Best knife under 200

A nice laguiole... Its a style used ofr hundreds of years in France in both folder and fixed for being a multipurpose blade used amongst other things as a steak knife. Then it meets the dorms requirements.

Or choose a nice ZT 350 (slightly smaller, slightly easier to carry.) and be REALLY discreet if it goes to college. Or a Benchmade contego...

Of course I carry a fixed blade almost 4 " long in an office environment and when I got the 350 I loved it except it was too small... So who am I to judge what might be ok.
 
Not black, no tanto, but how about a Buck 110 or 112? For $200 you could probably get him a multi tool and a 110/2? To me that would be the play off between a modern liner/frame lock, and a traditional slipjoint.
 
Make sure its something with a good solid blade, he may or may not be using it to shotgun a beer or two...or helping some young damsel in distress get her beer 'gunned
 
I'd be careful about sending too nice a knife off to college dorms.

Way back in the day, I had two knives stolen from my room at various times. Leaving a ZT, Hinderer, or Emerson around is like leaving a stack of $100 bills out in the open and screaming "Take me Take me." Kids will leave their doors open and walk down the hall, roommates will let in people your son doesn't know, if your son leaves it in the room becasue he's just running down the hall, it'll disappear.

Get him something in whatever dollar range won't be missed if it disappears tomorrow. Because it will, unless it's on him 24/7.

And, you might want to check the laws in the state your son is going to school. Getting busted by the RA for violating at best university policy and, at worst, state law about knives at an educational facility is bad juju. Winding up with a sheet at 18 will follow him forever.

A multi tool might be more discrete and a lot more useful.
 
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A Spyderco tech support woman gives para IIs as gifts so I would go with a Benchmade since he has the para II. Maybe a 940 as was suggested. If Spyderco, and 3 inches, the Sage 1 is very popular. I have the ZT350 and it is very heavy duty. Very nice.
 
Speaking as a college student myself, I'll say that it's nice to have a quality knife. Many times, I've been the only person in the room with a knife when we needed it, and I have to use it or let someone else use it. For that, you want something "classy"-looking, that won't scare people. I would recommend a Benchmade Triage (915) or a customized Griptillian for him (you can do some cool stuff to them on Benchmade's site). They're both tough knives, that won't be too "tactical" for your average person, and will last a long time. Plus a customized Grip with his school's colors (if they have it) is just a really cool gift.
 
Right at the $200 mark, the ZT 550 comes instantly to mind as one of the greatest knives at that price. You could find a ZT 0560 pretty close to that price and that would be even better. The Spyderco Paramilitary 2 is a totally different knife that the ZT's but an equally good EDC and a better cutter. One of the best knives under $200 and in general. But I'm guessing you want to get him something a little "nicer" (even better fit and finish, cool materials, titanium, carbon fiber, etc,) and you mentioned hard use. The Spyderco Gayle Bradley is probably the highest value folder I can think of for it's price range and it's definitely one of Spyderco's hardest use folders as well one of the best fit and finished Spyderco's made, if not THE best. It is a WHOLE lot of value and a whole lot of nice knife for the price. It's just beautiful and substantial and definitely has an outstanding blade steel. One of the best Spyderco offers. Especially, if I was going to give a gift, this would be my choice because it's just so nice and classy and fits your criteria. It's not just "cool", it's much more. You'll understand if you feel one in person. By the way, I own all the knives I've mentioned and I would honestly probably go with the Gayle Bradley if I wanted to give someone a really nice gift knife that would make a great EDC and high end hard use knife with amazing quality and fit and finish.
 
For under 200 a Spyderco Paramilitary 2, manix, military, or just about any Spyderco. Also I personally like Emerson knives so check some of them out.
 
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