I have several Emersons and two ZTs now and another one tomorrow (I hope). I had a ZT 0562cf and sold it. Nice knife with great material and construction, but just did not feel right in operation to me. The ZTs I have and one coming are the 0620cf (in my pocket right now), the 0620, and tomorrow will be taking delivery of an 0630. I love Emerson's designs, how they feel, how they work for me. I love the way ZT has executed those designs. And a great value, as someone else noted, keeping even the CF/M390 less than $250.
But I also have a bunch of Emersons - the cKarambit and superK were first and still my only folding K-bits. Also have the fixed k-bit, and carry the horseman and traveler quite a bit. And CQC7 and K-bit trainers. Yes, I read all the posts about F&F, material quality, liner locks, etc, but the material costs do not outweigh the design and materials are very acceptable. So you can see where I come down: supersteels are a bonus, at least some sort of good steel (incl 154cm) is essential, high quality construction (F&F) is essential and I have no QC issues with mine. But the deciding factor for me on value is whether the design stands out and it definitely does with my Emersons. There may be other models that my hand and operating system would not like, but the ones I like I really like. To be honest, I avoided Emersons for a long time. I'm a big spydie fan and it used to be everyone would talk about how ugly those were, but they work great and now offer more premium materials than just about anyone. I still have a lot of spydercos and a few BMs, but after I finally tried Emersons, I understand why he has such a loyal customer base. His knives are great.
But I also have a bunch of Emersons - the cKarambit and superK were first and still my only folding K-bits. Also have the fixed k-bit, and carry the horseman and traveler quite a bit. And CQC7 and K-bit trainers. Yes, I read all the posts about F&F, material quality, liner locks, etc, but the material costs do not outweigh the design and materials are very acceptable. So you can see where I come down: supersteels are a bonus, at least some sort of good steel (incl 154cm) is essential, high quality construction (F&F) is essential and I have no QC issues with mine. But the deciding factor for me on value is whether the design stands out and it definitely does with my Emersons. There may be other models that my hand and operating system would not like, but the ones I like I really like. To be honest, I avoided Emersons for a long time. I'm a big spydie fan and it used to be everyone would talk about how ugly those were, but they work great and now offer more premium materials than just about anyone. I still have a lot of spydercos and a few BMs, but after I finally tried Emersons, I understand why he has such a loyal customer base. His knives are great.
