Thoughts and opinions about the 581?

southernknives

southernknives

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I couldn't hold out any longer and just snagged a BM 581. (Plus I overpay my CC card each month, so it will only be around 90.00.) More easily justified. :)
I also had the gray/black Rift in the cart too but took it out at the last minute.

I've read good reviews about it, but what I really want to know is how it stacks up against my 580. (All Valox.)

Hopefully it will be nicer.
 
Love mine, quickly became my EDc when I picked up my first production from my work. Not usually a fan of assisted but this little blade is great.
 
I love the 581 too. I like its assist that pushes the blade through a longer portion of its travel than some other assisted methods do. I like the sculpted G10 and the M390 steel.

I'm carrying mine today:

IMG_2791b_zps9954b429.jpg
 
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I like it a lot more than the 580 and it's terrible handle scales.

I've removed the spring so it's a manual knife now. I like it better when I can open and close it with the axis lock.
 
To me, the 581 is better than the 580 in every way. Blade shape slices better, handle feels better, aesthetics are nicer. The whole package just feels so much nicer. I like 154CM but M390 is just awesome for getting sharp and holding that edge and is really quite corrosion resistant.
Yes its slightly heavier, but not enough for me to notice.
Your going to be real happy with it.
I like it so much I've ordered the 586.

Also, put the 950 Rift back in the cart for next time. I did. Well worth it for sure.
 
The 581 is probably my favorite benchmade hands down. I have a 585 and it blows it out of the water. Just feels more solid with the aluminum bolsters and g-10. Its a fantastic knife at the very least. Ill be getting a 586 for sure!
 
I just got my first BM in, a 581. After 3 minutes of playing with it, I ordered a 586 also! Now I need some pouches for horizontal carry.
 
I like the idea of the 581 and 586. They are high quality knives and I like the M390. However, after owning a 586 I could not bond with the assisted opening function. It adds weight, width and for me the speed of deploying the blade was not an advantage. I prefer to have control over the speed of opening my blades. I am sticking with the Mini Grip in M4 for now.

I really hope Benchmade puts out another Mini Grip in M390 sometime soon. This is just my experience.
 
Despite the common width of the Barrage models, the 581 is the better knife with an improved blade shape and M390 over 154CM steel. Also while the scale design is similar on both, the G-10 and T6 bolsters add some weight but also give the knife (the 586 is the same arguement over the 585...) a better look and feel. To me the "CLACK" on opening the older 580 was annoying, on the 581 it's a lot more solid of a sound.
 
I got it yesterday, and it is way better than the 580.
I really like it.

I then decided to order the Rift I took out of the cart, and added a Paramilitary 2. Done buying this week. :)
 
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