$tarmate, what's up with the price?

duro said:
To all the members giving me a hard time about what needs to be said, perhaps you need a spyderco tshirt to show your support. It's available for sale on Spyderco's website; only 34.95.
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Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory,[3] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[4] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.[5] ;)

Perspective brother. Just because you can say it, doesn't mean it "needs to be said.".
 
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O.P. has a history of this type of behavior. I doubt any amount of good advice will change it.
 
If you don't like it, don't buy it.

Simple solution for a problem that only exists in your head.

I understand wanting value, but sometimes the thing that makes a knife worth more can't be seen....but are VERY tangible.

If that is not the case with this blade, then you should consider another....like the GB that you so dearly love.

Spyderco is good people. Maybe they got it wrong here, I don't know. What I do know, is that I would buy any spyderco sight unseen if I needed a knife NOW. I can't say that about many companies, but every. single. spyderco. I. have. EVER. seen. was. SPOT EFFING ON!

If this is the best you can do, go find a different forum dedicated to pointless complaining. This is not it.
 
Maybe the OP's tone was a bit inflamatory, but I can't say I disagree-

compare it to the para 2:

-Nested SS liners (just as much if not more to produce)
-G10 handes (same material)
-S30V steel (I think most would consider this a premium steel vs. VG-10)
-The para 2 blade is smaller

I don't pretend to know anything about production, tooling, etc. and I won't pretend to understand the arrangements of royalties/licenses with the designers. Considering the Para 2 is built in the USA, of the same materials and has an arguably better blade steel though, how do you justify spending almost twice as much money on the starmate?

I LOVE the design of the Starmate and don't mind paying a premium for "luxury" items, but the cost difference between this and other Spyderco's seems a bit unbalanced to me as well?
 
If you like the knife enough, than cost shouldn't be an issue. If cost is an issue, than you don't buy it.
 
Chris, there are very obvious factors at play. The Para2 is made in the US, the Starmate is made in Seki City. There are differences in the costs of labor, materials, import/eort fees, the moneyary exchange rates. Sal said a while back in another thread that the Starmate was going to receive all new tooling, that costs money, as it equates an all new model. They don't have a mold or machine that they just punch these out by the hundreds. Many people don't know and don't care about the costs to build something, they only care to complain at a perceived imbalance; but that doesn't necessarily make it accurate.
 
chris0827 said:
Maybe the OP's tone was a bit inflamatory, but I can't say I disagree-

compare it to the para 2:

-Nested SS liners (just as much if not more to produce)
-G10 handes (same material)
-S30V steel (I think most would consider this a premium steel vs. VG-10)
-The para 2 blade is smaller

I don't pretend to know anything about production, tooling, etc. and I won't pretend to understand the arrangements of royalties/licenses with the designers. Considering the Para 2 is built in the USA, of the same materials and has an arguably better blade steel though, how do you justify spending almost twice as much money on the starmate?

I LOVE the design of the Starmate and don't mind paying a premium for "luxury" items, but the cost difference between this and other Spyderco's seems a bit unbalanced to me as well?
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Already mentioned I too don't understand where the Starmate's cost comes from, but jJust adding to what Rev said, being made in the USA makes it cheaper, not more expensive. Awhile back Sal said something like $1 USD in manufacturing cost is $1.20 in manufacturing cost in Japan, so that $100 retail PM2 would jump up to $120 retail just in manu cost (not counting import costs and such).
 
I was at a liquor store purchasing some Gouden Carolus Carolus d'Or, an excellent Belgian beer. I saw a guy walk up to the counter and slam a can of Four Loko down. I said "Hey, you know you can get this awesome Belgian beer on sale and they also have some good craft beer over there, 22 oz bottles of good IPA at 8% abv for $2. They taste a lot better than that four loko."

His response was, "Nah, I'd rather have Four Loko."

People are going to buy what they want and spend what they want. Some people want a $200 knife or fancy beer. Others want Four Loko.

Mr. Glesser has said that Spyderco operates with a fixed profit margin. The cost of the knife is in line with production costs, tooling, r&d, etc. I don't think Mr. Glesser is trying to gouge anyone with the prices of the knives. If you want a specific knife, you try to find a good price from a reputable dealer and you buy it. If you don't want to pay for the knife, find something else to buy that is in line with what you want and what you're willing to spend.

