Ok, I'm gonna tell you about my experiences. I love benchmade. They have been the longest lasting, and most quality knives I've ever owned. The axis lock is great, have NEVER had a problem. Although I will admit, as a perfectionist, the axis lock is hard to clean. I have owned them all. Benchmade, bear ops, Chris reeves, kershaw, gerber, spyderco, etc, and of them all, the benchmade is always on top. Beautifully made, and longest lasting compared to the others. My biggest problem with kershaw, is their speedsafe assist. The torsion bar frequently breaks, and renders the knife useless. Now I'm not saying kershaws are horrible, just that I don't like the speedsafe. Now, if you're looking for a good benchmade, there is the 890 torrent.
The torrent uses the nitrous assist, and is liner lock. I have never heard of someone breaking a nitrous assist. It is made from the ever popular 154cm stainless, which will hold a razor edge and has good rust resistance. I will be posting a full review later, and will link it here. And this knife can be had for around 97$ right now from knifeworks.com because of their current promotion on USA made knives. Wish I had waited. I've been carrying this for 7months now, putting it through as much abuse as I can think of, and there has been no damage, no noticeable wear, and has really became a hall of fame knife for me. Wish you luck with your decision, but benchmade, will always be worth the cost.
It's a whole new world.
