powernoodle
Power Member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2004
- Messages
- 11,968
I had a little fun comparing the Kershaw Cryo and Spyderco Techno, so thought I might take a quick look at the same-but-different Benchmade 810 Contego and 950 Rift.
The 810 Contego hit the market not too long ago and appears to have been very well received. It falls into the Benchmade "Black Class", which is geared toward public safety, emergency/fire/rescue and military users - though I suspect that the vast majority end up in the pockets of EDC users. The Contego is a big 5.9 oz. piece of folding knife sporting very aggressively milled G10 scales, Benchmade's famous Axis lock, and a big slab of CPM-M4 steel wearing a reverse tanto haircut. From the outset, there is no denying the Contego's mission in life. From the deep sculpting of the large G10 scales to the sharp and aggressive millwork, the 810 seeks to give you traction and control. And that it does. The milled stainless liners also sport serious jimping on both sides of the knife as does the stainless backspacer. In that regard, I found the Contego's scales to be much too aggressively milled, and are in fact quite sharp. In a bare hand, its a pain in the most literal sense. With leather work gloves, it translates to lots of traction. With my bare hand, I could barely work my way through a few 1" saplings before the pain brought an end to the fun. The upside, though, is that that 30 seconds of sandpapering will easily round off those sharp edges and make the knife much easier to handle with a bare hand.
810 Contego, bottom, with 950 Rift. The Latin Contego means to cover, shield, protect, defend.
The 810 also sports a deep carry clip and carbide glass breaker. I am becoming a fan of deep clips, not so much because it keeps the knife from scratching car doors and banging into door frames, but simply because I don't much like to display everything I'm carrying for the whole world to see. Powernoodle likes to fly under the radar, and the deep clip and black coloration forward that goal. Though I have not tried the glass breaker and probably never will, I'm glad its there. On my 810, that carbide tip was fractured on arrival, but Benchmade kindly paid for UPS in both directions and had the knife back to me in a couple of weeks. During the interim, I so missed the knife that I bought its smaller brother - the 950 Rift.
Note the jimping on the Contego's liners, top, which rise above the G10.
And what is the 950 Rift? It too is a member of Benchmade's Black Class, but without the aggressive countenance of the sinister 810 Contego. It is noteworthy that the Rift's 3.7" 154CM stainless blade is only marginally smaller than that of the big 810, but folds into a handle that is quite a bit smaller than its counterpart and is much less aggressive in just about every aspect. It comes in at around 4.8 oz. The Rift also wears milled G10 scales, but without the hand-grabbing profile and with less aggressive milling. While I did round over the sharp shoulders of the Rift (and the entire 810) with some sandpaper, the G10 was otherwise much easier on the bare hand and quite a joy to use.
Stainless Rift with black Contego. Not much difference in length or usable cutting surface.
It is most noteworthy as well that in the bare hand, the 950 Rift is still exceedingly grippy and ergonomic despite not having the 810's hand-grabbing profiled. While there is no jimping found on the knife, the handle fills the hand well and locks in tight, and unlike some knives I have a high degree of confidence that the Rift will stay in the hand even during hard usage. And as for retention, and somewhat surprisingly given its intended usage, the Rift has a small lanyard hole whereas the Contego has none.
Deep clip of the Contego, left, with the Rift's standard phallus clip on right. Each, unfortunately, is tip up only. Note the different textures of the G10 under the clips, which extend the length of the scales. See also the jimping on the Contego's stainless backspacer.
Contego's carbide glass breaker, which is absent on the Rift.
The Rift also can be had with two-tone scales, above, which I don't really care for. A stainless or black blade is also available. As for the Contego, the M4 blade - which may be prone to corrosion - gets a Cerakoat finish in clear or black.
Note the milling of the swedge, and its effect on spine thickness. The Contego's blade is marginally thicker at 0.15" vs. the Rift's 0.11".
Contego:
pros: big blade, serious traction, deep clip, killer fast deployment and Axis lock
cons: overly aggressive milling of the G10 (easily corrected); takes up a good deal of vertical pocket space, especially with the deep clip
Rift:
pros: big blade, better size and ergos for EDC, killer fast deployment and axis lock; basically the same blade of the Contego in a more manageable package, and superior for EDC
cons: none
I'd like to see the Rift adopt the Contego's deep clip and glass breaker. Aside from that, were I to pick only one for EDC (God forbid) it would be the Rift, as you get almost all of the Contego's big blade in a much friendlier form factor. For the public safety guy or working man, the Contego rises to the top for its insane traction in a gloved hand.
