Why did Benchmade discontinue the 630 skirmish?

RussB

RussB

Joined
Jul 6, 2000
Messages
1,017
:confused: I guess it just wasn't selling well or something? I know it's big and impractical for most people but there was the smaller 635 and that was normalsized.
From my limited experience with these knives they seem to be great in the quality control department and there is a whole lot of knife for the money.

First off I bought a 630 as a birthday present for a friend when they first came out and it was great, no blade play, smooth action, perfect centering, strong lockup, just an all around well put together knife.

Was so impressed I bought a 635 later, same quality. It was my EDC for a couple years until I lost it.

Now I just received another 630 with a black blade and it's just as good as the first two.

BM seemed to have a good thing going, why did they drop it?
 
I guess it just wasn't selling well. There comes a point in most product sales when they are no longer doing as well as a projected replacement on a very busy production line.

Keep in mind, Bladeforums is a specialty forum. Most knife buyers aren't up on the latest and greatest, and what sells to us won't appeal to them.
 
I imagine the falling out between Blackwood (the designer) and Benchmade didn't help things.
 
They seem to do this with all their "good" designs. To name a few: the Skirmish, Rukus, Ares, AFCK, Switchback, and BM42. They seem to like to take away their, in my opinion, best designs. Is it to jack the street prices up? I don't know, but they seem to like to discontinue the models that I would like to buy lol
 
THG said:
Is it to jack the street prices up? l
Click to expand...

How would that help them?

It comes down to sales. A lot knives don't become popular until they are discontinued. There aren't many knives that have been in production for 5+ years and still sell well. The new wears off and it becomes time for a new model.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
I guess it just wasn't selling well. There comes a point in most product sales when they are no longer doing as well as a projected replacement on a very busy production line.

Keep in mind, Bladeforums is a specialty forum. Most knife buyers aren't up on the latest and greatest, and what sells to us won't appeal to them.
Click to expand...

THG said:
They seem to do this with all their "good" designs. To name a few: the Skirmish, Rukus, Ares, AFCK, Switchback, and BM42. They seem to like to take away their, in my opinion, best designs. Is it to jack the street prices up? I don't know, but they seem to like to discontinue the models that I would like to buy lol
Click to expand...

That's why manufacturers discontinue items. Folks would "like" to buy but never do buy.
I believe a mfg would work like crazy to make a product that was selling.
If it doesn't sell then kill it off and go onto the next one. :thumbup:
 
its amazing why they didnt discontinued 710 , its been around way to long and its damn good knife , should be discontinued just like AFCK.
 
I have a thought now, look at what they were selling: a big knife with premium materials:
S30v blade and anodized titanium handles with machining, this had to be fairly expensive
to make even on a mass produced scale. It had custom knife features for a $200 price.
 
Who knows.They seem to discontinue all of their good knives.
Like the 42 what's up with that? That bali is, or was, one of the best production bali-songs ever made. I can't imagine they were having a problem selling that one.
 
frontline29 said:
Who knows.They seem to discontinue all of their good knives.
Like the 42 what's up with that? That bali is, or was, one of the best production bali-songs ever made. I can't imagine they were having a problem selling that one.
Click to expand...

yea itz the one we always go to..
 
tjsulli790 said:
How would that help them?
Click to expand...

I don't know. How does requiring dealers to force customers to call in to ask for the price of a knife help them? I don't know that either.

I'm guessing it's an image thing. They want to appear to sell only expensive knives. Because honestly, I can't think of any other reason.

2brothers said:
That's why manufacturers discontinue items. Folks would "like" to buy but never do buy.
Click to expand...

I would have bought something like an AFCK or Ares, but I wasn't in the knife scene by the time they discontinued it.

trix2004 said:
its amazing why they didnt discontinued 710 , its been around way to long and its damn good knife , should be discontinued just like AFCK.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the exact same thing a long while back. When I first got into knives, that was one of the knives I was looking at getting. I was disappointed to find that it was discontinued when I read about it. When I learned of the 710, I was wondering why they didn't discontinue that one, too, because they seem to be on the same level, if you know what I mean (which I think you do.)
 
It's almost always due to slowing sales. Sometimes when a knife has been on the market for a few years (i imagine that) sales start to dry up because the majority of people that wanted one already bought one. Its very tough to say though because they never share any details with us in regards to their sales. I do however have my first 635 coming to me in the mail as I type this. I am super stoked on this one! Just something about it has always made me lust over it. I was just deleting my inbox and noticed that in the last few months I tried buying a 635 on two other occasions but I was just a tad too late on both. I finally found one for a good price and locked it in. I have a Kershaw Volt and the 635 coming this week and for some reason I am way more stoked on the 635. And yes I have been spening wayyyy to much on this hobby of mine lately!
 
This is not meant to bash - but I did own 2 and sold both of them.

Very weak pocket clip, recurve, and the opening holes were very tough to get any purchase on. They were smooth and not sharp like Spyderco holes.

The fit and finish was great, and you did get premium materials, but I saw a lot of reviews that hi-lited the above shortcomings.

That may have contributed to slow sales pace?
 
I must admit, I'm not a fan of the pocket clip design, it's too long and thin and doesn't fit very tightly in my pocket.
 
My recently acquired full size Rukus has a similar problem - it seems like it is a consistent theme with BM - the bigger the knife, the smaller and weaker the clip.

That is not stopping me from carrying the Rukus - there's way too many positives for me to let the weak clip get in the way.

My biggest problem with the Skirmish was the difficulty in opening. It was really awkward with the hole pattern and the smoothness of the holes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top