Under $300 Knife Suggestion

somniloquist said:
There are some great knives in this thread and I have owned a couple of them. However, the Waypoint is truly excellent and I would choose it over nearly all of the suggestions here. It is nearly perfect for my uses and preferences. Light, thin, nice wire clip, thin blade stock in Vanax (which is amazing), rust-proof and worry free (and no degradation of the edge from corrosion either) and super slicey hollow grind.

The Spydiechef is a great knife and one of my top 3 Spydercos and would be my only suggestion for a similar knife. However, it is outclassed by the Waypoint, in my view. I think the real question is whether you want the Waypoint or the Drift. I have both and that's a hard decision. Very generally, I think the Waypoint carries better and the Drift works a bit better. You should probably just buy one of each :)
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Great point regarding the drift. Any chance you’d consider selling it to me?
 
It is CF not titanium but I would consider a Gayle Bradley 2.

Also, if there is a benchmade design you like, I would not let the omega springs stop you. I use stuff hard and have not yet broken an omega spring. Some of my benchmades are 20 years old.
 
DMG, I have a GB2 which I love and will never get rid of, again.
I bought one, didn't bond with it, then sold it.
I missed it so I had to buy another one.
Then I totally bonded with it.
Sleek design, robust blade, and killer M4 steel.
Anyway, as to Benchmades, I've owned one or 2 in the past an I found them to be too thick
behind the edge. I need a good, thin, slicey edge.
Plus, I feel that most Benchmades are at least $75 too expensive than the competition.
And finally, I've read about too many QC issues with them, in addition to the omega spring problem.
 
 
DMG said:
It is CF not titanium but I would consider a Gayle Bradley 2.

Also, if there is a benchmade design you like, I would not let the omega springs stop you. I use stuff hard and have not yet broken an omega spring. Some of my benchmades are 20 years old.
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Plus Benchmade will send you Omega springs in a heartbeat if you call them.
 
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Lenny said:
DMG, I have a GB2 which I love and will never get rid of, again.
I bought one, didn't bond with it, then sold it.
I missed it so I had to buy another one.
Then I totally bonded with it.
Sleek design, robust blade, and killer M4 steel.
Anyway, as to Benchmades, I've owned one or 2 in the past an I found them to be too thick
behind the edge. I need a good, thin, slicey edge.
Plus, I feel that most Benchmades are at least $75 too expensive than the competition.
And finally, I've read about too many QC issues with them, in addition to the omega spring problem.
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I have sold a knife and regretted it more than once. The worst was a Farid K2.

Benchmades aren’t your thing, I understand but now I am tempted to mail you my CF Bugout for a week or two. It is so light, sleek and slicey. You will want one.
 
 
POCEH KOCEB said:
Plus Benchmade will send you Omega springs in a heartbeat if you call them.
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I think you missed my point.
I don't want the problem in the first place nor do I want to do surgery because of a lame design.

DMG said:
Those look nice but aren’t they Chinese?
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I do like these, but I believe they are Chinese.


DMG said:
I have sold a knife and regretted it more than once. The worst was a Farid K2.

Benchmades aren’t your thing, I understand but now I am tempted to mail you my CF Bugout for a week or two. It is so light, sleek and slicey. You will want one.
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Yeah, I do like the Bugout and considered it in the past.
The nice thing is there are a ton of aftermarket handles for it.
I honestly don't think I could deal with those flexy handles or the omega spring though. :)
 
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I see, so "... I've read about too many QC issues with them... "
Not my experience with Benchmade's "lame designs" and I wasn't replying to you but if you read about issues, yes, don't get one. :thumbsup:
 
Lenny said:
I think you missed my point.
I don't want the problem in the first place nor do I want to do surgery because of a lame design.


I do like these, but I believe they are Chinese.



Yeah, I do like the Bugout and considered it in the past.
The nice thing is there are a ton of aftermarket handles for it.
I honestly don't think I could deal with those flexy handles or the omega spring though. :)
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The flexy blue handles bugged me too. The CF ones aren’t flexy.
 
If you don't like flippers or Chinese manufacturing, the Waypoint is not a bad choice. I had a bad experience with my first QuietCarry, a titanium Drift, which was so sensitive to lockbar pressure that it was virtually impossible to open with one hand. I swapped it for a G10 liner-lock version, which is great.
Tactile Knife Co is going to do a version of the Rockwall with thumb studs, so that would be a perfect US-made option.
The MBK Sea Otter (which is made in-house) is starting to trickle out, and the design is very minimalist (it's a Ray Laconico design, so minimalism is sort of a given).

Sonnydaze said:
Three Rivers Manufacturing Atom (3.5" S35vn) or Atom ...shorter folder....perfect edc's.
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Pretty sure TRM uses 20CV for the Atom
 
They did send springs,screws and clips to me. It was few years ago, maybe they are not sending now but they did when l called and asked for it. They also send to EU springs, screws and other small parts.
I have a Griptilian for blade replacement right now and they did evertyhing l asked them to do, pretty happyvwith their CS.
 
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Yo Mama said:
No they won't. Out of country sometimes, USA they will not send omega springs.
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I can confirm that for international customers, Benchmade does send replacement Omega Springs even though they are considered as “internal parts”. I just received replacements for my Bugout & Mini Bugout a few days ago. All I had to do was to send an email request to their customer service at international@benchmade.com, no questions asked. I think this is because they understand that for those of us who are overseas, the return international shipping charges would be costly if we were to send in our knives. Plus the turnaround time it would take, and the likelihood of customs duties too when the knives get shipped back to our respective countries.
 
Lenny said:
I think you missed my point.
I don't want the problem in the first place nor do I want to do surgery because of a lame design.


I do like these, but I believe they are Chinese.



Yeah, I do like the Bugout and considered it in the past.
The nice thing is there are a ton of aftermarket handles for it.
I honestly don't think I could deal with those flexy handles or the omega spring though. :)
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Offer still stands, OP. I’ll mail you my CF Bugout to try for a week or 2.
 
I had the G10 version of the Waypoint and I was not impressed. The action wasn't great and there were hot spots in hand. It just didn't feel up to its price tag.

Put it this way. I know that if I buy a Spyderco for $150 or less, I'll be getting a quality knife but I might need to chamfer the Spydie hole and/or smooth up the inner edges of the scales. That's fine. Double that price and it becomes a problem for me.

Consider two other knives I own: the Kizer Clutch and the WE Seer. I got the Clutch on sale for like $130. There were a couple of minor hot spots. The biggest one was solved by lightly filing the crisp edge of the carbon fiber above the lock bar. It was no big deal and I feel like it was totally worth it. The Seer cost about double and is beautifully executed. WE took the time to make sure that the little corners and edges were done right. It feels totally appropriate for the price.
 
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