This is my review between a Para 2 and the Mini Gip.
First of all I have to say these a 2 totally different knives. The only resemblance is the "Spydy hole".
I'd carry'd the Para 2 now for half a year and the Mini Grip for 2 months now. I shall tell you now but the Spyderco is the favorite. I think it's the best all round EDC you can get!
I work for Victorinox so I know a few things about knives. :untroubled:
The comparison:
The Para 2 has got a Compression lock which works perfectly. It's smooth and locks in rock solid no blade play at all. It has a big stopping pin so you can put a lot of pressure on the handle.
The Axis Lock is different. It works with a pin which slides in the back of the blade with the help of 2 springs. The springs inside look a bit flumsy, but they work great. It locks solid and has a little side to side play.I'd try to solve it by turning the pivot a little stronger but it doesn't help.
The Para 2 has CPM S30V steel so you guys know that its good! It's easy to sharpen and holds an edge pretty well. It's the angle of the bevel which makes all the difference. I sharpen the blade on 20° each side on the Work Sharp and the Spyderco Sharpmaker. And it works great!!!
The Benchmade has a 154CM steel wich workd great also yet! I didn't push the boundaries yet, something I did with the Spyderco.
The edge from the factory was a little toothy, but get rid of it with the Sharpmaker. The Benchmade has a cheep-foot blade which I like a lot. For piercing things it's not that great. The Para 2 has a spear point blade. So you can also do precise tasks.
The material of the handle from the Para 2 is G-10. It's a fiberglass based laminate. Layers of fiberglass cloth are soaked in resin and are compressed and baked. The resulting material is very hard, lightweight, and strong. I only sand it a little bit under the clip. Or else it rips your pocket.
Benchmade uses Zytel for the Mini Griptilian. It is unbreakable: resists impact and abrasions and has a slight surface texture. Altough I read on the forum there are some guys that told the knife fell on the floor and the handle did chip.
The Para 2 has a big hole in the blade which called the "Spydy hole". It's big a little sharp on the edges but I like it. You can flip the knife open in a sec. Benchmade attempet to do the same but it's to small and doen't work so good as the Spydy.
The jimping on the Benchmade is there but it's not that grippy. It's to round. The jimping on the Para 2 is sharp and pointed to the thumb. So there is a lot of traction.
A point for the Benchmade is the weight. It's smaller but it's very light (2.56oz). The Para 2 is also light for the size (3.75 oz). That's because the liners are milled out. Skeletonized as they say.
The last thing of the review is the build quality. The quality of the Spyderco is Supurb! Really, I can't find one thing which they can make better. There are no hot spots on the handle and the blade came razor sharp from the factory.
On the other hand the build quality of the Benchmade disapointed me a little bit. The blade came out really hard. So I had to loosen the pivot a little bit. And you can clearly see the molding spots on the Zytel handle on the Benchmade. I have a dessert sand colour and you can see where the paint did't catch the handle.
Last but not least it's a great EDC knife but the Spyderco is by far the better one!
Here are some pics:
First of all I have to say these a 2 totally different knives. The only resemblance is the "Spydy hole".
I'd carry'd the Para 2 now for half a year and the Mini Grip for 2 months now. I shall tell you now but the Spyderco is the favorite. I think it's the best all round EDC you can get!
I work for Victorinox so I know a few things about knives. :untroubled:
The comparison:
The Para 2 has got a Compression lock which works perfectly. It's smooth and locks in rock solid no blade play at all. It has a big stopping pin so you can put a lot of pressure on the handle.
The Axis Lock is different. It works with a pin which slides in the back of the blade with the help of 2 springs. The springs inside look a bit flumsy, but they work great. It locks solid and has a little side to side play.I'd try to solve it by turning the pivot a little stronger but it doesn't help.
The Para 2 has CPM S30V steel so you guys know that its good! It's easy to sharpen and holds an edge pretty well. It's the angle of the bevel which makes all the difference. I sharpen the blade on 20° each side on the Work Sharp and the Spyderco Sharpmaker. And it works great!!!
The Benchmade has a 154CM steel wich workd great also yet! I didn't push the boundaries yet, something I did with the Spyderco.
The edge from the factory was a little toothy, but get rid of it with the Sharpmaker. The Benchmade has a cheep-foot blade which I like a lot. For piercing things it's not that great. The Para 2 has a spear point blade. So you can also do precise tasks.
The material of the handle from the Para 2 is G-10. It's a fiberglass based laminate. Layers of fiberglass cloth are soaked in resin and are compressed and baked. The resulting material is very hard, lightweight, and strong. I only sand it a little bit under the clip. Or else it rips your pocket.
Benchmade uses Zytel for the Mini Griptilian. It is unbreakable: resists impact and abrasions and has a slight surface texture. Altough I read on the forum there are some guys that told the knife fell on the floor and the handle did chip.
The Para 2 has a big hole in the blade which called the "Spydy hole". It's big a little sharp on the edges but I like it. You can flip the knife open in a sec. Benchmade attempet to do the same but it's to small and doen't work so good as the Spydy.
The jimping on the Benchmade is there but it's not that grippy. It's to round. The jimping on the Para 2 is sharp and pointed to the thumb. So there is a lot of traction.
A point for the Benchmade is the weight. It's smaller but it's very light (2.56oz). The Para 2 is also light for the size (3.75 oz). That's because the liners are milled out. Skeletonized as they say.
The last thing of the review is the build quality. The quality of the Spyderco is Supurb! Really, I can't find one thing which they can make better. There are no hot spots on the handle and the blade came razor sharp from the factory.
On the other hand the build quality of the Benchmade disapointed me a little bit. The blade came out really hard. So I had to loosen the pivot a little bit. And you can clearly see the molding spots on the Zytel handle on the Benchmade. I have a dessert sand colour and you can see where the paint did't catch the handle.
Last but not least it's a great EDC knife but the Spyderco is by far the better one!
Here are some pics:
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