Benchmade Mini Vallation Review
Perception in the Gear World matters a lot, but it is also slow to change. Think of how many years Chinese companies were making good knives before it became acceptable to like them? And now, you can’t escape them. If you like gear and you haven’t heard of WE, Kizer, or Reate you are doing something wrong. Perceptions change at the pace of a glacier. Benchmade has always been a “high end” company with “expensive” knives. The IKC has also had a penchant for crapping on them as overpriced boring knives with blade play. These things were true, but the modern Benchmade, if you could be cleared of your prior memories looks a lot different than the Benchmade that did exist and the IKC rightfully skewered.
First, there are their prices. With the advent of the high end Chinese made knife, the Sebenza barrier is not what it used to be. $300 knives are pretty common. But Benchmade’s line up has, for the most part, hung around the $100-$300 level. Only the Anthem and the Gold Class knives are really out there. The notion that Benchmades are expensive just doesn’t match the data anymore. Heck, even Spyderco is decidedly more high end in terms of prices now.
Second, there is the blade play issue. Yes, it was bad. Yes, it was across the board. But nowadays it is actually all but vanished. With the loss of the Axis patent and the release of the Bugout with its super snug tolerances, wiggly Axis locks aren’t that common anymore. My Smoke Valet has no blade play, this knife has no blade play, and the Bugout surely didn’t either. The Axis lock excuse doesn’t really work.
Third, there are claims that the knives are boring. It is, to a certain extent, still a fair criticism, but there are some really solid and interesting knives in their line up. Its not as stylish as stuff coming out of WE, but it is better than it was when they released that Axis variant a few years ago. They are Cadillac, not Tesla, but even Cadillac makes a few lookers today (and this review was released the day after the debut of the Tesla Cybertruck…).
Either way, Benchmade’s reputation obscures some really interesting blades in their line up and this knife is one of them. It also happens to be about as far out of my wheelhouse as knives get. The only thing high speed and low drag about me is the platter in the hard drive that is in the computer I use to write and edit (yes, I do edit) these reviews. I have stayed very far away from the tactical world and offering advice on using knives as weapons. For me, knives are tools. If you want tactical or weapons advice you have come to the wrong place.
So why am I reviewing the Benchmade Mini Vallation? Because it is a “tactical” knife that actually flexes well into an EDC role. This is an interesting knife, the merging of a bunch of classic Benchmade features into a single blade. The result of that merger along with some good, thoughtful design touches is an EDC knife capable of taking more of a beating. If you are clumsy, rough on your gear, or challenged with a lot of tough cutting tasks, or you happen to be an operator looking for a smaller knife, the Mini Vallation should be on your list. There is nothing groundbreaking here, but the overall impression the Mini Vallation leaves you with is one of exceptional competence.
Let’s see how it stacks up.
Here is the product page. The Mini Vallation is a smaller version of the full-sized Vallation, which, I am sure you could have figured out without me telling you. There is no written review of the Mini Vallation. Here is a video review. This knife was provided for review by Benchmade and will be given away to a first responder.
Twitter Summary: Not my cup of tea, but still pretty darn good.
Design: 2
This is not a great knife if you want the slimmest, thinnest possible carry. If you hesitate to grab a Dragonfly because it is portly, then keep moving. But if you are wearing jeans or okay with a bit of heft (and I really mean a “bit,” this knife still weighs less than 5 ounces, 4.58 to be exact), then that extra weight and thickness is easily paid for by an excellent, almost fixed blade quality handle. There is a bit of a palm swell, something of a bird’s beak, and lots of grip. The blade, with its harpoon shape is aesthetically pleasing and a bit thicker than I like, but for rougher jobs its just right. Overall, Benchmade did a great job cramming nice, harder use features into a knife you can still easily pocket and carry. This, and not the Bailout, should have been their focus in spring and summer of 2019 (I would have loved this knife in 3V). In terms of hard use, this is many times better than the Bailout.
This knife features a prominent glass breaker and frankly they are kind of dumb. But, I had to dispose of some windows and it was a great time to try it out. The glass went from sheet to sand in about a second. It was pretty cool and the first time I have used a glass breaker on both safety glass and an unbroken sheet of glass. How it works is impressive, but the chance that I need it is basically zero. Despite the performance it is probably not worth the pokey hassle.
The ratios are not great because, well the knife is a bit of chunker, but ratios are never the beginning or the end of the analysis. The B:W is .70, which isn’t super great but what you would expect for a hard use folder. The B:H is .72.
Fit and Finish: 2
Benchmade is the butt of many jokes on the IKC. Their favorite lock, the Axis lock, graces most of their knives at a time when fit and finish is something of a fetish among knife snobs. And, well, the Axis lock, by its very design, usually has some slop in it. Making an Axis lock with zero blade play is exceptionally difficult. But after the Bugout, Benchmde’s knives have seemed tighter and tauter across the board and the Mini Vallation is one of the beneficiaries of the Bugout’s fit and finish improvement. There was zero bladeplay, zero wiggle, the grinds were even and plunges clean. There was exactly nothing to complain about with the Mini Vallation and a sign that, perhaps, Benchmade is not deserving of the wrath of the IKC anymore. But the IKC’s group think is not a process marked by alacrity, so don’t expect reality to match opinion for a while.
