After a lot of dancing around the idea of getting one I finally bought a Bugout.... for my wife. I’ve used it some around the house and mostly like it.
It does quite well with the type of things most people do with a folder, namely:
Hey, the latest from Amazon got in, let’s open it up. Let’s chop this cardboard box down so it doesn’t take up half of the trash bag. Let’s free the kids toy from the package it came in. Basically, light duty stuff.
That said, I tried to use it outdoors a bit for some more medium duty tasks and went back in the house for my Manix 2 after a few minutes. I found it too skinny, like trying to use a popsicle stick, for cutting where I wanted to bear down and dig in for any extended period of time. Actually came away glad I’d never bought one for my own use.
In another vein, my wife likes it, but really prefers her Delicas and Para 3 LW. She’s never been able to give a detailed explanation other than she just prefers the others.
Considering what the Bugout costs, I think it comes up fairly short in the value for dollar department. I also don’t do the type of hiking where every single ounce counts so I can’t really comment on how it performs in what was probably its intended target market.
I don’t think it’s a terrible knife, but for a general use Benchmade I think the Griptilian is a better overall package.
ETA: I had to sharpen my wife’s not long after it got home. I was a bit disappointed in the factory edge. 20 minutes on the Sharpmaker resolved that part.