The Rift can be found for around $125 if you search a little. The Contego seems to be going in the $150 - $160 range, more or less.
The 810 Contego hit the market not too long ago and appears to have been very well received. It falls into the Benchmade "Black Class", which is geared toward public safety, emergency/fire/rescue and military users - though I suspect that the vast majority end up in the pockets of EDC users. The Contego is a big 5.9 oz. piece of folding knife sporting very aggressively milled G10 scales, Benchmade's famous Axis lock, and a big slab of CPM-M4 steel wearing a reverse tanto haircut. From the outset, there is no denying the Contego's mission in life. From the deep sculpting of the large G10 scales to the sharp and aggressive millwork, the 810 seeks to give you traction and control. And that it does. The milled stainless liners also sport serious jimping on both sides of the knife as does the stainless backspacer. In that regard, I found the Contego's scales to be much too aggressively milled, and are in fact quite sharp. In a bare hand, its a pain in the most literal sense. With leather work gloves, it translates to lots of traction. With my bare hand, I could barely work my way through a few 1" saplings before the pain brought an end to the fun. The upside, though, is that that 30 seconds of sandpapering will easily round off those sharp edges and make the knife much easier to handle with a bare hand.
810 Contego, bottom, with 950 Rift. The Latin Contego means to cover, shield, protect, defend.
The 810 also sports a deep carry clip and carbide glass breaker. I am becoming a fan of deep clips, not so much because it keeps the knife from scratching car doors and banging into door frames, but simply because I don't much like to display everything I'm carrying for the whole world to see. Powernoodle likes to fly under the radar, and the deep clip and black coloration forward that goal. Though I have not tried the glass breaker and probably never will, I'm glad its there. On my 810, that carbide tip was fractured on arrival, but Benchmade kindly paid for UPS in both directions and had the knife back to me in a couple of weeks. During the interim, I so missed the knife that I bought its smaller brother - the 950 Rift.
Note the jimping on the Contego's liners, top, which rise above the G10.
And what is the 950 Rift? It too is a member of Benchmade's Black Class, but without the aggressive countenance of the sinister 810 Contego. It is noteworthy that the Rift's 3.7" 154CM stainless blade is only marginally smaller than that of the big 810, but folds into a handle that is quite a bit smaller than its counterpart and is much less aggressive in just about every aspect. It comes in at around 4.8 oz. The Rift also wears milled G10 scales, but without the hand-grabbing profile and with less aggressive milling. While I did round over the sharp shoulders of the Rift (and the entire 810) with some sandpaper, the G10 was otherwise much easier on the bare hand and quite a joy to use.
Stainless Rift with black Contego. Not much difference in length or usable cutting surface.
It is most noteworthy as well that in the bare hand, the 950 Rift is still exceedingly grippy and ergonomic despite not having the 810's hand-grabbing profiled. While there is no jimping found on the knife, the handle fills the hand well and locks in tight, and unlike some knives I have a high degree of confidence that the Rift will stay in the hand even during hard usage. And as for retention, and somewhat surprisingly given its intended usage, the Rift has a small lanyard hole whereas the Contego has none.
Deep clip of the Contego, left, with the Rift's standard phallus clip on right. Each, unfortunately, is tip up only. Note the different textures of the G10 under the clips, which extend the length of the scales. See also the jimping on the Contego's stainless backspacer.
Contego's carbide glass breaker, which is absent on the Rift.
The Rift also can be had with two-tone scales, above, which I don't really care for. A stainless or black blade is also available. As for the Contego, the M4 blade - which may be prone to corrosion - gets a Cerakoat finish in clear or black.
Note the milling of the swedge, and its effect on spine thickness. The Contego's blade is marginally thicker at 0.15" vs. the Rift's 0.11".
Contego:
pros: big blade, serious traction, deep clip, killer fast deployment and Axis lock
cons: overly aggressive milling of the G10 (easily corrected); takes up a good deal of vertical pocket space, especially with the deep clip
Rift:
pros: big blade, better size and ergos for EDC, killer fast deployment and axis lock; basically the same blade of the Contego in a more manageable package, and superior for EDC
cons: none
I'd like to see the Rift adopt the Contego's deep clip and glass breaker. Aside from that, were I to pick only one for EDC (God forbid) it would be the Rift, as you get almost all of the Contego's big blade in a much friendlier form factor. For the public safety guy or working man, the Contego rises to the top for its insane traction in a gloved hand.
The Rift can be found for around $125 if you search a little. The Contego seems to be going in the $150 - $160 range, more or less.
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