It is my opinion that Spyderco beats Benchmade on innovation, materials, design, fit and finish and value, though I think both companies fail to provide a good value with their higher-priced offerings. Their lower-priced stuff has Spyderco beating Benchmade every time, as far as I'm concerned. The Griptilian is an alright value (much worse now that many companies are offering steels like CTS-XHP and S35VN at comparable or lower prices), but that's really the only player Benchmade has in that ball park. For less than the price I paid for my S30V Griptilian, I could have gotten another PM2 or a DLC-coated Manix 2 XL with a G-10 handle instead of this Noryl GTX (which I don't mind but many others seem to hate). Objectively better knives in my book.
The only thing Benchmade has over Spyderco is the Axis lock, and Spyderco has plenty of other locks that are just as good if not better.
Spyderco might be introducing MAP pricing, but Benchmade's already got it and their prices are going up (as if they weren't way overpriced for what you get already!). This means I'm done with Benchmade, as I'm attracted to knives which give the consumer their money's worth. My gut tells me that many other knife enthusiasts have similar feelings on the matter, and I won't be surprised if Benchmade goes under in the next decade or so.
