Benchmade vs Spyderco, BM is the better value!

To each their own, both companies put out great products. Personally I have never had Benchmade ask me where my knife was purchased and never had an issue about voiding warranty due to knife was being disassembled. Like many, I sharpen all of my own knives and do not use their lifesharp service but it is nice to know its there if I ever needed it. I personally like both companies and have have no major issues with either. Both have their pros and cons. We need great companies like these to keep the competition high which forces the makers to keep raising the bar to put out the next HOF knife.
 
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One Spyderco, two Benchmades. All three great knives and I am happy with them all. Nice to have variety and many good brands to choose from.
 
Warranties are not free. Nothing is. Every "bonus" stated on this thread is fixed into the prices we pay... And we do pay whether we use them or not.
 
Equal but different. As my son said many years ago when he was a toddler, "They're both better than each other!"
 
I'd give Spyderco the nod for fit and finish per dollar spent, but I think the mini grip gives you more bang for your buck than the delica. I've owned top dog in both categories, zdp delica and Ritter mini m390.
 
Just got done reading this thread. This past 3 months I have made a few purchases in both brands.
civilian
delica 4
endura 4- jigged bone damascus
stretch 2 - damascus
dragonfly
a couple pm2 and a military

940
940-1 - first production run
rift
griptillian
nitrous stryker - first production run

yes, i went a little blade crazy leading up to the holidays. Still am on a buying streak at that. Here is my opinion on both brands (take with a small grain of salt). Both produce some really nice knives. For EDC, i lean more to spyderco than BM, except for the 940 model. The 940, especially the 940-1 is a beautiful edc knife and wins through this lineup for most everyday situations. The stretch, pm2, and military are my next go to knives from what i have purchased. The pm2 especially. I got burple and it is my favorite so far and receives a lot of pocket time.

For collectibility, I like the sprint runs of spyderco, but i dislike the lack of serial numbers. The benchmade runs that are serial numbered on the blade give bm the edge (something that simple won me over and I can easily justify an extra 25$ for it). The downside is, I pause and hesitate on EDCing my serial numbered knives.

Best bang for your buck, or better value as this thread brings up, has to go to spyderco. It is an easy winner imo. For which brand has the best 1 knife for me, it would be the bm 940-1. For collectibility, I go toward BM as well. What knife brand will I stick with in 2016? probably both.

I will give spyderco another nod, but this I won't use in my evaluation. I do like the fact that they try some weird off the wall designs. This is why I bought the civilian. I really do want a spyderco reverse as well. Looking through the 2016 catalog, the nirvana looks amazing and would like to compare it to my sebenzas. I do need a southard. I do think they swing and miss a lot though. I got to handle a rubicon and it just was not for me.

As far as price rising. This is a real big issue imo for both brands. They are in a good spot right now, but if BM moves up another 10%, i probably will not be buying more BMs. My reasoning is simple. I also have CRKs, Hinderers, Medfords, Striders in my collection. This is the next step up in cost imo. If BM and Spyderco jump into that lineup, it would be really hard for me to keep purchasing their brand, knowing I could get a Sebenza or a XM 18 for like 100$ or 120$ more. Spyderco and BM need to be in the 100 - 150$ (not their delica / grip) to really keep my interest. Being in the 200 range is pushing it. The 250 range starts to upset me a bit and anything past that, I would go for something else.

If anyone is interested, I could rant longer and get into more details, but I think I said too much and am sounding preachy. Both are great brands, but any knife comes down to what you want and like. I have different tastes for my needs. My needs are very light everyday tasks mostly. Would I use a 940-1 as a hard user? no way. To peel an apple? Best apple peeler I own. No lie.
 
It just boils down to what a person likes.

I like Axis locks because I am left handed, so I lean toward Benchmade. Only because of the lock.

Spyderco knives are more consistent in sharpness and centering in my experience.

Once the price goes over 200.00 on either brand, I start looking at my other options and neither company gets my cash.
 
I like them both great products made by great people!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
This is an almost 2 year old thread. Also notice how the OP never came back to it after multiple people called out his straw man argument.
 
^ just never came back after multiple people called out his straw man argument, or never came back because multiple people called out as a straw man argument?

Benchmade warranty offers tremendous value far greater than that of Spyderco, arguably greater than the value of both a Spyderco knife and it's accompanying warranty.

BM warranty spans the life of the knife, not the life of the original owner, as mentioned. It covers any defects not considered normal wear and damages resulting from disassembly, misuse, or abuse. It covers knives disassembled, but not the damages which may result from. Spyderco warranty lasts only the useful life of the knife,undefined; it also has a far greater limitations to its warranty, basically repair is at its discretion. Big difference. Huge difference.

