It is a nice knife, part of Benchmade's red line which is basically made for people who can't bring themself to spend a lot on a knife. It isn't made in the USA like BM's other lines, but all the red line knives I have seen have been very good. A lot better then what you would think of a blade in that price range. Oh, and the blade steel is N690, which is pretty close to 440C. Not a bad steel at all, however S30v or M2 it is not.