help with stainless steel compared to carbon steel knife, please.

[fatherhudson]

I think you're making a good choice but i want to say that as far as i know becker isn't in the business of checking the history on the knives they see for warranty services. The language in their warranty is just to cover their ass. If the knife breaks they'll fix it no questions asked. Becker will still provide service on one of their knives whether you bought it on the exchange, ebay or from a dealer. I wouldn't buy from them if it was any other way. Remember that benchmade and kershaw have very similar warranties but both companies have exquisite customer service and will help you out in nearly any situation. One thing about no questions asked return policies/warranties is that they will be abused. REI has a return policy like that and a friend of mine left his backpack somewhere he shouldn't have (like an idiot) and it got broken into by hungry monkeys. REI actually gave him credit for a monkey mauled backpack. Now, superficially, that seems like a good thing but in the end it's customers like me that pay for his abusing the return policy. I'd almost prefer them to have harsher warranty language to deter the idiots.

In terms of value i think the esee and the becker are just about equal. Dollar for dollar. You do get more with the esee but you pay more.

The warranty is basically the same, but becker's warranty is non-transferable, so if i buy it on ebay, which is what i am going to do, Becker's warranty will be void. Sure, the ESEE 4 is $40 more, but if i put micarta scales on it, thats about $30, and if i get a new sheath with molle locks, or a tek lock, thats another $40, thats $40 more than the ESEE with equal features, plus, Rowan heat treat is better, the blade coating on the ESEE is better, and when i go backpacking, the ESEE will be my largest blade, so im going to whale on it, but i have a lifetime, transferable, no-questions-asked warranty, so i dont have to worry about it. Wow that probably made me sound like an ESEE representative, haha.