Best EDC under 50 bucks??

Just about any popular "EDC knife" under $50 is going to be about the same, IMO.

Kershaw Leek
Kershaw Skyline
Kershaw Cryo
Kershaw Cryo 2
Kershaw Thermite
Ontario RAT 1
Ontario RAT 2
Spyderco Tenacious
Spyderco Persistence
Spyderco Ambitious

If it were me, get a SAK Alox Cadet and call it a day.
 
Buck 110, Uncle Henry LB7, Barlow, Sunfish (Rough Rider or Marbles), Canoe, (Rough Rider, Colt, Buck) Sod Buster ...
 
Cold Steel Voyager. All 3 sizes are under $50, and with the company switching to BD-1 steel this year older AUS-8 models will probably go on sale everywhere.
 
JustinP said:
Hey all. I've been having trouble with my Zancudo and it's time to buy a new knife. I would prefer a folder but if anybody knows of a good fixed blade that works I will definitely consider it. I've been looking at some Kershaws. I like the Skyline and the Leek. I've also been looking at the Esee Avispa and the Rat 2. Just wondering if there's anything out there I haven't stumbled upon during my research. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
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What are the troubles you've been having with the Zancudo.

Need to know that before people can recommend something that avoids the same basic problem.
 
No other folding knife under 50 dollars has as much value as the CS Large Voyager, the only ones that come close are the Kershaw Tremor and Ontario Rat 1 & Utilitac.

Somebody else mentioned the Recon 1 in this thread but those are not under 50 dollars.

There are a lot of good budget knives out there for under 50 dollars and everybody has their own opinion of which one is the best, but the Voyager is by far the best budget knife available if you only had 40 dollars to spend.
 
+1 for everyone who recommended a Kershaw. You get a lot of blade for the money. I had a Chill flipper for a while before I lost it while fishing. Really thin, G-10 scales with excellent traction, skeletonized stainless liners, and a shallow hollow ground clip point 8Cr13MoV blade. Outstanding for EDC and ran about $30 IIRC at Cabela's. My Dad EDCs a Kershaw Volt II that I got him for his birthday a few years ago. Very similar to the Chill but it's an assisted opener, therefore wider, and have Grivory-like scales. The steel hold up pretty well considering that he's not a "Knife Guy" and treats it pretty rough. The Volt II ran about $40 at Cabela's.
 
If $50 was my budget it would be a Victorinox Farmer or Pioneer. I find those little knives just darn useful on a daily basis. For a locking folder I am going to want to spend a little bit more.

$75 (or less if you find a deal) will get you into a FFG Spyderco Endura and $90 will get you into a Benchmade Griptillian.

Just my preference.
 
Slightly controversial, but check out Sanrenmu 710 or 7010. All metal framelock, add some skater tape for grip if desired and about as high-value EDC as you will find.

I would avoid the really heavy or really light knives considering size (Chill, Skyline, Cryo) and get something medium-sized until you know what you really want. Would not recommend RAT folders personally, great design, poor execution but hard to beat for price.

Look at the Kershaw Injection (lot of great options from Kershaw), Boker Subcom or Trance.
 
AntDog said:
Just out if curiosity, how do you figure this?
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Disclaimer: this is my personal experience from at least 5-7 years ago, so may not be totally current although I have handled friends' RAT-1 and 2’s fairly recently.

Owned several RAT 1 and 2 folders over the years (early on in my knife collecting especially), invariably found the blade design and choil to my liking, but the combination of HT running a little soft (would not hold an edge as well as other AUS-8/8cr13mov knives I owned), the scales being a slick when wet, thumbstuds being a bit slippery, and the slightly odd weight distribution combined with an admittedly strong liner-lock that was uncomfortable to close for me - found Spyderco linerlocks and Benchmade AXIS locks easier and at least equally reliable - made me decide against the RAT-1 for EDC. Pocket clip also caused hotspots and blisters when I would have to really grip it hard for heavier work.

I think with slightly better materials, a tweaked weight distribution, better thumbstuds, and a few other improvements the RAT folders could easily be winners. And they are, the new Zancudo, etc folders are a nice improvement, thereby posing the question when considering what advice to give to OP, why look at the older, related designs if the Zancudo, the newer and improved design, had "problems" as yet unspecified? If the problem is with the design philosophy or the manufacturing (likely same factory/OEM) then it seems logical to look elsewhere.

In the end when considering the RAT-1 for EDC the slick scales and poor edge retention and weight distribution just didn't cut it for me, I found many other knives to be superior for my use at comparable pricing. I believe the Boker Chad Los Banos designs were recently released at the time and I found them much more to my liking for (at the time) $10 more for Trance, Hyper, etc. Of course, I enjoyed my Spyderco Military even more for EDC, but it was a tad big for NPE's, not to mention 5 times more expensive so I just did not use it for "dirty work".

Hope that answered your question and hopefully didn't come off as excessively wordy and/or illogical.
 
senoBDEC said:
Hope that answered your question and hopefully didn't come off as excessively wordy and/or illogical.
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Yes it did, and it was not at all excessively wordy, nor illogical at all. It was very well thought out and well worded. It clearly stated your opinions on the knife, and that's exactly what I was looking for.
I do agree with you on a few points, but disagree on a few as well. I know AUS-8 doesn't have the best edge retention, but I think it's fine for a $30 beater knife. It's easy to sharpen and keeps an edge an acceptable amount of time IMO. I use my knives very extensively, and every day. I don't hold back or go easy on them either, but I don't outright abuse them. I found myself sharpening the rat folder I had once a month, and that was acceptable to me. I also didn't think the weight distribution was that bad. It seemed to balance just a tad behind right where my index finger would naturally fall when I held it. Didn't feel blade heavy, nor handle heavy to me. I didn't have much of a problem with the thumbstuds, but the really were pretty "low traction".
I also agree with you on the scales. They are slippery to me as well. They're zytel, and I think G10 would be a vast improvement, but make the knife more expensive. The clip on mine was slightly burred on one side, so I can see your point there. I just filed mine down a little.
I agree with you on certain points and disagree on others, however, I still think the Rat series are excellent knives for their price. They may need a tweak here or there, but they will save your other more expensive knives from the brutal stuff. I hope you didn't find my reply excessively wordy or illogical! :D
 
Yep, basically all the relatively small individual "flaws" ended up with me dismissing the RAT-1 for EDC. The weight distribution is hard for me to describe since I don't have a RAT-1 on hand, but it felt awkward in many ways when I was using it despite apparently being inline with the index-finger POB ideal.

I currently rotate a Mercator K55K, Opinel, SAK, and Fallkniven U2 so I've gone slightly traditional in my older age and due to living in a country where being "armed" is frowned upon unless you are a LEO, Military, or their buddies the drug-runners.

Re: blade steel, I am a fan of properly done AUS-8, but whether the actual HT cycle on the Ontario RAT folders ran soft or I received a few lemons from the first few generations produced...
Now however I dig the simple carbon steels - sharpen up easier and finer than most, even high-end, steels and gain a really sweet patina from use. Tough and flexible too.
 
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I would ask, what do you prefer on a folder? Heavier vs lighter? Blade shape? Serrated or non? For me, I love my tenacious. Bought a skyline from here and ended up selling it to my co-worker the next day because it just felt cheap and fragile compared to my tenacious.
 
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