Spyderco Forums

I think I'll go for the Bugout first, maybe the Bailout second as I'm curious as to how their 3V is treated on a folder.
Found a second hand Bug, we'll see how that goes.

ThomC wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 01, 2020 5:56 am

I think I'll go for the Bugout first, maybe the Bailout second as I'm curious as to how their 3V is treated on a folder.
Found a second hand Bug, we'll see how that goes.

I believe it was very soft. They caught a good amount of flack over it, and I think they upped the hardness, but I'm not sure (never been interested in the bugout or bailout). The new bailout has aluminum handles and m4 steel, and they do m4 well from what I've seen.

Guess this isn't an IQ type question, hey!
Yea, the Bugout is a nice little pocket knife, I own one. I don't carry it but its nice. Have a number of Spyderco's as well that come and go. All in all I think the BM's are over priced and over hyped.

PineyBoy wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:32 pm

Guess this isn't an IQ type question, hey!
Yea, the Bugout is a nice little pocket knife, I own one. I don't carry it but its nice. Have a number of Spyderco's as well that come and go. All in all I think the BM's are over priced and over hyped.

I agree. Prices keep going up, nothing really changes, same ole S30V on everything. BM has never impressed me.

The Nakamura is M390.

I generally prefer Spyderco to ZT and ZT to Benchmade, but it's not true that they are stuck on s30v any more than Spyderco is. Plenty of Benchmade offerings in M390 (I own their Ritter Collab in M390 as well as the Nakamura), 3v and 20cv.

I'm not really a BM fan, but let's at least give them a fair shake. (I deleted a counterpoint to that bit about fairness, in the interest of shiny footprints, and out of respect for Sal).

TomAiello wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 08, 2020 8:39 pm

The Nakamura is M390.

I generally prefer Spyderco to ZT and ZT to Benchmade, but it's not true that they are stuck on s30v any more than Spyderco is. Plenty of Benchmade offerings in M390 (I own their Ritter Collab in M390 as well as the Nakamura), 3v and 20cv.

I'm not really a BM fan, but let's at least give them a fair shake. (I deleted a counterpoint to that bit about fairness, in the interest of shiny footprints, and out of respect for Sal).

Shiny footprints crossed my mind as well with my post. I know they do have more offerings than S30V, but they seem to be few and far between, and always $200+.

I agree, I've got a couple ZT's now and do enjoy them. More than I thought I would...but Spyderco still reigns supreme in this price point!

Back on topic, if I had to choose a BM right now...I like that new smaller Bugout with the white grivory scales/black blade and hardware. Very sharp looking knife, and for under $140 I believe? That would be my choice if I were to ever own a sub $200 BM.

The two Benchmades I can recommend are the Presidio 2 and the Mini Presidio 2.

The Presidio 2 was why I sold the Shaman. The Mini Presidio 2 really isn't mini. Something like 3.3 inch blade. I've got the aluminium handle version of each (Well, the bronze handle M4 Shot Show version of the Mini). If you checknout the model and like it, I'd probably pick the CF Elite version that just came out. They're lighter and look good.

Not the biggest BM fan ever, either. Really into the Presidio line. Also, the grey g10 Barrage is the only assisted I like.

The only Benchmade I have my eye on is the Anthem but it is quite pricey.

The Houge Ritter RSK is also on my short list. Wouldn’t be a bad first “Benchmade”.

The Benchmade Ritter is a great little knife. I owned the s30v version and then bought the m390 when they upgraded it.

The Hogue version has been on my list for a while. I really want to support Hogue because their roots are about 10 miles from where I grew up, and because I really like that they picked up Ritter when Benchmade dropped him. I really appreciate his lobbying efforts.

> Also, the grey g10 Barrage is the only assisted I like.

I owned the Barrage and just couldn't get into it. It's just seems so heavy in my pocket.

Still loving all my Benchmades. My mini Crooked River Custom should be here Tuesday. Picked up a 940-2 the other day and I can see why it's a legendary edc knife. The super Freek has taken a spot up with my Amalgam, as have the crooked river and mini Crooked River.

