Great comparison! I own both of these, but base models in S30V and 154CM. I hated the original Spidie clip, so the deep carry clip was required. The lanyard hole is unnecessary. I am a Spyderco freak and love them all (and desperately want a Shaman.) This was my first Benchmade though. In reality I like the Para 3 better, but I carry my Kizer Rogue much more often. Love your videos and taste in knives btw.
I feel that Spyderco should have left the lanyard hole off the PM3. The lanyard hole location screws up the location of the pocket clip and gives a very high ride in return.
Or they could have at least made it the tenacious style of pocket clip that fits around the lanyard hole... I dont get companies that continue to make new pocket knife designs without deep carry clips, it just boggles my mind... spyderco is the worst offender of all the big folding knife brands. I mean, the fact that were going into 2019 and spyderco refuses to offer any factory deep carry clip options is just flat out unacceptable, I shouldn't have to buy a after market clip everytime I buy a new spydie but unfortunately thats what most people end up doing becasue spyderco cant get with the program and just give us some damn factory deep carrying clips..
It's almost Lee subjective I think the pocket clip on the para 3 is fine give you something to grab you when you wanna pull it out of your pocket I'm not necessarily trying to hide it I don't give a shiz.
I've been struggling over should I buy the full sized, or the mini grip. I am leaning towards the full grip, even though I have that same 3" carry law as you do. Have never had a cop ask me to pocket dump yet, so......
Para 3 wins for me easily...better steel,better ergos(by far),better grind(by far),stronger lock mechanism(axis lock just rely's in an omega spring that will aventually break) and again for ME it's better looking.....cheers
Though I personally prefer the Minigrip. you´re right about the Axxis lock.. the Springs on my Minigrip broke without a warning; That said, I must emphasise that the warranty of benchmade was great! I live in Europe, so I did not want to send the knife to the US for repairing, but both benchmade and the online shop here in Europe immediately sent new Omega springs to me; Installing those was quite easy, though putting blade and washers back in place after disassembling the knife took a bit time.
i have the para 3, and i love it. i'm surprised that benchmade was able to get away with the "spidy hole" on this knife though. i think the axis lock is more fun (i also have a manix 2 in s110v), but i think the compression lock on the para 3 is more robust. i don't have any stats to back that up, but just how they both feel, in hand. great video!
20cv sharpens better than S110V. S110v is more of a steel you get if you can't sharpen and you send it off to someone else, or if you have nice diamond sharpeners. 20cv is more like M390. Good balance of traits with good edge retention still. Not quite as high in edge retention as S110v though.
I don’t like the para 3 because it has TERRIBLE blade to handle ratio. In my opinion I’d rather have a smaller knife with more cutting edge. And also the mini grip looks a whole lot better in my opinion. I’m not saying that the mini grip is better for everyone, but for me I like the mini grip more
They say that they’ve decided that “the aftermarket does a good job of providing that service.” Which I don’t agree with. MXG gear is great but they don’t do anything polished. I ordered a polished clip from a highly rated Amazon dealer... in mid-December... still waiting. And it has a stupid spider logo on it that isn’t even the real Spyderco logo.
@@SliceyDicey I call this the Spyderco COPOUT. Give us a clip we want on the knife from the beginning. And they know what we want. Millions have told them. They do not respond to the voice of the customer. That puts them in the low service area that goes with the lack of warranty / service after the sale. I'm NOT saying anything most people don't know! Thanks for the video!
Zombie post replying to a three year old comment, but I have a Benchmade auto. I called Benchmade and asked for a free deep carry clip for it since I heard they give them away. While they were very nice, I still had to pay for it. Not much, but still.
@@ccooper8040the Para and the Para Military are different models. The Para 3 is not the 3rd generation of the Para Military anymore than the original Para Military is the 2nd generation of the Military (Especially now that Spyderco has released the Military 2) There’s a reason it’s not called the Para Military 3.
Great comparison I to think the mini grip is better. Takes up less pocket space than the wide profile of the para 3. One thing I have a love/hate with the para's is the weak tips on the blades. Where the grips have stronger thicker tips.
Lock, steel and warranty goes to the mini grip (S110V on the para3 prone to chipping). Blade grind, ergos and price Spyderco. I will say there are numerous para3 steel options. M390 or cruwear and the para3 wins. As they set I'd say it's a tie. The dislike on the para3 is the choil hitting my finger when closing the blade. Not a huge fan of the compression lock because of this. Dislike on the mini grip is handle ratio could use another 1 inch in length.