Any BM knife I own, I'm pretty confident will outlast my lifetime and perhaps a couple more, provided the knife is used as a knife. Perpetual. Forever. That's confidence in its product very few companies have and offer. Medical supplies. Military. Surefire.

A person can get by with just a single BM for life. 1 knife.

That's a lot of value. Huge.
 
wensynch said:
^ just never came back after multiple people called out his straw man argument, or never came back because multiple people called out as a straw man argument?

Benchmade warranty offers tremendous value far greater than that of Spyderco, arguably greater than the value of both a Spyderco knife and it's accompanying warranty.

BM warranty spans the life of the knife, not the life of the original owner, as mentioned. It covers any defects not considered normal wear and damages resulting from disassembly, misuse, or abuse. It covers knives disassembled, but not the damages which may result from. Spyderco warranty lasts only the useful life of the knife,undefined; it also has a far greater limitations to its warranty, basically repair is at its discretion. Big difference. Huge difference.

Any BM knife I own, I'm pretty confident will outlast my lifetime and perhaps a couple more, provided the knife is used as a knife. Perpetual. Forever. That's confidence in its product very few companies have and offer. Medical supplies. Military. Surefire.

A person can get by with just a single BM for life. 1 knife.

That's a lot of value. Huge.
Click to expand...

I buy knives to cut stuff with right now today.

I don't buy knives on the premise that someday after I'm dead someone else can go out and use them as a prybar and get a free knife out of the deal. That seems like a bad plan from the word go.

PS: Medical supplies are not perpetual items. They have a strict shelf life. Good luck!
 
wensynch said:
Benchmade warranty offers tremendous value far greater than that of Spyderco, arguably greater than the value of both a Spyderco knife and it's accompanying warranty.
Click to expand...

Indeed, BM does free sharpening and it's $5 from Spyderco, BM gives out free pocket clips Spyderco charges $7 plus shipping, BM does blade replacement and free spa treatment and I don't think Spyderco have those services.

I used BM warranty one time for a Contego with a broken window breaker, customer service emailed me an OVERNIGHT FEDEX LABEL for return shipping, few days later I got the Contego back with a new window breaker replaced.

I used Spyderco warranty once, sent in my GRAIL knife Shabaria which developed vertical blade play and paid for shipping plus $5 for sharpening. I got the blade back a couple of weeks later, not only was the vertical blade play not fixed but the knife after their $5 sharpening service did not even slice printer paper. I was pissed off that they couldn't fix my favorite knife of all time and charged me for a sharpening service but returned a dull knife. I ended up selling my Shabaria for $90 and lost out on about $100 from the price I paid.
 
I've only ever needed to send one knife back to Spyderco. They sent it back fixed, sharper than when it was new, and they gave my fiver back.

Can't ask for any more than that. To top it off if I do have a problem I can get the owner of Spyderco on here posting in the clear to answer my questions. If my knife is a problem I know he'll say put his name on it and send it to him.

Which other production knives can you do that with?
 
if spyderco was 1/2 as good to its customers as benchmade is, i wouldnt have a broken endura lying on my counter.... they even offered me a replacement at a discount of %20 more than any retailer to replace it :thumbup: awesome whooooo yaaaaayyyyy
 
I really really like a lot of BenchMade designs. Unfortunately the build quality has been much more miss of late than a hit. I've gone to 3-4 different local to semi-local stores to handle BM models first. Looked at the Valet, Megumi, Sequel, G10 mini Grips, 940, Nakamora(sp?), and a few others. None passed a basic fit and finish test. I'm not looking for perfection, just no blade play, close to centered blade, good grind, and an action that is somewhat smooth and free that feels like it will break in. Not one I handled met those. I've tried to spend money on them but they just aren't being well built today.

I think a lot of BM designs look better than Spyderco designs. But, my Delica is perfectly centered, opens smooth, and locks up tight. My Chaparral is an absolute gen in every way. The only thing I like more than that Chaparral is my Slysz Bowie which is out of this world good. Comparing that to the Proxy I bought recently and the build quality is in two different worlds for only being $40-$50 apart. I like the Proxy and it's the best fit BM I own but it feels incredibly unrefined next the the Slysz Bowie.

I would be thrilled if BM stepped it's quality up. I would enjoy about 6-8 of their models of built well. I simply haven't found much recently that passes even a basic QC test. Spyderco seems to rely that their knives won't need warranty work and price around that. BM is currently running a great warranty service to cover mediocre initial quality control. Two different approaches that both work. I'll keep carrying Spydercos until I find a BM I like built to Spyderco quality. I really am a Benchmade fan that simply has been let down the last handful of times I tried to buy a knife.
 
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