From my understanding, these are the same as the original M16's with aluminum handles, AUS 8A blades with the addition of the coating. I haven't seen one with the coating, but I can tell you how my original M16 has held up. This is one tough, long wearing knife. I bought mine a little over a year ago, and except for a few very minor scratches to the clip it looks new. I used it every day too, until I got a Camillus EDC in May. The lock on mine has held up superbly. The liner still engages in the dead center of the tang. There is zero blade play in any direction, and that's after I've cycled it at least over a 1000 times, probably closer to 2000. When I'd get bored at work I would open and close the blade repeatedly, and I got bored at work a lot. This knife also comes with a very sharp factory edge, in fact it was the first knife I ever bought that I didn't sharpen before I would use it. It also holds an edge fairly well, although it's not in the realm of 154CM in that regard. It's a lot easier to sharpen though. Overall it's just a really nice knife, and at a pretty good price too.
