serum
for anyone waiting for this one, looks like it's finally making its way to the online retailers.
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And its no longer Elmax but 154CM.
That was enough for me to cancel my pre-order.0 -
What is this dual action axis lock? What exactly is the point of it? Either it's an auto or a manual, there is no point in having an automatic knife with a thumb stud IMO.
$225 for 154cm and G-10 scales. Wow!!0 -
How did going from Elmax to 154CM not lower the price?
I was only looking forward to a BM with elmax. Nothing else about the knife got me excited.0 -
I think it's cool, and 154CM is fine, IMO, on a work knife. But the price is out of my league.
ymmv0 -
Oh I don't think there is anything wrong with 154CM. Just not for $225. For me, what made me want to buy this one was the elmax. Ive lost all interest now. It was the only thing from the new line up I was looking forward too. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by JRaysp:
How did going from Elmax to 154CM not lower the price?
I was only looking forward to a BM with elmax. Nothing else about the knife got me excited.
We knocked $15 off the MSRP.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Trailboss:
I think it's cool, and 154CM is fine, IMO, on a work knife. But the price is out of my league.
ymmv
Nothing wrong with 154CM, but I am trying to wrap my mind around the price. 154CM w/ G-10 scales and SS liners would be in the $100 range. So a consumer would be paying $125 for this new dual action axis lock?
This isn't to rag on BM, they're my favorite knife. I just hope BM listens to their consumers to get an idea on what people think of their new products. IMO this product is greatly overpriced for what it is.0 -
it looks like a neat knife and the dual action would be if nothing else a bunch of fun to have, but I am in agreement that it's not worth the expense considering the materials it's using. 0 -
How much is the knife ???? 0 -
DJ, 3rd post (My 1st post in this thread) will answer you question. 
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Thanks ........ 0 -
Was waiting for it as well, with the new material.
Now, not so much. Not for that price.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Ekwan:
Was waiting for it as well, with the new material.
Now, not so much. Not for that price.
Yea, it's a $150 knife at best IMHO.
Now if they would have went to M390 instead....I'd have still been in.0 -
quote:Now if they would have went to M390 instead....I'd have still been in.
"STEEL-SNOB".........LOL0 -
I'll probably try to pick up a user sometime. 0 -
Yeah, I'd pop for it if it was around 150 or something.
Don't get me wrong, it looks cool as heck. But money is a bit tighter this year (and next from what I can see) and I just can't buy the latest new Kool-aide flavor anymore.0 -
I like the idea of a dual action knife. This is where knife mechanisms should be... The convenience and deployment speed of an auto that can fall back on the reliability of a manual.
Sometimes the additional dexterity needed to deploy a manual is not feasible.
I ordered one the other night with a generous discount from Benchmade (thanks for having the discount program!) and if it is the knife I think it will be, I'll probably order a few more in case it gets discontinued.
I don't mind 154CM for a blade steel. I can sharpen it when I need to, and have reasonable corrosion protection. What more do I need in a folder?0 -
quote:Originally posted by BMK Jason:quote:Originally posted by JRaysp:
How did going from Elmax to 154CM not lower the price?
I was only looking forward to a BM with elmax. Nothing else about the knife got me excited.
We knocked $15 off the MSRP.
No offense, Jason, but it was overpriced to begin with, even for Elmax. When I can get a ZT0801 with Elmax and huge titanium slabs for a handle for less than this, I have a hard time seeing the justification for the price for a 154CM knife, even with the really cool dual action.
I was looking forward to picking one of these up, but at that price, I may as well get the ZT0801 and save some money or the s30v Rift and save a lot of money.0 -
Does anyone have one of these yet? I have been intrigued by it recently. I like how it functions completely like a regular Axis-lock (easy open and closed) until it is utilized as an auto.
Think about ordering one...
Nevermind my last, I just ordered one. I will let you know how it is when I get it
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I got to play around with one and it was pretty sweet. A good portion of the blade isn't actually a cutting surface. I think this is because of the new dual action mechanism. I too was looking forward to a different blade steel... I love 154CM but on a knife that already has some unique features , I want a higher-end high-end steel. 0 -
Got it today. It is a really nice knife. Looks great, nice fit and finish. I am not sure I am sold on the DA mechanism though. It is a little tricky to operate correctly. 0 -
Just got mine in today. I've played around with it a little however I am a little confused about the "dry fire" feature. On the product listing it mentions that benchmade safeguarded the automatic function so that when the blade is not fully closed, the automatic action is disabled. It's a good idea in theory so that when opening the knife manually, it doesn't fire out. After handling it though I have found it sometimes cumbersome to use the automatic function. Reason being is that the pivot is tensioned from the factory to allow the blade to swing freely after manually deploying the knife and pulling the axis back to stow away the blade. I love that type of tension on my 558 because I can flip open or close the blade with my wrist by pulling g back the axis. The issue with that freely swinging pivot tension is that when trying to fire the blade automatically after removing the knife from the pocket, typically the blade will be positioned towards the ground. Well, when you pull the axis back to fire it auto with the blade down, gravity slightly opens the knife because of the free tension blade swing which disables the auto function.
I'm wondering if tightening the tension slightly to remove some of that smoothness in manual mode with decrease the amount of automatic miss fire. It is easily over come by handling the knife on its side in your hand and then firing the blade or by holding it blade up. Still though I wasn't aware of this feature when purchasing it so at first I thought it was a faulty auto mechanism.
