SOG Vulcan, or Benchmade 551 Griptillion? What yall think of the two?

B

Bergermiester

Joined
Dec 4, 2014
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I am in a perdicament... I cant decide between a benchmade 551 grip or a SOG vulcan... both are manual, have roughly the same locking mechanism, and are damn good and well built knives... What would you choose and why?

Thanks- Bergermiester


nuff said
 
Sog has some cool designs but I had two that broke on me. Both were sent back and replaced with
new. The Griptilian is far superior in every way. I choose the Grip over the other.
 
Wunderbar said:
Sog has some cool designs but I had two that broke on me. Both were sent back and replaced with
new. The Griptilian is far superior in every way. I choose the Grip over the other.
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Were they Vulcans that broke?

On topic, I had a Vulcan but sold it without ever using it. The fit and finish was great. Would have kept it. But...the damn pocket clip was way too long! So long that I could feel it move against the palm of my hand when I gripped the knife. I hated that feeling so I sold it. I could have modded a Flash or Aegis clip to fit the Vulcan but I didn't feel like exerting the energy.

I have had a couple Grips and they were great. I have just moved on to other types of knives.
 
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I'll take the sog one because of the 2'cool blade styles.to choose.from. 2 I like vg-10 steel, takes a wicked edge. Also u can get the laminated San mai steel and both drop point and tanto have beautiful grinds. Finally I just like handles, fits my hands well.
 
jfk1110 said:
I'll take the sog one because of the 2'cool blade styles.to choose.from. 2 I like vg-10 steel, takes a wicked edge. Also u can get the laminated San mai steel and both drop point and tanto have beautiful grinds. Finally I just like handles, fits my hands well.
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Ok great thanks... yeah it really has great eargonomics... love it, but i also love the benchmade.... hard choice eh?

Thanks- Bergermiester


nuff said
 
I cant say anything in the way of the SOG but I have owned a Mini grip (I have smaller tastes ok!) and I loved it (that is until I got a 940, I know its a bigger knife but it doesn't feel bigger at all!) I would go for the grip, 154 cm is an incredible steel( not to say VG-10 is bad but you can get a delica with the same steel for less $$$)
 
I haven't owned a Grip yet, but I have handled my fair share. I owned a Vulcan for 3 years (full size, drop point). It was used it as my work EDC. I used to deliver those big 5 gallon water bottles and would use the knife to stab then cut any cracked bottles so they wouldn't get cleaned & reused. It was great at that and very little else.

The blade is way too thick behind the edge making it a bad slicer, and the detent from the (Axis copycat) ARC lock was horrendous. I noticed how easily it was to open the knife without touching either the thumb studs or flipper (or as some like to say, "wrist flick"). So as a test I lightly tossed the knife folded while putting a spin on it, and the blade would deploy completely. Then there is the clip. I had it replaced around 3 times because it would get caught on something and bend badly. It's too long, and too weak. I've never had a clip on any other knife I've owned do that. From My $18 Kershaw Burst, to my $200 Brous Reloader.

If you want a knife that you can slam and power through tough material on a regular basis, the Vulcan wouldn't be the worst choice. However, if you want a true Every Day Carry knife that can take a good beating as well, go with the Grip. Also Benchmade's warranty service is top notch.
 
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NorthernSouthpaw said:
I haven't owned a Grip yet, but I have handled my fair share. I owned a Vulcan for 3 years (full size, drop point) and used it as my work EDC and it was great for what I bought it for. I used to deliver those big 5 gallon water bottles and would use the knife to stab then cut any cracked bottles so they wouldn't get cleaned & reused. It was great at that and very little else.

The blade is way too thick behind the edge making it a bad slicer, and the detent from the (Axis copycat) ARC lock was horrendous. I noticed how easily it was to open the knife without touching either the thumb studs or flipper. So as a test I lightly tossed the knife folded while putting a spin on it and the blade would deploy completely. Then there is the clip I had it replaced atround 3 times while I had it because it would get caught on something and bend badly. It's too long and too weak. I've never had a clip on any other knife I've owned do that. From My $18 Kershaw Burst, to my $200 Brous Reloader.

