Best for $500 or less

mattz357

mattz357

Joined
Jun 20, 2002
Messages
873
Cast your votes (pictures for extra credit) for the best folder or otf for $500 or less. I’m curious to see what the ratio of auto to manual will be, and just what everyone likes in general.
 
In my experience...CRK...Sebenza 21, Umnumzaan, Inkosi, Mnandi...pick any you like...
Spartan SHF too...
 
Best for what?
The planned use matters, whether it's for postng cool pictures on Instagram, cutting your sandwich or apple, building temporary shelter when lost in the woods, or whatever.
 
Listen to the wise AntDog AntDog
But if you got $500 burning in your pocket...
Any Hinderer in Fatty if you like folding pry bars
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The answers are endless. Are you looking for the best EDC knife? The best “hard use” folder? Pocket bling?
And of course, “best” is subjective. The “best” EDC knife for me is either a Spyderco Para 3 or Native 5 lightweight and both of those are well below $500.
But my favorite “do it all” knife is a CRK Umnumzaan.
 
Is my Hoback A15 better than my Reate K2? I prefer the K2 over my large insingo Inkosi; but does that mean it's better? Hordes of CRK fans would say otherwise.
One could argue that one of my recent (SFO) Buck 501s is better than either because they cut just as well, but cost a fraction as much.
 
best ? who knows .

i got some expensive blades and not expensive . right now in my pocket is a cold steel ad15 with scorpion lock . you are not gonna break it and it wont break the bank either. i own some crk knives , if i had to spend 500 id buy another crk .
 
AntDog said:
Who said we all had to assume they have to be “broken knives”? Plenty of great fixed blades out there under 5 bills.
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That was the OP's specification...
Cast your votes (pictures for extra credit) for the best folder or otf for $500 or less
 
PM2 in the latest steel - try K390 for now - $215ish

Police 4 LW - easy to maintain - $107

Buck 110 Slim Select 420HC - $28

Chaparral LW - under 3” - slicing maniac of a knife - $89

1 coffee and $58 worth of Powerball tickets (or a nice bottle of whiskey)

Wait...was this supposed to be one knife?
 
I really like my ZT 0462CF. It has steel washers so the bearings
don't run on the Ti or CF. It falls shut with no shaking...fast, flips wonderfully,
and has a great blade of 20CV. Extensive milling of the Ti side makes it
very light for its size. Fit and finish are wonderful. It is a very impressive
Sinkevitch designed folder. To me, excellent bang for the buck.
timthumb.php
 
No matter the intended use, since this is only open to folders I’ll stick by my Endura suggestion.

I’ve kinda come full circle back to it. I had a couple waaaay back in the day, but dismissed them due to the “plastic” handles in favor of other folders with g10 and full liners, Ti, carbon fiber, etc.

Having tried many more knives, and with a few more years of maturity under my belt, I’ve come back to it with a fresh perspective.

The reasons I would stick by my choice are:

1. since OP is asking for folders, the purpose can’t really be a sharpened prybar or anything all that heavy duty.

2. The Endura is light, it’s thin, it’s large enough to do big boy work, it conceals and carries easily for its size, and it absolutely excels at cutting stuff.

3. I wasn’t kidding about the “$420 for other stuff that’s far more important”. I have a lot more things to worry about these days other than another freaking $500 knife, but we are all in different situations.

If you want a folder that will get the job done and carry like a champ, it’s hard to beat a good ol’ Endura.

I’m betting the OP is looking for the best knife he can possibly get for under $500 (meaning as close to $500 as possible), but it never hurts to have a vote or two for more practical choices.
 
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The best for what? ... and are you just wanting to spend $500.00 on a knife? ... is the $500.00 the max limit and you would be ok with spending less?

o_O
 
AntDog said:
No matter the intended use, since this is only open to folders I’ll stick by my Endura suggestion.

I’ve kinda come full circle back to it. I had a couple waaaay back in the day, but dismissed them due to the “plastic” handles in favor of other folders with g10 and full liners, Ti, carbon fiber, etc.

Having tried many more knives, and with a few more years of maturity under my belt, I’ve come back to it with a fresh perspective.

The reasons I would stick by my choice are:

1. since OP is asking for folders, the purpose can’t really be a sharpened prybar or anything all that heavy duty.

2. The Endura is light, it’s thin, it’s large enough to do big boy work, it conceals and carries easily for its size, and it absolutely excels at cutting stuff.

3. I wasn’t kidding about the “$420 for other stuff that’s far more important”. I have a lot more things to worry about these days other than another freaking $500 knife, but we are all in different situations.

If you want a folder that will get the job done and carry like a champ, it’s hard to beat a good ol’ Endura.

I’m betting the OP is looking for the best knife he can possibly get for under $500 (meaning as close to $500 as possible), but it never hurts to have a vote or two for more practical choices.
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I’ve grown tired of $500 knives and super steels. Going to sell a lot of my collection. Just doesn’t make sense anymore.
 
I am partial to CRK and Hinderer :)

The blades I carry the most are a small inkosi PJ DP and a large sebenza 21 insingo micarta

But really under $500 you have so many choices and at the end it depends on where you live and what you want to do
 
ScooterG said:
I’ve grown tired of $500 knives and super steels. Going to sell a lot of my collection. Just doesn’t make sense anymore.
Click to expand...
I really understand that
When you want to use your knife you don’t need to spend $$$ into it
I have a cold steel pro lite that it very affordable and that do a good job in a lot of tasks
I also used a PM2 which has been great it all situation
Even the Bugout for lighter use or a modern slipjoint
Most of my real users are under $150
 
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