.
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Now, I am going to pick this number out of thin air, but say 1 out of every 100 have a flaw significant enough that ZT, Spyderco, (insert brand here) does mark them as such, and prices them accordingly to cover manufacturing costs, and make their profit from the "correct" models.

Which means that a few things are possible, regarding Benchmade, they include things like they;
A) are some form of mass production mega-machine that the likes of which has not been seen, within the confines of the knife industry. And they just don't have the employee volume to check the massive volume they produce.
B) have a smaller second production plant or at the very least, a productions shift worth of personnel thats entire job revolves around the disassembly and reassembly of QC rejected knives.
--The next one is (hopefully) less likely, though it does have the most circumstantial evidence backing it--
C) QC was directly told to be more lenient with what passes their standards.
D) Item "C" would be backed up by a higher warranty likelihood, and would result in the company being more lax when it comes to denials of warranty replacment/repair due to acknowledgement of "C" and their requirement to do so, otherwise risk reputation.
E) Item "D" would then make the company look better in the publics eye; since the general public would view this as the company having a "Good Warranty" when all it Could Be is (not definitive) the company hoping that knives with issues are bought by customers that;
F1) don't know better
F2) don't care enough
F3) care but don't want the hassle
F4) are willing to accept the knife as QC Passed, therefore it must be OK.
F5) won't purchase from the brand again.
G) this would result in more knives making it out of the plant that are sub-par by our standards, and (unfortunately) considered OK by company standards.
E) All of this second portion would result in us knife nuts saying that Benchmade has to make up ground for a lesser than expected (at this price point) F&F standard.
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I know that this is all conjecture, but it all seems to be a bit too convenient...
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Chalet said:
Something I always liked, I mean besides the axis and design of the knives, was that Benchmade stands behind their product. I love my paramilitary 2 but I dislike having to worry about the tip of the knife. If it were to break I would be unable to get it replaced. I have sent two knives to Benchmade for blade replacements and the knives came back with new blades and cleaned and tuned as well, for a very reasonable price on those replacements. Customer service has sent me several pocket clips at no cost to me and the several people I spoke with through these things were all really nice.

So, I don't buy a lot of knives, but Benchmade has made me pretty happy with their customer support. I can use my knives hard and if something happens, I know I can send it in and in a couple of weeks it'll be back in my hand.

That comes at a price higher than average, and there are some of their knives I've wanted and haven't bought but will when I can for that reason.

I do agree with some of the things in this thread like the slight lack of innovation for a couple of years. For a little while it seemed like they were discontinuing more models than they were keeping. But several of the new ones are really awesome. I got the 535, have or had several griptilians, I'd certainly like a Crooked River, and I've wanted a 943 for a while. And I hope they keep those models around a while longer as long as they're selling well.
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Chalet Chalet please read the first quote, as I feel it is rather fitting and addresses your post, particularly part "D".
 
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basmca said:
As someone who doesn't have knife stores to visit and buy from benchmade QC is a big factor that stops me from buying.

The second would be the pricing.
Everything they make seems to be priced a grade above what it is. 110$/130€ for a griptillian with budget materials. at 60$/80€ it would be great, but in that higher price range there's much better stuff around.

Those 2 combined make for a really hard time buying them.
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Roger that Im the exact same way. Thats why I do not have any benchmades and have 10 plus spydercos.
 
Jack3dBrett said:
Roger that Im the exact same way. Thats why I do not have any benchmades and have 10 plus spydercos.
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Interestingly, I'm just the opposite. I have a local store that sells Benchmade but no one in the whole eastern Ontario region sells Spyderco, so I would have to buy online. However, I would rather buy in person, so Benchmade it is. I have three BMs and am now working on saving up for a fourth but have absolutely no idea as to which model I want. Decisions...decisions...
 
colin.p said:
Interestingly, I'm just the opposite. I have a local store that sells Benchmade but no one in the whole eastern Ontario region sells Spyderco, so I would have to buy online. However, I would rather buy in person, so Benchmade it is. I have three BMs and am now working on saving up for a fourth but have absolutely no idea as to which model I want. Decisions...decisions...
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to be fair that's not because benchmade is a better knife for the money, but because of access.
i would suggest you look beyond benchmade, owning only one brand of knife makes it easy to get tunnelvision.

but ofcourse it's all up to you.
 
microtech85 said:
I concur, i was mostly thinking of the taiwan knives. They design them, then fet the manufacturing going then soon after sre discontinued. Look towards the nirvana. But i just recently saw a video with Mr. Glesser and he said that theh have to keep a certain amount of business at one of the factories. But it does cost money to design and manufacture knives and it ca not be good for bottom line when you release a bunch of new ones and they do not sell. And then benchmade has come in with some really nice stuff the last 18 months and knife buyers with some extra moneymight put it into a new bench,ade this year instead of a spyderco. That is kind of what i was thinking with my post
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I have heard it somewhere that these companies actually sell virtually every knife they produce as suppliers purchase the orders.
 
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