Benchmade builds every one of these knives in Oregon City, Oregon, and five of the six share the same AXIS lock, the same lifetime warranty, and the same free LifeSharp sharpening for as long as you own the knife.
What separates them is the job each one was sized for: pocket weight, hand size, grip, and how much blade you actually use in a day.
Our Benchmade coverage this month opened with the Mini SOCP folder. This guide takes the bench: six folders from a 1.85-ounce ultralight to a handle machined from titanium.
Four of the six are current production with prices from $150 to $325.
Two are discontinued classics that Benchmade no longer sells direct, and they close the list because the everyday carry conversation still runs through them. Each pick below gets its specs, its tradeoff, and its buy route, with the discontinued pair flagged in the open.
The six, in short
- Bugout 535: the ultralight. A full-size blade at 1.85 ounces. $200
- Mini Griptilian 556: the small-hand workhorse. $150
- Griptilian 551: the full-size default. $175
- Proper 318: the traditional slip-joint. Discontinued
- Freek 560BK-1: M4 steel, deep grip, hard use. $300
- Anthem 781: the billet titanium flagship. Discontinued
Specs below come from Benchmade’s published figures for each model, with blade length, open length, weight, and lock type set beside the current price.
The two discontinued models are marked in the price column.
| Model | Blade | Steel | Open | Weight | Lock | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bugout 535 | 3.24 in | CPM-S30V | 7.46 in | 1.85 oz | AXIS | $200 |
| Mini Griptilian 556 | 2.91 in | CPM-S30V | 6.78 in | 2.56 oz | AXIS | $150 |
| Griptilian 551 | 3.45 in | CPM-S30V | 8.07 in | 3.88 oz | AXIS | $175 |
| Proper 318 | 2.82 in | CPM-S30V | 6.65 in | 2.28 oz | Slip-joint | Discontinued |
| Freek 560BK-1 | 3.60 in | CPM-M4 | 8.46 in | 4.3 oz | AXIS | $300 |
| Anthem 781 | 3.50 in | CPM-20CV | 8.06 in | 3.66 oz | AXIS | Discontinued |
Bugout 535: the full-size knife that weighs 1.85 ounces
Price: $200.00
Where to buy: Amazon
CPM-S30V at 58-60 HRC, a 3.24-inch drop-point blade, and 7.46 inches open: on paper the Bugout gives up nothing to folders twice its weight. Grivory scales over nested liners keep the whole knife at 1.85 ounces, and the handle runs slim enough to disappear against a pocket seam. Benchmade designed it for ultralight outdoor carry, where pack weight gets counted in grams.
Thin scales are the trade: squeeze hard or twist the blade and the handle flexes in ways a Griptilian never does, and the grip fills less of a large hand.
Pricing is flat: $200 at Benchmade and $200 on Amazon. Buy the stock blue build unless a variant already has your name on it.
Mini Griptilian 556: the workhorse, scaled down
Price: $150.00
Where to buy: Amazon
Mel Pardue’s Griptilian handle shape shrinks here to 6.78 inches open, with a 2.91-inch CPM-S30V drop-point and a 2.56-ounce carry weight. Everything that made the full-size knife the default pick survives the shrink: AXIS lock, thumb studs on both sides, a reversible clip, and a handle that locks into the palm.
Price is the easy part: $150 at Benchmade and $150 on Amazon makes this the lowest entry in the guide. What you give up against the 551 is leverage: heavy cardboard, zip ties, and rope work go slower on a shorter handle, and large hands will run out of grip.
Pick it for office carry and light duty. Its big brother takes gloves and job sites.
Griptilian 551: the full-size default
Price: $175.00
Where to buy: Amazon
Full size means 3.45 inches of CPM-S30V blade, 8.07 inches open, and 3.88 ounces, with the same Pardue handle in black Grivory. This is the Griptilian most buyers picture: big enough for a full grip with gloves on, plain enough to use hard without wincing, and priced in the middle of the line. It has been the family’s reference size since the early 2000s.
Carry weight is the cost of admission. At nearly two Bugouts, the 551 rides heavier in light shorts and gym clothes, and slim-pocket carriers will feel the difference by noon.
Benchmade sells the stock build at $175, matched on Amazon. Its custom program starts at $200, your pick of steel, blade shape, and handle color.
Proper 318: the traditional, modernized
Where to buy: Benchmade
No lock, no clip, no thumb stud. The Proper opens two-handed on a nail nick, stops at a half stop, and closes on spring pressure alone, the way pocketknives worked for a century before the AXIS lock existed. Benchmade’s update is the steel and the scales: a 2.82-inch CPM-S30V clip-point in dark brown canvas micarta, at 2.28 ounces and 6.65 inches open. Nothing on it flicks or flips.
It carries loose in a pocket or in a slip, opens without alarming anyone, and slices like a more expensive knife, with food, letters, string, and light packages as its working life.
Benchmade no longer lists the Proper in its own store, and no current Amazon listing exists for it, so no price runs here. Remaining stock sits on dealer shelves.
Freek 560BK-1: M4 steel and a grip that fills the hand
Price: $300.00
Regular Price: $325.00
You Save: $25.00 (8%)
Where to buy: Amazon
CPM-M4 at 62-64 HRC is the headline steel in this guide: a high-speed tool steel that holds an edge through cardboard, rope, and site work longer than the S30V knives above it. The blade runs 3.60 inches in a black coating, the knife opens to 8.46 inches, and the layered G10 handle is milled deep enough to hold a gloved hand at 4.3 ounces.
M4 asks for one habit in return. It is not stainless, so the edge wants a wipe and the occasional drop of oil where the S30V blades shrug off a wet pocket, a rainy hike, or a week of salt air.
Amazon lists the 560BK-1 at $300, undercutting Benchmade’s $325 by $25. Above it sits the Freek 560-03 in carbon fiber and CPM-S90V at $375 from both Benchmade and Amazon: lighter in the hand, easier on upkeep, and the step-up for buyers who want the shape without the M4 maintenance.
Anthem 781: one piece of billet titanium
Where to buy: Benchmade
Benchmade machines the Anthem’s handle from one piece of billet titanium, lock included: the company’s first integral AXIS knife, and its most expensive folder of the era.
The blade is 3.50 inches of CPM-20CV, opening to 8.06 inches, and the bronze-anodized handle holds the weight to 3.66 ounces.
Machining time is the price. Cutting a lock, a pocket clip mount, and a full handle from one billet takes hours that two assembled scales never will, and the finish shrugs off the scratches that print on painted or coated handles.
The Anthem sits on Benchmade’s discontinued list and has left the company’s own store, so it carries no price here. Dealer shelves and the secondary market are the remaining routes, and clean examples move quickly when they surface.
Picking yours
Count ounces first and the Bugout wins the guide outright; it is the only pick here that disappears in a pocket. Hands on the smaller side, or a strict budget, point to the Mini Griptilian at $150, and it gives up nothing in lock or steel to do it.
One knife, no rotation, no fuss: that buyer takes the Griptilian 551 at $175. Gloves, site work, and hard cutting move the answer to the Freek, and traditional carry in a non-locking pattern is the Proper’s lane alone, bought knowing it opens with two hands.
The Anthem is the collector’s pick, bought for the machining as much as the cutting. Every knife in this guide, the two discontinued models included, still carries Benchmade’s lifetime warranty and free LifeSharp sharpening for as long as you own it, which stretches the value of the $150 and $175 picks well past their price tags.