I do not want this post to discourage anyone from buying it because it is a super sweet knife. The machined smooth black g10 is beautifully designed with no hot spots in the hand. I like the back spacer. The mill work exposes the axis bar a little more than I am used to for added grip when pulling back. I was a little surprised how hard you actually have to pull back on the axis to hit the auto detent. I was also surprised to see that about 1/2" of the blade is unused because of the notch cut out to clear part of the d/a mechanism when closed.
My final thoughts on it are that it is an awesome knife with quite a bit versatility depending on hand position or grip levels in a given situation. Great idea. My only gripes are how hard you have to pull to hit the auto mechanism, the unused portion of the blade and the sometimes annoying dry fire feature (which may be alleviated by more pivot tension). It has some top notch machine work and feels good in the hand making a high quality knife which I have come to expect from BM. All that said I would still reccomend it for someone looking for a pocketable and possible edc auto that looks and functions like a manual.0 -
I was having the same problem with mine. I just didn't warm up to an auto that you had to hold in a certain position to use. So, sad to say, the Serum is no longer with me. traded it to my brother who likes it a lot (he doesn't use the auto feature). Very nicely built knife though. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by jstrange:
traded it to my brother who likes it a lot .
What did you get from your brother...if you don't mind me asking.0 -
For what it's worth, I am going to tighten the pivot up once I get to work Sunday and see if that helps. I left my precision driver set there or I would adjust it now. I will report back.
I'm not sure if BM reps watch the forums or not but if anyone has any pointers, experiences or advice, I am all ears. I am still new to the site and autos for that matter so I wouldn't really know who to ask except for customer service.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Trailboss:quote:Originally posted by jstrange:
traded it to my brother who likes it a lot .
What did you get from your brother...if you don't mind me asking.
I don't mind at all. He made out on the deal. I traded him a Spyderco PM2 that I had previously traded to him. It was cool for me because he cant often buy expensive stuff and he recently lost his only Benchmade.0 -
Dsmroots,
This is from the Knife Center website:
"About the "Dry-fire" Safety:
The AXIS Dual-Action mechanism has a secondary safety system built in to eliminate a "dry-fire." A dry-fire is when a torsion or leaf kicker spring is released without adequate resistance. The uncontrolled release of energy is unstable and can cause the spring to fracture. In addition the potential of a catastrophic failure, a dry-fire can greatly reduce the life of the spring and create a dangerous situation for the user with the spring unwinding and colliding into the blade. This situation would result in the knife opening in an unpredictable manner.
The dry-fire mechanism locks the automatic mode out by blocking the lock stud from going back far enough to release the spring bushing.
The dry-fire safety is engaged whenever the blade is not in the closed position. The AXIS® lock bar provides the closed position detent. Pulling back the AXIS bar will release the detent and can allow the blade to open partially if the knife is held horizontally. In this case the dry-fire safety will engage. To actuate auto mode, the blade must remain in the handle until the bushing is released and the spring uncoils."
When I had questions about the mechanism the Benchmade Rep. sent me a PDF explaining it, but I cant find it right now. I must have deleted it somehow. I believ the PDF said much the same thing, but did have pictures. If you email customer service I am sure they can send it to you.0 -
quote:Originally posted by jstrange:
Dsmroots,
This is from the Knife Center website:
"About the "Dry-fire" Safety:
The AXIS Dual-Action mechanism has a secondary safety system built in to eliminate a "dry-fire." A dry-fire is when a torsion or leaf kicker spring is released without adequate resistance. The uncontrolled release of energy is unstable and can cause the spring to fracture. In addition the potential of a catastrophic failure, a dry-fire can greatly reduce the life of the spring and create a dangerous situation for the user with the spring unwinding and colliding into the blade. This situation would result in the knife opening in an unpredictable manner.
The dry-fire mechanism locks the automatic mode out by blocking the lock stud from going back far enough to release the spring bushing.
The dry-fire safety is engaged whenever the blade is not in the closed position. The AXIS® lock bar provides the closed position detent. Pulling back the AXIS bar will release the detent and can allow the blade to open partially if the knife is held horizontally. In this case the dry-fire safety will engage. To actuate auto mode, the blade must remain in the handle until the bushing is released and the spring uncoils."
When I had questions about the mechanism the Benchmade Rep. sent me a PDF explaining it, but I cant find it right now. I must have deleted it somehow. I believ the PDF said much the same thing, but did have pictures. If you email customer service I am sure they can send it to you.
Thanks for the reply! After tightening the pivot up in a "serum sweetspot", not a manual free swinging sweetspot, I have found that I eliminated most if not all of the dry fire. If you hold the knife horizontal to the ground and slid the axis quickly (so the delay doesn't take away from momentum) the blade seems to open maybe 60°. Before I adjusted it to this tension, if I did the same, it would pendulum back and forth until resting at 90°.
So just to clear this up, pivot adjustment did in fact eliminate the irritating dry fire protection. All of BM knives are smooth regardless of tension and at this adjusted tension I can still easily flick the blade open easily manually. Just not as easy as I like my mini grip.
This so seemed to help the pull strength of the axis needed to hit the auto. Or maybe that is just because it isn't protecting itself from dry fire as often. Either way I feel it was 2 birds with one stone.
Maybe now jstrange can Indian give his serum and actually enjoy it.0 -
I am glad it is working out for you better now. Sounds like some tinkering may be needed to get it in the sweet spot.
I will let the deal stand and let my brother enjoy a truly unique knife. I have more Benchmades planned for my future
I found the PDF, its actually on their website under the product description.
http://www.benchmade.com/image...erating_the_5400.pdf0 -
I have the same issue with the knife. it is a sweet knife and will stay in my collection but probably wont see much pocket time. I wont sell it since I keep all my knives for the kids to inherit. 0
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