Spyderco Forums

Great color, new steel to try, it looks very attractive at the price. Well, I kept thinking I really shouldn't spend the money on this, and then finally convinced myself I deserved it, went to put in my pre-order a few days ago and too late. Oh well. Should have known. Maybe I can get on the list as an alternate...

So why didn't the M390 version sell out this quickly? The Smurf blue color would be my guess.

Price.

I would say a combo of both price and color. It was expensive, and ugly.

DeathBySnooSnoo wrote:I would say a combo of both price and color. It was expensive, and ugly.

The purpose of orange is to avoid losing the knife. Beyond that bright colors like smurf blue are "fun". IMO bright colors and high end knives don't work well together. The higher price was a detriment to the M390 and that combined with the bright color made for a bigger problem.

I think there are exceptions. For instance IMO the quirky looks of the Dodo go well with bright colors.

Price mostly, I think, then color. Personally, blue is arguably a better outdoor hi-viz color in the Northeast where I live. During some parts of the year there are red, orange and yellow leaves on the ground, and orange doesn't necessarily stand out that well. Blue, on the other hand, is pretty, well, unnatural, and therefore pretty easy to spot just about all year. :cool:

Sequimite wrote:The purpose of orange is to avoid losing the knife. Beyond that bright colors like smurf blue are "fun". IMO bright colors and high end knives don't work well together. The higher price was a detriment to the M390 and that combined with the bright color made for a bigger problem.

I think there are exceptions. For instance IMO the quirky looks of the Dodo go well with bright colors.

There may have been some uncertainty about the dealer with the blue Para 2 as well. The blue was my first order from Bentoboxshop. My expierience was good, but I still prefer vendors that have an actual address and phone number on the websites. Some folks, self included, may have been a bit uneasy about Bento due to this fact.

I would fathom a guess that most knife buyers are more familiar with Knifeworks than Bento.

I would also agree with price. The color thing can swing both ways - for those folks that don't like the blue, there are probably an equal number that don't like the green. Sounds like a poll waiting to happen...

Bento Box Shop Blue M390 Para 2: Love the color, love the steel, don't particularly love the dealer (lack of product and contact info on the site), hate the price (which is probably the main reason it didn't sell out).

KnifeWorks Green CTS-204P Para 2: Love the color, love the steel, love the dealer, love the price. Easy to see why it sold out.

in my opinion it's the dealer, they are known to charge a hefty premium price on every knife listed on their website, their customer service sucks as well in my personal experience. in addition to that, for folks living in CA like me, we need to pay tax on top and I do think they charge more than it costs for shipping (not to mention automatically adding insurance for you), making the final price for this particular knife over $200, and it's only a g-10 handle knife. if you compare its value with the knifeworks M390 milie, you should know what I'm talking about. I would be really disappointed to see spyderco give bento another exclusive that I want in the future...

again, only my personal opinion

jabba359 wrote:Bento Box Shop Blue M390 Para 2: Love the color, love the steel, don't particularly love the dealer (lack of product and contact info on the site), hate the price (which is probably the main reason it didn't sell out).

KnifeWorks Green CTS-204P Para 2: Love the color, love the steel, love the dealer, love the price. Easy to see why it sold out.

This is soooo true! If the the blue one was about $40 or so less, I probably would have one anyway though!! :D

jabba359 wrote:Bento Box Shop Blue M390 Para 2: Love the color, love the steel, don't particularly love the dealer (lack of product and contact info on the site), hate the price (which is probably the main reason it didn't sell out).

KnifeWorks Green CTS-204P Para 2: Love the color, love the steel, love the dealer, love the price. Easy to see why it sold out.

Bento Box Shop should take note from Knife Works this is why Knife Works has such a loyal following. I know Bento Box Shop is a small shop but their prices are very high this is the reason their Sprint Runs are still available. Exclusive Sprint Run well I guess if you really want it you’re going to dish out the cash.

GMAN wrote:Bento Box Shop should take note from Knife Works this is why Knife Works has such a loyal following. I know Bento Box Shop is a small shop but their prices are very high this is the reason their Sprint Runs are still available. Exclusive Sprint Run well I guess if you really want it you’re going to dish out the cash.

Not all shops run on the same margins. A company has to sustain itself and even at $170 it's one heck of a blade compared to many others on the market.

Typically selling out in 6 days is an example of being underpriced for the market than doing it right. That is unless KW's acquired the funds on a 7 day loan from the mob. :p

The Smurf--ugly? Well of course that's a matter of opinion, but as the owner of one, I love it. You can't really tell from pictures. But in any case, it's a personal thing. Not everything has to be as dark as my soul! I have no love for BBS however, and yes, the price of the Smurf was such that I barely decided to buy it.

GMAN wrote:Bento Box Shop should take note from Knife Works this is why Knife Works has such a loyal following. I know Bento Box Shop is a small shop but their prices are very high this is the reason their Sprint Runs are still available. Exclusive Sprint Run well I guess if you really want it you’re going to dish out the cash.

I don't know how many BBS has sold - but he may be keeping the price high because he's sold enough to cover his initial investment. Everything from here out may be pure profit. I'm just speculating, of course - but I think we had a thread a while back where we did some back-of-the-envelope calculations about Sprint profitability. If I recall, we concluded that if you sponsor a Sprint run, you could end up with 100+ knives in your hands after all costs were covered. That's a little nest egg there...

TedP

jabba359 wrote:Bento Box Shop Blue M390 Para 2: Love the color, love the steel, don't particularly love the dealer (lack of product and contact info on the site), hate the price (which is probably the main reason it didn't sell out).
KnifeWorks Green CTS-204P Para 2: Love the color, love the steel, love the dealer, love the price. Easy to see why it sold out.

+1 on everything, except I do not care for blue.

Blerv wrote: Typically selling out in 6 days is an example of being underpriced for the market than doing it right.

Considering price for gray Para2, I do not think that green was under-priced. Of cause KW could sell green para2 for more, as well as CS could sell orange para2 for more, but some dealers know how to stay in business with less profit margin, probably they operate more efficiently.

:eek: the walls may have ears: I'd like to see a lower price on all sprints.

Any update on these?

From Sal, in another thread, on the blades:

sal wrote:There were some issues with the first experimental batch that Carpenter made, but problems have been sorted and and there will be some production runs out soon.

sal

Thanks!

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