New Bugout with omega spring break

C

Coopscoop

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Aug 14, 2020
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Long story short, started getting more into knives over past 6 months after carrying cheap ones for years (kershaws mainly). Landed on bugout and bought the 535-2 from REI on March 10. Loved the knife and super happy with purchase....until I had one of the omega springs break yesterday. I would describe my usage over past 2 months as minimal...mainly boxes and packages (haven’t even taken it hiking or backpacking). Now I see this seems like a fairly common problem. Super disappointed in having a failure with light use in such a short time.

1. How common is this?
2. I’ve read the discussions around buying aftermarket springs. Can anyone comment on their quality/longevity (anyone experience breakage with these)?

I love everything about this knife but not sure I can keep if I can’t count on it.

I reached out to benchmade to see if they will send me a new spring. I don’t really want to send it back for service. Trying to decide if I should upgrade springs and keep or move on.
 
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I've owned and used many Benchmades over the past seven years and never had an Omega spring break on me.

Sometimes you get a lemon, and it's never fun when that happens. But this is a small manufactured part; it can break, or arrived flawed. My impression is that this is lot less common than the internet suggests. ;)

(I've never bought aftermarket springs, so I can't comment on that.)
 
It happens enough it can't be called super rare. I think I've had two break in a bit over a decade carrying Benchmades. It bothered me at first, but BM fixed them up and got them back to me quick enough.
 
I have two bugouts and 3 out of 4 omega springs broke within 6 months. Unless things have changed benchmade won't sell omega springs and I'm not mailing my knives in to get a replacement part I can change on my own in 5 minutes. My solution is to make my own omega springs and not buy any more benchmades. Which is a shame since I really love the bugout.
 
It's really hard to say just how common it is because people who have them break are more likely to post about it online than people who have no issue. I've had a couple Benchmades that both springs broke on fairly quickly. The other has been fine. I made my own replacements from memory wire and they have worked well.

On one hand, I can see them not wanting to send them out because people will abuse it just to get spares and maybe they want to see how they broke. At the same time, they will send out clips and considering the premium you pay up front for the product it shouldn't be an issue. I think they will send them out to international customers where shipping the knife back would be more of a problem.
 
I've heard of it happening, but personally never had an issue , mine have been open and closed numerous times while being used at my work

Sorry you had an issue
 
Over a decade and 20+ Benchmades I've never had an omega spring break, even ones that have ended up being super rusted and weak feeling, they haven't broken. It always seems like people have either never broken a spring, or they've broken multiple omega springs. Remember, Benchmade recommends pulling both sides of the axis bar to avoid asymmetric stresses on the springs.

In my opinion, it's worth it to send it back to Benchmade for new springs. If you do, just don't let them sharpen the knife, I've had bad experiences with their warranty sharpening.
 
Thanks for all the thoughts. I do only pull both sides of the axis bar for opening/closing. Perhaps this was just a rare lemon. Seems like more/most of the complaints around breakage are with the bugout. Has me wondering if that’s the risk/trade off for having such a lightweight knife.
 
scherf68 said:
Take it back to REI, they will replace it on spot if another one in stock. They have a very good replacement policy for breakage on any item.
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This.

I went for years and never had any Omega spring problems. Ever.
Then it happened. A spring broke on my 531. I continued to use the knife with one good spring for at least a year. Maybe a year and a half before the other spring finally snapped.

I replaced the faulty springs with some I found on ETSY for $6.95, shipped to my door. Not a bad deal, really.


I don’t understand how some people can never have any spring problems and others have nothing but problems. I can’t help but wonder if it’s an “operator error” issue for those that break springs all the time.

Or maybe Benchmade had a change somewhere in their supply chain and is now using subpar spring steel. I don’t know.

All I know is that I had springs break on only one BM. Out of the eight, or so, I own/owned. I would hardly consider that reason enough to turn my back on Benchmade.
 
It's not that common. Never happened on my 4 benchmades. But it certainly does occur though.
Personally I don't think it occurs frequently enough to give up on the knife from one incident.
That said, because I'm overseas I keep spare springs on hand just in case.
Although I know Benchmade will send them to me if I need it.
 
KenHash said:
Although I know Benchmade will send them to me if I need it.
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That may be a special accommodation for overseas customers. Benchmade no longer sends Omega springs out in the U.S. You have to send the knife in.

One of the Omega springs broke on my Kulgera a few years ago. I used it for about a week and the other spring also broke. I emailed Benchmade and NEVER received a response to this day. I called them a week after I sent the email and they had me ship the knife in. They had it back to me in about a week.
 
tokerblue said:
That may be a special accommodation for overseas customers. Benchmade no longer sends Omega springs out in the U.S. You have to send the knife in.

One of the Omega springs broke on my Kulgera a few years ago. I used it for about a week and the other spring also broke. I emailed Benchmade and NEVER received a response to this day. I called them a week after I sent the email and they had me ship the knife in. They had it back to me in about a week.
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Yes, that's correct. Benchmade will only send Omega Springs to customers overseas as sending in and sending back the knife just for that would be costly.
Benchmade requires you to send the knife in to replace the springs if you are in the U.S.
 
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KenHash said:
Yes, that's correct. Benchmade will only send Omega Springs to customers overseas as sending in and sending back the knife just for that would be costly.
Benchmade requires you to send the knife in to replace the springs if you are in the U.S.
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I've never had an omega spring break on any of my Benchmades to date (even rusty ones on an old minigrip that's still working), but it's good to know they will send me replacements if I ever need it, as an overseas customer.
 
I'd had 3 Bugouts with broken omega springs. I believe they are the same springs that are used on the 940, and I've used the hell out of my 940s without a problem. Not sure what to think.
 
Eljay2 said:
I'd had 3 Bugouts with broken omega springs. I believe they are the same springs that are used on the 940, and I've used the hell out of my 940s without a problem. Not sure what to think.
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That is just weird.

I can tell you that Omega springs come in two sizes. I wonder if one size is more prone to breakage than the other.
 
I don't think the spring type is the only factor. Some models you can pull the bar back further than others, and pulling the bar back farther certainly could have a negative influence. The 710 is the shallowest (least amount the bar can travel) of the BMs I have. I'm not sure if certain models lock up further too so that you have to pull further back to get it to unlock, but that also could factor into failures; going from memory, all mine seem about the same though.

If someone had an in at Benchmade and could get at their repair service data, it would be interesting to do a statistical analysis including measuring per model (1) how far back you need to pull back the bar to unlock it, which would be a minimum it gets pulled back and (2) the maximum distance you can pull the bar back.
 
I had one of the omega springs break in my 710 and this was maybe 5 or 6 years ago. They replaced it when I sent it in for sharpening so it wasn't a huge deal and I haven't had any other omega springs break since then.
 
This is the main reason why I sold all of my benchmade in the past. I could not get out of the mindset that I may not be able to rely on the knife in a life or death situation. But ...... After many years I have come back around to benchmade. I started with a bugout that I used the heck out of and it was flawless. Now I have landed on a 550 grip and loving it. I have only owned about a dozen benchmade in the last 20-25 years.....and I have never had an omega spring break.
 
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I see so many threads dealing with this issue. My first impression upon receiving a gift of a Benchmade Emissary was "I don't like this lock". I'm not saying it's junk; it's just not for me.
 
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