Buying advice

Which knife to buy

  • Bailout m4

    Votes: 14 41.2%

  • Boker f3 titanium s35vn

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Spyderco smock s30v

    Votes: 20 58.8%
  • Total voters
    34
N

New Guy

Joined
Sep 16, 2020
Messages
16
Hi guys,
I'm kinda in a hurry and need your help deciding.
Just as a background I've been collecting and using blades for 20 years now and got spydercoscold steels ect some titanium folders that I anodized ect.
Currently, I am stuck between which knife I should pick up out of three.
Which is in your opinions the right one for the price and why.

The 3 options are 170 € for a benchmade bailout in M4 aluminium, 130€ for the spyderco Smock s30v or 60 for a boker f3 titanium s35vn.
Please help me decide.
Sirs thanksalot in advance and I love this forum:)
 
Smock was my vote, not a super steel but hollow grind from Spyderco is nice and slicey.
 
Boker is a tad boring, Benchmade has more of the fidget factor and the Smock is the best of the bunch looks wise well at least in my opinion.

I'd go Smock but it really depends on what you want long term.
 
Why are you in a hurry? Are you standing in a knife shop, with pocketful of cash?

I'll be the outlier... the smock is the last of those three that I would purchase (even if it came at a significant discount). While I was initially interested, the more I looked, the less I liked.
 
Hi guys,
First na foremost Thank you for all the quick answers!
When I wrote that I was in a hurry I still was at work and my break was almost over, so I couldn't elaborate too much xD Also I have a limited time window since I am in contact with the 3 different sellers on a Basar Platform and they all could be gone any moment.

I have too many knives to use really,which is fine since it's a collection, but still I buy more careful nowadays to not only fill the hole in my heart, like a lot of knife guys do, I'm certain, but to add something different and useful with plans to slim the numbers down and keeping the good stuff.
I have always leaned towards larger folders, while still appreciating more compact ones, which is why I almost have no under 3 inch folders.
My current rotation includes, a custom s35vn PM2 with Micarta handle, a customized Real Steel Megalodon titanium, a rex 45 manix 2, a customized kizer gemini titanium, a cold steel broken skull in xhp, rex 45 custom shaman, my old trusty lightweight manix 2 in bd1 and a fox black bird bastinelli.
Since almost all of them have rather delicate tips I wanted a high quality edc with a more robust tip to maybe whittle with it and of course EDC tasks plus cooking outwards, where I can't bring my kitchen knives.




The Bailout looks a bit different from my usual taste, I don't have a single M4 blade in my collection as well as a Tanto and I like the handles colour. It supposedly slicey and a great pocket carry, don't know about ergos.
I only have one other benchmade, the 940 1 in green aluminium and I love it in a way, but it's more a knife to mainly have inside you pocket than to use for an extended period of time.
I like the bladeshape in itself, but it's too slim of a profile for the edge geometry to 'cut it' like It could and should for that price. Also I have heard and read horror stories about the damn Omega spring, didn't experience any myself but never carried the Osborne for too long. Also benchmade prices are ridiculous so if I was ever gonna buy one this is it, but as a company they have issues with QC.

The Smock is a weird one and I love spyderco, but I am sceptical about the handle ergonomics and if the button lock could disengage while gripping it tightly. S30V kinda sucks at this price point and I sadly think about the 20cv sprint run, geez thanks Sprinterco , but edge geometry is probably good and it will cut and slice well enough.
Also I am unsure if they will ever do them again, cause the creator Smock is supposed to be a dick or something so future collabs are uncertain, this might be the last opportunity. Even though the button lock seems ingenious to put into more knives and I am sure to love that feature about it. I hate stupid handles and the.smock's kinda looks like one and it's another "black plastic" knife superficially.

The boker honestly is just cheap for the materials and it has a short but strong blade with a titanium handle that I could anodize as well.

Thanks for all you Input! I've got a feeling, I'll write something on here more often. If someone's interested I can post my lame insta channel with the few knife pics I actually uploaded.
 
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hhmoore said:
Why are you in a hurry? Are you standing in a knife shop, with pocketful of cash?

I'll be the outlier... the smock is the last of those three that I would purchase (even if it came at a significant discount). While I was initially interested, the more I looked, the less I liked.
Click to expand...

Hey , no it's like an online Marketplace and I have to haggle with them, so the offering is limited.
For me it's more about the smock or the Bailout, but I don't know how reliable the axislock will be over the years and how much better the Smock's QC is. I felt like you about the smock and the bailout at first, but now I'm kinda interested in some of the aspects, but ultimately I am asking myself if I will ever see a button compression lock again on any knife and if it was a one and done.
 
I would go with the Smock. Button locks are fun. The bailout is a slim/lightweight EDC. would be the clear #2 without any consideration for the Boker.
 
You've already got 3 Spydies. If you want to go against the grain and still get a top quality knife. The Bailout is the way to go. Plus, the tip on that style of tanto in M4 is going to be damn robust. The lack of reliability on the Axis is WAY overblown. Also, I believe Benchmade will send out replacement omega springs if the owner is overseas. So even if one spring breaks. The other should hold up until a replacement arrives.
 
