Benchmade's Hunt series has spent years chasing the ultralight numbers that made the Bugout famous, and the Taggedout 15535 is the model that finally got the formula right, according to a review Wayne Walter of Wayne's Sharp World updated for KnifeInformer on October 31. He went in expecting to dislike the Grivory handles and came out ranking the blade above every Benchmade he had handled.
"Then I pulled it out of the box, and that blade absolutely floored me. After four or five days with it, it was the most impressive Benchmade blade I had handled."
The geometry is the story
The Taggedout's blade is 3.5 inches of CPM-154 in a clip point with Benchmade's 17-degree SelectEdge, and the headline number is the stock thickness: 0.09 inches. Walter measured 0.012 to 0.013 inches behind the edge on his sample. That is slicer territory, and the high flat grind turns the thin stock into what he describes as cutting that behaves like a much larger knife. The plunge grind leaves generous clearance around the sharpening shoulder, which matters for anyone planning to maintain the edge at home.
Weight lands at 2.1 ounces across an 8.13-inch open length. The closed length is 4.63 inches, nearly identical to a Spyderco Para Military 2, and Walter uses that comparison directly: some of the K320's thin polymer feel, something of the PM2's outline.
Grivory that does not fold like Grivory
His main reservation going in was handle flex, the standard complaint on the Grivory Bugout. The Taggedout runs standoff hardware through the scales, and Walter reports the difference is real. There is still a hair of movement under hard pressure, but the handle reads as sturdy in normal grips. The Hunt-series texture gives a forward pinch grip for precise cuts, though one molded corner near the front can poke at certain angles, the most specific complaint in the review.
The action also earned praise: the blade cutout launches cleanly, closing feels controlled for such a light knife, and the mini deep-carry clip carries low without hot spots.
What it costs now
Walter's original September 2022 review price was $171, which he called fair for an American-made slicer. Benchmade currently lists the orange Grivory 15535 at $235 on its own site, with OpticsPlanet carrying it at $175. The line has grown since: carbon fiber and MagnaCut variants, a mini version, and G10 handles now sit alongside the original. Even with the price climb, Walter's conclusion stands on the blade geometry alone, and he wanted more versions in other steels. The action, the grind and the 2.1 ounces did the selling, not the handle material he expected to reject.