Which Knife Brands have you seen fall out of favour?

SharpieB

SharpieB

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Oct 31, 2017
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As a relative knife newbie, I am curious if any brands have been “flavour of the month” and had their popularity and/or values drop significantly over time.

I believe I read somewhere that specific Hinderers that are $350-450 today used to command over $1000 on the secondary market prior to production increases. Not sure if this is true?

So which brands have you seen fall out of favour with the knife buying community? Could be due to ramping up production, the owner is a douche, quality problems, etc.
 
Gerber, but it’s been awhile.

DPX - yep.

Hinderer - Not sure they are out of favor necessarily as they appear to sell well at retail. Seeing secondary XM-18s sell for under $300 does lead me to think they are going that way. I would guess at market saturation but CRKs are everywhere and they have much better resale value.
 
Hmm, I would say strider, microtech (maybe will regain popularity with the re-production of the socom this year), and for me ZT, just over the time have changed has a company.

ScooterG said:
Gerber, but it’s been awhile.

DPX - yep.

Hinderer - Not sure they are out of favor necessarily as they appear to sell well at retail. Seeing secondary XM-18s sell for under $300 does lead me to think they are going that way. I would guess at market saturation but CRKs are everywhere and they have much better resale value.
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I would have to disagree with this statement about hinderer. Under $300 :O never seen that, then again I don't check US secondary market. I would more say that it has to do with how old some XM-18's are getting, we're on the 5th generation, which slight upgrades have been made throughout the years, thus an earlier Xm-18 is not equivalent to a modern XM-18 price. Unlike many companies that increase the price for newer versions/genderations of knives, Hinderer doesn't increase price with the newer generation, the Gen 5 are priced the same as Gen 4 were, thus pushing the secondary market price on the older generations down. Lots of people use their XM-18's which also will take away from the price (older knives have a higher chance of being used a lot more), thus again demanding a lower price.
 
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From a bunch of anecdotal evidence, much of which can be found here on BF, it would seem that Benchmade went through a rough patch over the last couple years that they just seem to be starting to come out of recently (within the last 6 months or so?). Not sure if it really got to the magnitude of "falling out of favour" (maybe for some?), or even if many people outside of members of this forum partook, but at the very least, many here didn't buy a Benchmade "sight unseen" during this time due to their unimpressive quality control (which didn't help when this problem was compounded with fairly expensive MAP pricing).

Lately though, it would seem that they have given us reason to start being cautiously optimistic again as they seem to slowly be regaining their reputation of being able to execute a design well more consistently (again, through more anecdotal evidence scattered here and there throughout BF).
 
Gideons said:
Hmm, I would say strider, microtech (maybe will regain popularity with the re-production of the socom this year), and for me ZT.


I would have to strongly disagree with this statement about hinderer. Under $300 :O never seen that, then again I don't check US secondary market. I would more say that it has to do with how old some XM-18's are getting and how the newer generations have improved greatly (imo) over the older ones. I've sold 4 XM-18's for no loss at all.
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I hear you on Hinderer, but it’s not uncommon for them to go for $275 on the BF Exchange. *shrug*
 
ScooterG said:
I hear you on Hinderer, but it’s not uncommon for them to go for $275 on the BF Exchange. *shrug*
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BTW, I hope I didn't come off too argumentative, as that was not my intention. However, I have seen a few posts like this that from a macro perspective or a quick glance make sense, however when you look closely at the details turn out to be false. Read my update post, I briefly touch on a few economic factors that would explain that price, which have nothing to do with "falling out of favour", which would be shown also on the retail side, which you stated clearly hasn't happened. Also, if somebody wants to start selling them at that price on the Canada exchange I would be excited :)
 
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Gideons said:
Read my update post, I briefly touch on a few economic factors that would explain that price, which have nothing to do with "falling out of favour", which would be shown also on the retail side, which you stated clearly hasn't happened. Also, if somebody wants to start selling them at that price on the Canada exchange I would be excited :)
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Again, I hear ya. The secondary market pricing is just interesting when comparing to Chris Reeve, Stirder and some Microtechs (Auto/OTF).
 