NorthernSouthpaw said:
You've already got 3 Spydies. If you want to go against the grain and still get a top quality knife. The Bailout is the way to go. Plus, the tip on that style of tanto in M4 is going to be damn robust. The lack of reliability on the Axis is WAY overblown. Also, I believe Benchmade will send out replacement omega springs if the owner is overseas. So even if one spring breaks. The other should hold up until a replacement arrives.
Click to expand...
I get where you are coming from, but I haggled the Smock guy down even further, so it's "only" a 100 bucks compared to the Bailouts 170, if it was closer I'd pick the Bailout no questions asked.
Also it's a knife still in production that sells quite well and I could still get it later on. Even though the Superfreak would be cheaper new, but it's a bigger knife class to me.
But I never really looked at the bailout before, just didn't like the bugout because it feels a bit lost in my hands and didn't end up keeping it. So maybe I have to order one though Amazon to take a look at it and decide after, the Smock I can't get anywhere else. Thanks for everyone's 2 and more Cents,it helped out a lot .
And on a side note:DDoes anyone from Europe have experiences with BM guarantee services before? I'd really liked to know how they behave outside of the us.
 
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New Guy said:
And on a side note:Does anyone form Europe has experience with BM guarantee services before? I'd really liked to know how they behave outside of the us.
Click to expand...

I'm from eastern Europe and BM warranty here is very bad, especially recently. I stopped buying anything with axis years ago, after 2nd broken spring, but I helped a few people with warranty emails and english translations.
10 and more years ago they were sending replacement parts without problems, then they started insisting you must send the knife to US and pay for shipping. But if you tried a few times, explained how expensive and long it is and got redirected to more helpful warranty employee, you sometimes could get omegas shipped.

Now since the virus they almost never respond to emails, and if they do, it is only copy paste phone number and hours when to call them. If you call, they say they can fix it if it is older model, but you must send it to US and pay for shipping and insurance, and they cannot send parts to you and there is no other option. If it is current model, go to your local store or importer.
Local store also isn't very helpful. If you bought the knife from them and it is still under 1 year store warranty, they fix it for free. You must still send it and pay for shipping 1 way, but at least it isn't international. It usually takes 2 weeks to have it back. If you don't have still valid store warranty and they didn't ignore your emails, they direct you back to BM central or sometimes offer to sell you omegas if they have enough for around 10-15 euro for a set. But they say you probably will void BM warranty if you disassemble and replace yourself.
So it is bad, but not much different than usual process here. Once the store warranty ends, you are left with nothing and forget these lifetime service claims some companies promise on boxes.
 
O
Omnius said:
I'm from eastern Europe and BM warranty here is very bad, especially recently. I stopped buying anything with axis years ago, after 2nd broken spring, but I helped a few people with warranty emails and english translations.
10 and more years ago they were sending replacement parts without problems, then they started insisting you must send the knife to US and pay for shipping. But if you tried a few times, explained how expensive and long it is and got redirected to more helpful warranty employee, you sometimes could get omegas shipped.

Now since the virus they almost never respond to emails, and if they do, it is only copy paste phone number and hours when to call them. If you call, they say they can fix it if it is older model, but you must send it to US and pay for shipping and insurance, and they cannot send parts to you and there is no other option. If it is current model, go to your local store or importer.
Local store also isn't very helpful. If you bought the knife from them and it is still under 1 year store warranty, they fix it for free. You must still send it and pay for shipping 1 way, but at least it isn't international. It usually takes 2 weeks to have it back. If you don't have still valid store warranty and they didn't ignore your emails, they direct you back to BM central or sometimes offer to sell you omegas if they have enough for around 10-15 euro for a set. But they say you probably will void BM warranty if you disassemble and replace yourself.
So it is bad, but not much different than usual process here. Once the store warranty ends, you are left with nothing and forget these lifetime service claims some companies promise on boxes.
Click to expand...
Ok, that doesn't sound too promising to be honest. I think it's good I'm going for that Smock and maybe am gonna look up how expensive omega springs are to buy separately.
 
New Guy said:
Hi guys,
I'm kinda in a hurry and need your help deciding.
Just as a background I've been collecting and using blades for 20 years now and got spydercoscold steels ect some titanium folders that I anodized ect.
Currently, I am stuck between which knife I should pick up out of three.
Which is in your opinions the right one for the price and why.

The 3 options are 170 € for a benchmade bailout in M4 aluminium, 130€ for the spyderco Smock s30v or 60 for a boker f3 titanium s35vn.
Please help me decide.
Sirs thanksalot in advance and I love this forum:)
Click to expand...

60 for a Boker F3 Ti? If that's accurate then that's the best deal there for sure.
 
So, sadly I have to come back here in search of help. The Smock I bought sadly had a chipped edge so I got the guy to take it back and refund me.
So now I wanted to go directly for the bailout, but then came across this: http://www.viper.it/en/gentleman&collezione/katla.html. It actually looks kinda awesome, is a voxnaes design with a m390 blade and so many handle options, that marbled carbon is sexy af. How is m4 compared to m390 generally speaking? I also think about in the pocket Vs in the hand. The bailout seems so slim and will be instantly scratched by my keys and the voxnaes seems more robust ,even though it's a (admittedly thick) liner lock compared to the supposedly stronger axislock (besides the omega spring debacle).

Thanks in advance for your input, I'm interested in your opinions about the katla handle options as well.
 
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m4 is tougher, but m390 is more rust resistant. Both are what most consider a "super steel". If you are new to the hobby the differences are not going to really make a difference. Except that m4 can be a bit more difficult to sharpen. The tip is going to be significantly tougher on the Bailout.
Considering the handle materials. The Bailout will actually mark up less in the pocket. The Katla definitely has nicer materials though.
You really can't go wrong with any of the handle choices. For a true everyday carry, where this would basically be your ONLY knife. My choice would be the micarta handles. They stay grippy when wet, but look and feel better than g10. Also they take on more personality as they absorb some oils from your hands. If your set on the marble CF I's get the textures ones.

Again, you got good taste. Can't go wrong with either choice.

P.S.
Don't let one bad knife sour you. If you really liked the Smock, you will likely get a good sample a second time. Spyderco has a great rep for a reason.
 
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