Benchmade 950 Rift and ergonomics = none. IMHO.

Souta112` · #1

I exagerated for effect, but my point is. The ergos on that knife were atrocious for my hand, mostly the forward choil. The handle right behind the blade. Was way too wide for me personally.

Luckily, I didn't buy it :) . A friend of mine traded for it, and he agreed with me. I like it in other respects, such as looks, blade shape, lock design. But it lacked in hand feel.

So I'm curious, if anyone else on this forum who has owned or owns the knife, can chime in with their opinion.

P.S. no flame wars, please. That is not my intention or desire. Keep it as objective as possible as I ask for your opinion :p But in all seriousness, please. I do like some of Benchmades designs and dislike some Spyderco designs. We all have opinions, and that's all I'm sharing and looking for. Thank you.

SpyderNut · #2

I don't own a BM 950, but I know what you mean.

As you mentioned, it's interesting to note that some knives (regardless of brand) look great in a picture or on a computer screen, but feel terribly awkward in the hand.

In my opinion, Spyderco does a fantastic job of designing primarily for the hand vs. only for the eye. (On a side note, I find the more unusal-looking Spydies more attractive than the "traditional-looking" models :D ).

DeathBySnooSnoo · #3

I often find that knives that are made to be more ergonomic are often the most uncomfortable to me. The same goes with chairs...

Take the Para2...I find it to be not very comfortable at all, but the Starmate I find very comfortable.

Mule, not very comfortable. Street Beat, very comfortable.

xceptnl · #4

Souta112` wrote:I exagerated for effect, but my point is. The ergos on that knife were atrocious for my hand, mostly the forward choil. The handle right behind the blade. Was way too wide for me personally.

Luckily, I didn't buy it :) . A friend of mine traded for it, and he agreed with me. I like it in other respects, such as looks, blade shape, lock design. But it lacked in hand feel.

So I'm curious, if anyone else on this forum who has owned or owns the knife, can chime in with their opinion.

P.S. no flameblade wars, please. That is not my intention or desire. Keep it as objective as possible as I ask for your opinion :p But in all seriousness, please. I do like some of Benchmades designs and dislike some Spyderco designs. We all have opinions, and that's all I'm sharing and looking for. Thank you.

I don't currently (nor did I in the past) own a 950 Rift. I handled one a time or three and really wanted one with the great blade shape of the 950. The handle did not fit my hand comfortably, much like you described. I did get a chance to try out the 810 Contego and found it to be much more ergonomic for my hand. I still did not purchase it despite it's positive attributes. For the money, the GB won my attention and I think was the smarter choice between the two.

TheRaven · #5

I have a 950. I find it reasonably comfortable in hand. But then everyone's hands are different.

FCM415 · #6

I do like some BM's but I can't stand the Rift, the ergos, bladeshape, funky overall look... Def a preference issue as there are those who really like it. Contego, the bigger brother, I like more but is a little too big and I'll take my 710's over it.

Invective · #7

DeathBySnooSnoo wrote:I often find that knives that are made to be more ergonomic are often the most uncomfortable to me. The same goes with chairs...

Take the Para2...I find it to be not very comfortable at all, but the Starmate I find very comfortable.

Mule, not very comfortable. Street Beat, very comfortable.

It sounds like you don't like the humped blades. I'm the same way, my favorite Spydies are the Yo2, Native, and Cento4, and I got rid of my 204P PM2 and XHP Millies because I couldn't get over the hump. I like my thumb to rest on the spine, not jut into the air like the humpy Spydies do. It's undortunate because I really wanted to like those knives too.