The 710 should have realistically been kept as a legacy product. Benchmade made the determination that revenue wise it had to get cut, and I can't argue with their findings however. I've sold a couple 710D2 models over the years for Benchmade when the right person asked what to pick, it's a top 3 knife design for me. Gotta hand it to the first Axis lock design.
I'm not getting the warm fuzzies about this release for one reason, as many other have pointed out, the price. I'm not going to pass judgement on the materials or overall quality of the knife until I handle it. But my crowned spine M390 release cost far less than that and I think customers would be well served with a fourth option, a proper 710 with a decent base steel. A legacy product if you will, and one that doesn't cost any more than it should.