I prefer my Anthem over my xm18 and sebenza. I get that the Sebenza has higher tolerances, but nothing beats an axis lock (especially the anthem one) .
When you say brands matter I think the adjective you’re saying is pedigree. The pedigree of Porsche and Chris reeves and Rolex and apple and the Boston Celtics. We are buying pedigree
Benchmade does not have it in them IMO to produce real quality … I think they have some ok models but as a whole , they are for sure over priced for what you get. I’ve seen 1500$ crooked rivers with blades way off center which is 100% unacceptable for any knife even at half that price point.… just my 2 cents on benchmade. I’m a little sour towards them to be honest lol