Sell me on the Benchmade Bugout

[cody6268]

I'm heading out to my local knife store in a few days. I've had my brain set on "something from Spyderco, maybe a SPY-27 Native 5". But, I also learned they carry the Benchmade Bugout and Mini Bugout. That threw a wrench in everything. I've been looking at that model since new.  I'm leaning more towards the Mini Bugout, as at 3.7", it is more of my size of knife. It's a featherweight, and better made than most of the inexpensive 3.75" closed lightweight lockback models from Gerber, Buck, Case, Camillus, and Schrade I have. Only one, a 3.5" closed Camillus has a clip; and most are 420HC or 440A steel.   Regular Benchmades (Mini Griptillian,Bone Collector Mini/Mini Presidio) are just too darn heavy to be an EDC.  But, I for some reason, when talking about high-end knives, usually lean more towards Spyderco.


I look at the Mini Bugout as a sweatpants knife I can count on for heavy work; kinda like most of the smaller lightweight handle lockbacks I own.

Here's what I have going for it.

Weight--1.5 ounces
 Blade steel--CPM-S30V
Size Closed--3.7" is right in my sweet spot.


And here's what not:

Deep carry clip. Those are harder for me to get at, and I'm still on the fence about them, as I kinda like them too.
Cost. Benchmade's $140 MSRP is a lot. My local knife store just says "call for price".  I am saying the latter has something to do with minimum advertised price rules, and it's likely closer to around $125; looking at prices of various online knife dealers (which my local knife store is one, and likely tries to price their stuff similarly).  The two Spydercos I'm looking at are offered in CPM-SPY27 for just a little more.

So, convince me one way or the other.

[zrxoa1]

I’d go Spyderco. I have a few Benchmades. Prefer the Spydies.

Haha


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[colt 1911]

I’ve been edc-ing a bug out for about a year now, my only gripe  is that it is very thin, feels kind of weird in the hand. Light weight good steel I’d go benchmade


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[nate j]

I own and like both Spyderco and Benchmade, though I don't have either of those particular models.  Between those two, I would go with the Benchmade, for the following reasons:

• The Mini Bugout weighs only 1.5 ounces, vs. 2.5 ounces for the Native 5, and with the Native 5 you're only getting 0.13" longer blade in exchange for being nearly 70% heavier.
• I find the "open" design of the Benchmade easier to clean that the "closed" design of the Spyderco.
• Either knife can be opened one-handed, but I would consider the Native 5 to probably be a two-hands-to-close knife, whereas the Mini Bugout would be easy to close one-handed.
• I'd love to see some quantitative data, but I feel like the AXIS lock is stronger than the lock back mechanism.