It is hard to measure quality when you are paying extra money to get it, so ultimately it has to be your own perception. More than likely what you see is that the Cold Steel has more bang for the buck and maybe is not quite as nice. The Spyderco PM2 is one of the most popular folders on these forums if that means anything to you.
I have owned Spyderco but never that particular one, and I have only read about the Recon 1, but I gather that they are very different knives. The PM2 is a more refined knife for general slicing, the Recon 1 is a more heavy duty knife that you would beat up on. I think the R1 has a pretty thick blade and you could do some prying and chopping with it that you wouldn't try with the PM2.