If you want a knife that you can slam and power through tough material on a regular basis, the Vulcan wouldn't be the worst choice. However if you wand a true Every Day Carry knife that can take a good beating as well, go with the Grip. Also Benchmade's warranty service is top notch.
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alright thank you, will do... I think the Grip will be a great choice.
 
Already owning a Vulcan and Mini Vulcan, I checked out a Mini Grip sometime later on. I guess I went into it thinking that the Grip would be a bit more "heavy duty" than the SOGs, but upon handing a few on various opportunities found that to not be the case. I thought that it would be somehow heftier or more substantial in my hand, which it was not. For my purposes, I love the look and feel of the full-sized Vulcan, and some of the complaints people have about some SOG knives - specifically the price for what you get - don't seem to hold much water when talking about VG-10 and (at the very least) "assembled" in the US.
 
Any Benchmade is better than any SOG. Have a SOG multitool and a mini vulcan that broke within two weeks of use. Not buying a ything else from SOG. I cant think of any SOG knives I would want design wise anyways.
 
I have both the Vulcan and Mini-Vulcan and like them. The Vulcan is too large for me to carry comfortably or I felt it was when I got it and then picked up the Mini-Vulcan (a year later?). They were newly released knives when I bought them. I infact bought both of them from Spencer at Blade. I have no complaints with the knife. If you use it a lot, the handle probably has some hot spots on it and I can feel the clip when I am using it very hard. I don't own any Benchmade knives as of yet. Nothing ever really turned me on.
 
I do not own any Griptilians but I have handled them and they are clearly great knives.
I presently carry a Vulcan VG10 San Mai and have no complaints. I consider SOG's high end
knives to be very well made. I can wrist open it faster than my A/O knives.
I don't think you could go wring with either choice.
 
Ulf Krogstad said:
Any Benchmade is better than any SOG. Have a SOG multitool and a mini vulcan that broke within two weeks of use. Not buying a ything else from SOG. I cant think of any SOG knives I would want design wise anyways.
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This couldn't be further from the truth. New people on the forum reading this should disregard a blanket statement such as this because it is unreasonable and myopic.

I have probably 20-25 SOG fixed blades and 0 Benchmade fix blades. Had a couple but sold them. Still have all my SOGs though.
 
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The Vulcan and Mini Vulcan are very fast wrist flippers. I just couldn't stop flipping them open when I first got them. Very sharp out of the box.

I also have one of the SOG multi-tools and I consider SOG, Victorinox, and Leatherman to be the top three.
 
I like the full Vulcan so much I have two I carry one at least 40% of the time it's not a kitchen knife slicer,But I never had any problems from cutting 50lb bags open to slicing tomatoes for lunch.
But in fairness I love the grip too but if I had to have only one it would be the Vulcan , I love the style clip point blade and VG-10 is one of my favorite steels.
Now if the could make a one with spyderco salt steel H1 I be in heaven.
 
truth-seeker said:
I like the full Vulcan so much I have two I carry one at least 40% of the time it's not a kitchen knife slicer,But I never had any problems from cutting 50lb bags open to slicing tomatoes for lunch.
But in fairness I love the grip too but if I had to have only one it would be the Vulcan , I love the style clip point blade and VG-10 is one of my favorite steels.
Now if the could make a one with spyderco salt steel H1 I be in heaven.
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My goodness. There are soooo many knives I would buy more of if they were in H1!
 
The Benchmade is a better quality knife and their customer service is really good incase anything comes up, they also maintain more of their value than a SOG as you can see on the market here, but the Japanese SOGs like the Vulcan are probably the best knives that SOG makes.
 
SOG Vulcan is the better knife. Sog customer service is top notch in my experience. No issues with detent. I think its a very good slicer for a thick strong blade. The Vulcan could stand up to hard use. Its a tank. The 420j core is very resistant to corrosion and is very tough and non brittle. Awesome ARC lock. Very smooth. San Mai steel. Grippy Handle. Deep carry pocket clip. I prefer the sog tanto. The tanto blade has great utility and strong tip. I have quite a few knives and this is one I still EDC often. Lot's of SOG haters on this forum but the Vulcan is a superb knife.
 
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