Advantages of Tanto Blades
Tanto's are designed more for a user as fighting knives. The triangular tip is designed to punch through items, so if you need a knife to stab through things, thats the route to go.
Drop points are better knives for slicing, and the tip is still pointy so it is going to penetrate. About the only benefit I can see in a tanto blade is if you plan to use it as a prybar, but nobody should be using a knife as a pry bar.
A couple of great tanto blade advantages and disadvantages can be seen at http://iluvknives.com/tanto-blade-advantages/. I personally have only 'one' Tanto blade knife, and I'm glad I do.
I only wished I would have had it with me late one night (when I locked my keys in the vehicle out along a remote ocean shore-line) - but I didn't.
If I was putting my money into a Benchmade Knife and planning to use it for camping, fishing, or hunting then I'd buy the Drop Point blade. They are of a thick durable steel and can stand up to anything.
The drop point blade is popular as a hunting or tactical knife, which it will serve well for skinning or 'jabbing'. A cool looking, but low quality tanto knife can be found here http://www.budk.com/Military-Rescue-Full-Tang-Tanto-Knife-Sheath-1067. I would rather have higher quality tanto knives personally though.
However, due to the fact that a tanto has two flat edges and almost no “belly” if you are slicing through a rough material then you probably aren’t going to have as easy of a time as you would with a drop-point or spear-point. Something to consider that all knives are sort fo specialized basically a survivalist should look at knives in more than one class like fighting, hunting, Fishing ect. One will not do all. At best you get a compromise. Defense I look to SOG's and Spyderco's Hunting Gerber Gator is a favorite. Compromise is my Cammillus Pilots Survival Knife. pocket every day Swiss Army. A great Swiss Army can be found here http://www.knifecenter.com/knifecenter/sak/. I use a kabar tanto as my main knife and i keep a multitool backup, i prefer the tanto tip to a drop point because i prefer a strong spine all the way to the tip. i have use this knife as a machette and a hatchet and it has not failed me yet. it keeps a very good edge and so far I have been very pleased with it. so far it has been an all around great hiking/camp knife.