And Benchmade took care of the ebay crooked river, replaced the blade free of charge, changed the cracked handle, and put a deep carry clip on for me. Was sharp, centered, and perfectly tuned out of the box. Excellent service.

Love all my knives... Its so tough to choose what to carry day to day sometimes. Maybe I need to do a 1 knife for a week challenge...

This, if you can find one on the secondary market. Fantastic lightweight 531 with S90V steel :

https://store.cuttingedgecutleryco.com/ ... 1-1901.jpg

The presidio was a brick

The griptilian is classic, but the mini's finger guard forces my grip too far back

The bug out resparked everyone's interest in BM - is CF elite stiffer?

Lots of in house designs lately, I'd love more pardue stuff

Kinda miss the classics like the area, the 690, 770 etc

I'm just saying, the mini presidio has been fantastic. Not a brick like the bigger one. Really not heavy either. 3.3ish blade with a handle you can get your whole around. Very comfortable and Idk just great. Especially this version with m4.

knivesandbooks wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 10, 2020 11:30 am

I'm just saying, the mini presidio has been fantastic. Not a brick like the bigger one. Really not heavy either. 3.3ish blade with a handle you can get your whole around. Very comfortable and Idk just great. Especially this version with m4.

Yeah I’d drive that :cool:

TkoK83Spy wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 08, 2020 8:52 pm

TomAiello wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 08, 2020 8:39 pm

The Nakamura is M390.

I generally prefer Spyderco to ZT and ZT to Benchmade, but it's not true that they are stuck on s30v any more than Spyderco is. Plenty of Benchmade offerings in M390 (I own their Ritter Collab in M390 as well as the Nakamura), 3v and 20cv.

I'm not really a BM fan, but let's at least give them a fair shake. (I deleted a counterpoint to that bit about fairness, in the interest of shiny footprints, and out of respect for Sal).

Shiny footprints crossed my mind as well with my post. I know they do have more offerings than S30V, but they seem to be few and far between, and always $200+.

I agree, I've got a couple ZT's now and do enjoy them. More than I thought I would...but Spyderco still reigns supreme in this price point!

Back on topic, if I had to choose a BM right now...I like that new smaller Bugout with the white grivory scales/black blade and hardware. Very sharp looking knife, and for under $140 I believe? That would be my choice if I were to ever own a sub $200 BM.

I really like the look of that black and white mini bugout, too. But at $136 it seems pretty overpriced to me. To put it in perspective, the equivalent-sized chap lightweight is still under $100 and you get something other than s30v. Also, I used to have a mini griptilian and I sold it after I knicked my palm twice when closing it. I rest the butt of the handle in the meat of my hand closing an axis lock, so if the tip is too close it gets me. Not a problem on the medium or larger BM models. I'd worry I might have the same issue with the mini bugout.

I bought one of my guys the mini-bugout in orange as a gift (he lives in LA and loves orange, so it seemed like a good EDC combination for him). I played with it a bit, and although it's a nice knife, the only real reason to carry it is the Axis lock in a tiny package (which is a pretty strong reason for me). If you're not a bolt/axis/CBBL person, I'm not sure it would really make sense.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Benchmade. I really like the Mini-Grip, Impel, Crooked River, AFCK, and 350 Pardue. Might get a Mini-Bugout before too long. Another BM that’s really caught my interest recently is the 601 Tengu flipper. I’m not a huge fan of flippers or knives without pocket clips, but dang, this is a sweet design:

https://www.benchmade.com/601-tengu-flipper.html

:o 551bksn-s30v

I've tried my hand at several different BM models. The following are my favorites: 705, 707, 710, 943, 960. These are either Osborne or McHenry/Williams. I still have almost all of my originals with the exception of a few high speed tool steel models that have long been sold. Lately, I have seen a few attractive models that pulled at my wallet but none were more appealing than a comparable Spydie.

I've been carrying my Nakamura for the past two weeks (I'm in California with my kids visiting my parents, so I needed a shorter blade).

I definitely like this knife. I have some nitpicks (pivot keeps loosening, BMs m390 seems to be run softer than ZT or Spyderco run similar steels), but on balance it's a really nice knife.