Gideons said:
Hmm, I would say strider, microtech (maybe will regain popularity with the re-production of the socom this year), and for me ZT, just over the time have changed has a company.
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I just received my ZT 0393 and feel this is could change your mind and others about ZT. I know there are those of you that feel ZT has moved awAy from that rugged feel to cater to those that want a taste of the bells and whistles that customs offer. But this 0393 has a feel that can make both camps happy
 
Hinderer was not the best example to led the post with...at the time there was only three xm18/24 models...not only has Rick increases his line up substantially but also entered into an agreement with ZT...no way any less favorable...but I do think Scooter and Fullmetal are onto something..
 
Kizer seemed like they took a hit lately. Basically tanking their own prices. I honestly don't know what it is about Kizer, their stuff is pretty well made, they have some interesting designs and work with some notable designers, on paper they have everything down, but when it comes down to it, most of it feels kinda "Meh" to me.
 
The big two for me would be Crkt and Strider knives everything else seems to have a decent reputation still regarding production companies.
 
Here’s a few I either read about or experienced issues first hand

Microtech- Due to stealing a design, and poor CS
Strider- QC issues, and the owner (Mick) has a bad reputation
Gerber- poor quality control
Brous Blades- Poor QC , questionable cs
Frost Cutlery- extremely poor QC and questionable business practices
Benchmade- it has been my experience that QC can be spotty at times, but the past few knives I bought have been great. However, opinions vary.
Ganzo- well just mentioning this brand can risk closing a thread. Moderators, please be gentle. :(
 
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I think some brands just seem to cycle in popularity up and down maybe it’s the current lineup or just market timing.

There are the few brands that get negative press maybe from actual product issues or even owner/company customer service issues and fall out of popularity.

Then there are amateur knife guys that buy a knife or two and are good for a long while.

Then there are guys that live and breath knives totally different market between the two types buyers.

I’ve also noticed a brand may fall out of popularity with serious-knife guys but the general market never slows down buying that brand. Fact is guys like me who buy knifes at a extreme hobby level are much more rare than a guy buying 1-2 knifes a year.
 
Chariotz4 said:
From a bunch of anecdotal evidence, much of which can be found here on BF, it would seem that Benchmade went through a rough patch over the last couple years that they just seem to be starting to come out of recently (within the last 6 months or so?). Not sure if it really got to the magnitude of "falling out of favour" (maybe for some?), or even if many people outside of members of this forum partook, but at the very least, many here didn't buy a Benchmade "sight unseen" during this time due to their unimpressive quality control (which didn't help when this problem was compounded with fairly expensive MAP pricing).

Lately though, it would seem that they have given us reason to start being cautiously optimistic again as they seem to slowly be regaining their reputation of being able to execute a design well more consistently (again, through more anecdotal evidence scattered here and there throughout BF).
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I remember Benchmade also went through a rough patch sometime back around the late 1990s or early 2000s or so, with complaints of poor QC, dull edges OOB, etc. I seem to remember Les himself addressed the complaints on a forum (I'm not sure if it was here or on the forum on BM's own website, which I used to frequent). Then, around the time the Griptilians were introduced, it seemed like many of those issues lessened.

I haven't bought a Benchmade for a long time, since around 2004...not because I dislike them, but I haven't been feeling them. I was surprised recently when I started reading about some of the same QC complaints about BM that they'd had in the past.

Jim
 
James Y said:
I remember Benchmade also went through a rough patch sometime back around the late 1990s or early 2000s or so, with complaints of poor QC, dull edges OOB, etc. I seem to remember Les himself addressed the complaints on a forum (I'm not sure if it was here or on the forum on BM's own website, which I used to frequent). Then, around the time the Griptilians were introduced, it seemed like many of those issues lessened.

I haven't bought a Benchmade for a long time, since around 2004...not because I dislike them, but I haven't been feeling them. I was surprised recently when I started reading about some of the same QC complaints about BM that they'd had in the past.

Jim
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Interesting, I had no idea about that. Like I said, they seem to be finding their feet again after a rough couple of years, and seeing as I'm more often a fan of their products than not, I'm glad that's the case.
 
Chariotz4 said:
Interesting, I had no idea about that. Like I said, they seem to be finding their feet again after a rough couple of years, and seeing as I'm more often a fan of their products than not, I'm glad that's the case.
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I've mostly had positive experiences around BM, and one big defect I did have they took care of very professionally. If they're coming out of a rough patch, I'm also glad to hear it. My fave BM knife was and still is their long-discontinued axis TSEK.

Jim
 
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