??? Mini Grip handle:blade ratio looks a lot better than for the Para 3. Finger choil landing on your finger when closing the blade actually feels like a plus to me. But I must admit the action on the axis lock is a lot more pleasing than that on the compression lock!!! Although I do very much love Spyderco, in this battle my money's on the Mini Grip😎
Unpopular opinion but I personally never was a fan of the axis lock. To be fair, I only ever had one benchmade that the QC was good and there was still a good amount if play when locked opened, had to push in lock to eliminate play. Just recently got para 3 blurple s110v and lw cts bd1n. Also own two pm2's. All in all, I think Spyderco's Quality Control and build quality far surpasses. benchmade's. Just my opinion ✌️🖖🤘
Wish benchmade would make a knife with 3 inch blade and a grip long enough so that my pinky finger isn't hanging me off. I have large size man hands damn it.
Just my opinion, the spyderco is vastly superior. The Benchmade g10 on that knife is cheap and feels like plastic! Benchmade puts a spidy hole basically on their inferior knife? I used to like Benchmade knives but after I got my first spyderco, I’ll never buy another Benchmade knife.
I sense a bias situation here... if you take one brand of knife, with all better specs then get out another knife, with worse specs, then say the worse specked knife is better is like saying I’ll eat a rotten apple over a fresh one.
What specs does the para 3 have over the mini grip? They both are made out of G10 on the handles. 20CV is an equivalent to M390 and CTSXHP, which are the best steels on the market (besides LC200N.) the Para 3 has terrible blade to handle ratio, but the mini grip has about average blade to handle ratio. Yes, the mini grip does have a small handle but there is a thing called a full sized grip. The compression lock is more dangerous compared to the axis lock because on the compression lock, you could possibly cut your finger while opening or closing the knife on some spyderco models. I get that you might like the company spyderco more than benchmade but saying that EVERY spec on the mini grip is worse than the para 3, you must be in something because the mini grip has some clearly better attributes.
@@benjidowning2609 I agree that commenter was being unfair. The blade to handle ratio is subjective, the finger choil is much more useful than an extra .5” of blade. S110v is technically a more high end “super steel” than 20cv. How can the compression lock cut you? Only on that one model they had, but besides that it’s perfect.
@@spydercoslacker7466 yeah lol I’ve changed my views over the past 5 months. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote that. The only thing that I don’t like about the compression lock is the inability to use comfortably left handed. That’s not an issue because I’m right handed, but it might be an issue for some
got spyderco military and endure 4 good length very light and tought never had bench made but they looks very basic and same price or higher then spyderco
You can buy aftermarket clips for the para that are great, but buy is the key word there,,you don't have to buy one for the grip. Clear edge to the grip.
MetalsForBrunch What I don’t understand is the arguemeny about the pm2 and para3, People always say that the para 3 is too small in their hands, SO GET THE PM2. The Para 3 is designed for states with blade length restrictions.
Back in the day, people used 2 hands to open and close a knife. None of this deadpool, avenger, captain America intimidating one handedness, one handed is liberal millennial nonsense. Damn kids!
Most knife guys are still definitely right leaning. I find it hilarious that your first instinct is to blame an opposing political party and then the youth. Makes you sound like an old curmudgeon.
Jayden Jones: I guess I am. I own 2 Spyderco Manix 2 ( one lightweight, one G10) and I love them both. What I love about the mini grip is the size and the weight combination. Thank you for the comment.🇺🇸
I don't know who wins in any of the other categories, but how the fuck can you say the Mini Griptillian is the better looking knife given that (A) the Mini Griptillian's hole and to a lesser degree its blade shape are ripoffs of Spyderco, and (B) the plastic handle on the Mini Grip looks like it belongs on a dollar store toy? Also, a deep carry clip isn't inherently better, and it isn't a total outrage if a knife doesn't have one--where do people get this fucking idea? Not everybody wants to or needs to conceal his knife. I'm not saying the Mini Griptillian is a bad knife--on the contrary, it's a very good knife, as is the Para 3. But the video uploader is an obvious Benchmade fanboy who had already made up his mind before conducting this monkey trial.