In the case of the starmate yes the price looks high, but tooling for a brand new design is expensive and the Japanese currency exchange rate factors in. I just looked up the yen to the dollar, it's 100 yen to $1.26. Assuming a 1:1 that's 26 cents more per dollar just for the exchange rate.
 
Agreed the OP could have been more tactful in making his point.

Also agreed that Spyderco can charge whatever it wants for these non-essential consumer goods.

It just bothers me to see Spyderco trending up & out of my budget range. Spyderco has traditionally been a very accessible brand. Oh well, maybe I'll snag a 3rd hand user Starmate off the exchange a few years from now. Won't be the end of the world.
 
RandomAyes said:
It just bothers me to see Spyderco trending up & out of my budget range.
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No offense to anyone...

I feel this same way about a LOT of things. Milk, bread, beef, gasoline, electricity, clothing, the list goes on.
 
Believe me, (like most of you) I have no problem carrying, using and purchasing expensive knives! I saw the Starmate and was psyched to buy because I thought it would make an awesome EDC for me around town OR in the woods hunting/fishing. Then I saw the price! Compared to my other Spyderco's I just don't feel like I'm getting any more knife (fit, finish, design, functionality) for almost twice as much money!

It may very well be that it is more expensive to produce the product in Japan than the USA. If that is the case, then why use Japanese manufacturing? I think most people would agree that "buying American" makes us all feel good and it's obvious Americans can produce a fine product (the quality of the Military/Para2 is a perfect example). If the price is higher for Japanese manufacturing, and we feel better buying a made in the USA product, then WHY on earth would we make ANYTHING in Japan? Seems cut and dry to me?

Not knocking Spyderco, still love the brand- and would NEVER question their integrity. I just hope that if the price puts off buyers and the model doesn't sell, the price gets lowered vs. discontinuing the model! :D
 
duro said:
I have several new Spyderco knives on my to buy list. The gayle bradley is a knife in which I can justify the cost....The starmate is also a blade that I want, but the price? It's vg-10, g-10, liner lock construction. Why is this knife selling for 190 dollars?
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Starmate priced within my expectations. Fairly close to Lum Tanto, which is completable model. I wish the price would be half of this, but for some reason Spyderco need to pay people, who are making knives, shipping knives and materials, to designer, to utilities companies, also buy materials and so on.............
You do not want to work for free, don't you?
 
Maybe prices aren't going up, and your currency is losing value. Maybe materials cost more, or maybe it just takes more US dollars to pay for them.

It is possible that there are larger forces at work here.
 
Simply put, I would also like to hear some (more) reasons why the Starmate is at the price-point that it is.

I don't currently see the knife being worth $200, but I'm open to new information that will change my perspective.


Then again, I suppose I could just forget about this model, but that would be no fun. ;)
 
Nullity said:
Simply put, I would also like to hear some (more) reasons why the Starmate is at the price-point that it is.

I don't currently see the knife being worth $200, but I'm open to new information that will change my perspective.


Then again, I suppose I could just forget about this model, but that would be no fun. ;)
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1.26 to 1.00 in Japanese currency.

190/1.26= 150.80

So if we assume $190 price and take off 26% the knife would cost around $150 made in the US.
 
To the OP, once you're in a hole, stop digging. And also, Spyderco marks up the prices on their site on purpose so they don't compete with their own distributors. If you had looked around, you can see that the shirt is actually $25, which is not very expensive for a shirt, especially one that's a brand, and is made to wick moisture. Anyways, I agree with what you say, but not how you say it. I'm pretty sure making a knife is not just adding the price of materials together. There's transportation, creating the machines to make the knives, and the price of designing each concept model. Yes, maybe it's still expensive, but an outright accusation that Spyderco cannot price their items correctly is just too far IMO.

Also, if you compare this to all knives, one can say that a Chris Reeve knife is overpriced. S30V, Titanium scales, Framelock? Can't you buy a lot of other knives with those materials for much less than $400? Yes, but then the tolerances would probably be worse right?

Last note though, I do wish that Spyderco will produce a few cheaper knives, such as the Manix, and the Enduras and such. It's been awhile since a lower priced knife has came out.
 
Hell, if I think a knife is too expensive, then I just don't buy it. Easy. No sense in starting a thread over it.
 
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The Manix2 XL can be had all over for at or less than $105, the original Manix2 is right around $75. Lots of good value priced options out there. ;)
 
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