Benchmade vs Spyderco

[Hawk]

No vote - I have to recuse myself.

Spydie Collector's Club for around 7 years and have a signed copy of the book. I could not make a reasonable claim of objectivity.

Don't own any Benchmade's but they look nice. I had a couple of Elishewitz knives once and Benchmade seemed to do an excellent job of staying close to the prototype.

I tend to agree that Spydies have a good "bang for the buck" ratio but I'm seeing more and more high end stuff from them - enough that my perception of them being priced under Benchmade is taking a hit. The Hossom Forester that just showed up was a bit of a surprise - 'course large fixed blade Spydie's are surprising quite apart from the price.

 

[.cheese.]

I didn't realize Spydercos are usually lesser priced than Benchmades. My local store must be overpriced. I got the impression they were comparable price-wise.

I don't mind the 154cm that Benchmade uses, but I have to admit I do really like their S30v RSK Griptillian (although I found out the hard way that S30v will do a heck of a lot more damage to you than some other steels if you slip while sharpening - ie: a trip to the ER needing 5 stiches last Saturday). I had never slipped before, but even at a the low amount of pressure and slow speed, that thing went right down to the bone. Didn't hurt. Just bled a lot. I'll definitely be sure to be more careful from now on.

Anyways though. I do like my Benchmades, and there is only one Spyderco that I like. I saw it in a magazine. I think it's called the "Captain".

I was curious what the consensus was, and there seems to be a preference for Benchmade, but it's not really a landslide from what it seems.

I should have put a "no comment" option. Sorry about that.

 

[Hawk]

I don't think Spyderco is actually better priced than Benchmade, more like the general perception of their market was defined by the Delica, Endura, Rescue and more recently, Byrd.

If they're volume consisted primarily of the above, the "per unit" price could be well under Benchmade's. If one simply took an average of all their knife prices, where a Hossom Forrester or Kopa was equally weighted to the Delicas, Spyderco might be even with Benchmade's pricing or slightly higher.

 

[sonofodin]

Prefer Benchmades, but ONLY because their designs please me more and it seems to me that all spydies look almost alike. I have a blk Cara Cara and a Benchmade Monochrome that I carry every day. I use the CC for chores, Save the N690 Benchmade for when I need a knife to be a razor.