Grip: 2
If there is something that makes all of the heft and tacticool stuff on the Mini Vallation worth it, its the grip. This is one of the better folders in hand on the market it. With a nice palm swell, this knife is leagues better than the flat slab titanium knives on the market. The matte finish of the aluminum also makes it significantly better than all of the 3D milled super slick knives out there (I am thinking of some of the wonderfully finished but bar-of-soap slick Reates). Its not especially pretty, but the Mini Vallation’s handle is great.
Carry: 1
The glass breaker on a folder is like the bar in your back on a sofa sleeper—a per se terrible idea. This is about unobtrusive as a spike can be, but I’d prefer the knife not have it. It would make it significantly better as an EDC but probably worse as a tactical carry.
Steel: 1
Benchmade and Spyderco have both helped S30V along in its middle age, getting nice consistent results. But with S45VN leaking out into the market, it is hard to justify S30V, especially on a knife this expensive. S30V will soon suffer the quickest fall in knife history going from premium to budget in a matter of months, once S45VN is more widely available. And frankly, even good S30V is not my favorite steel, its hard to sharpen and not as stain resistant as the top tier of steels out there.
Blade Shape: 2
I fashion myself as an objective review, above the sways of passion caused by things as superficial as looks, but even I can’t deny that the harpoon spine, as implemented here, is just sexy. Its functionally identical to something like a clip or drop point, but it does look really, really good here. With the Bugout and other new Benchmades (the Proper and Crooked River), its safe to say that Benchmade has moved out of its fugly phase.
Grind: 2
With a paper thin edge, a large but not comical cutting bevel, and a flat grind, the Mini Vallation’s grind is nice. There is a strong correlation between fit and finish and grind and here, given Benchmade’s top of the line machining prowess, we can see that. If this cut like most tactical knives, I would never have reviewed the Mini Vallation, but you actually get some slicing ability here and that is nice. Its not a kitchen knife, but it will do quite nicely on a Pocket Knife Lunch, especially because it can transition from salami slices to firesticks with no problem.
Deployment: 1
Assists just aren’t necessary and therefore the idea of adding extra parts for no benefit doesn’t make sense (this is also why I don’t review a ton of autos, that and the fact that they are strictly illegal in my home state). As such, as a matter of principle, assists will always get a lower score than unassisted knives. That said, this is a well-implemented assist, firing each and every time you intend to open the knife and never when you don’t.
Retention: 2
The evolution of the Benchmade clip is a cool example of market forces influencing design. The end result is a truly superior clip, ranking up there with the Spyderco wire clip. The clip also stays out of the way quite a bit.
Lock/Blade Safety 2
There is literally a lock for lock with no chance that you will ever catch a finger in the blade play when closing or that the knife will close accidentally. I guess the tactical role requires the lock for the lock and so I am not deducting a point. This is also one of the new generations of the Axis lock and is totally free of play in any direction.
Other Considerations
Fidget Factor: High
With a snappy assist and a nice thumb stud, this is a fun knife handle and use. It is also a handful, in a good way, so that is a plus. I still like the mechanical, inertial snap of a good flipper, but this isn’t bad at all.
Fett Effect: Very High
Matte handles and Benchmade’s clip paint, which, so far as I know, is made of lottery scratch ticket coating, this thing will look Mandalorian-level battle ready in a few days.
Value: Low
The steel is pretty meh, the handle materials is, likewise meh-worthy. But setting all of that aside, this is a solid knife. If you are looking for a pure EDC you can find cheaper with better steel, but if you need some beef without a lot of bull, this is it.
Overall Score: 17 out of 20
I feel like this is the exact right score for this knife. Its solid in more ways than one. The size is perfect for those folks that want a pocket-friendly knife without an inordinate amount of mass. If you were an officer on duty, this would be a superb duty knife. If you are a farmer cutting cord or wire all day, this would a great knife. And if you were a person trapped in a sinking car, this would be a great knife. In short, this is a very nice blend of ease-of-carry and extra capacity and ability. I like the Mini Vallation even if it is not my typical cup of tea.
Competition
How to you compare a hard use knife if you are a desk jockey? Well, I have no idea, but running it up against an Emerson CQC 10 (which has been modified to include a tradition V-grind even at the cutting bevel) seems like a good start.
The Mini Vallation stacks up quite nicely. It is clearly a bit more refined than an Emerson (as most knives are—you don’t buy an Emerson because you are fit and finish fanatic). The Emerson felt a bit beefier, there was less “I shouldn’t do this with a folder” going through my head when I was using Ernie’s blade. The Mini Vallation wasn’t terribly far behind in this department, but the Emerson still had an edge. In terms of carry though the Mini Vallation CRUSHED the Emerson and this is why, for the first time in the history of this site, I reviewed a so-called tactical product. This is a good crossover design and even though it gives up some ground compared to the Emerson, its not as much as you might expect. This is a cool little knife.
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